VMware

Upgrade to the Best Platform for Microsoft Exchange

Run Exchange on VMware Infrastructure to maximize availability and protect against costly and disruptive email outages, increase infrastructure performance by 100% and reduce server footprint by up to 90%, scale dynamically to adapt to changing workloads, and expedite testing and provisioning. VMware Infrastructure is a dynamic, service-oriented platform that is officially supported by Microsoft and ideally suited to running Microsoft Exchange. Upgrade to VMware Infrastructure and free Exchange from the constraints of static physical infrastructure to:

  • Maximize availability without the complexity of Microsoft clustering
  • Increase the capacity of Exchange servers by 100%
  • Scale dynamically to support increasing load and eliminate sizing compromises
  • Expedite management tasks such as testing and provisioning
  • Reduce your infrastructure footprint and costs by up to 90%

"Thanks to VMotion, we can perform maintenance on the hosts any time, without having to worry about downtime. Our Exchange, BES, and SAP environments are always available even if we choose to do maintenance during critical business hours. It’s a huge convenience."

— Bill Moore, IT Infrastructure Manager, Nuvasive

Maximize Availability without the Complexity of Microsoft Clustering

Provide simple and cost-effective high availability and disaster recovery for all Exchange server roles with VMware HA, VMotion, and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Eliminate the need to deploy complex Microsoft Clustering solutions and dedicated standby servers. Alternatively, combine VMware solutions with Microsoft clustering to achieve the ultimate in high availability.

  • Eliminate planned downtime for hardware maintenance with VMotion. Simply VMotion your Exchange virtual machines to another physical host for the duration of the maintenance, with no impact on service availability.
  • Protect virtual machines against hardware failures, including every Exchange server role, with VMware® HA. In the event of hardware failure, VMware HA automatically restarts the virtual machines on another host in minutes.
  • Implement a simple, automated disaster recovery plan with VMware disaster recovery solutions and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Replicate and recover virtual machines on a secondary site, including entire Exchange deployments, without dedicated standby hardware.
  • For continuous availability, combine Microsoft Clustering with VMware to provide an additional layer of protection and maximize uptime.

Scale Exchange Dynamically to Support Increasing Load

Sizing Exchange infrastructure leads to a difficult compromise between providing enough capacity to support future requirements while keeping infrastructure costs under control. Use VMware Infrastructure to “right-size” virtual machines for today’s needs with the ability to scale dynamically to support future loads.

  • Start with small memory and CPU configurations
  • Gradually increase virtual machine size as load increases
  • If a host runs out of capacity, DRS automatically VMotions Exchange virtual machines to another host with appropriate resources
  • Provision additional Exchange instances in minutes

Expedite Exchange Management Tasks and Accelerate Lifecycle

Eliminate the time consuming and slow process of managing Exchange deployments. VMware lets you simplify management and accelerate the lifecycle of your Exchange deployment.

  • Reproduce your Exchange production environment in the lab in just minutes with VMware snapshots and clones. Test and troubleshoot on an exact copy of your production deployment.
  • Eliminate the lead time required to purchase, rack, and configure dedicated hardware for each new Exchange instance
  • Provision Exchange instances into production in minutes using virtual machine templates

Reduce Infrastructure Footprint up to 90%

Eliminate the server sprawl often caused by Exchange deployments on conventional infrastructure, where each server role requires its own dedicated physical server. Even worse, two other sets of servers are often required for high availability and disaster recovery. With VMware, you’ll be able to reduce your Exchange server sprawl by up to 90%.

  • Consolidate multiple Exchange server roles onto shared hosts.
  • Increase host utilization from the typical 10% to 70% or higher.
  • Eliminate the need to deploy dedicated spare servers for Microsoft Clustering. Use shared servers for both local availability and Disaster Recovery.

Next Steps

See how you can deliver breakthrough Exchange performance and maximize the throughput of your physical servers.