Microsoft Exchange Server in the AWS Cloud

Planning & Implementation Guide

Presented by Wayne Saxe

Content by Shankar Sivadasan & Ulf Schoo

Deck by Colin White

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Introduction

MS Exchange Server is one of the most mission-critical messaging platforms in the enterprise

today. It provides email, scheduling, and tools for custom collaboration across the organization.

The AWS cloud provides a suite of infrastructure services that enable you to deploy

Exchange Server in a highly available, affordable and fault-tolerant manner. By deploying an

Exchange Server architecture in the AWS Cloud, customers can leverage the powerful

functionality of Exchange along with the flexibility and security of AWS.

The methodology and tools you use to design an Exchange Server deployment are the same

whether the target platform is a physical, virtual, or cloud-based infrastructure. Always size

Exchange Server deployments as though you plan to install them on dedicated physical

hardware, while making sure to consider the performance characteristics of a shared

computing environment.

This presentation gives an overview of the process to create the example solution. It does not outline each step. For the detailed overview,

please consult the whitepaper available here: http://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/AWS_Exchange_Planning_Implementation/

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Before You Get Started

This is an advanced topic. If you are new to AWS, please visit

the “Getting Started with AWS” section of the Online

Documentation Page on our website.

You should also be familiar with the following topics:

• Amazon EC2 and Amazon VPC

• Windows Server 2008 R2

• Windows Server Active Directory and DNS

• Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC)

• Microsoft Exchange Server

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Microsoft Platform on AWS

• Partnership to support running Windows

Server-based workloads on AWS

• Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with

Windows Server and SQL Server today that

were jointly developed by Microsoft and

AWS

• SharePoint Server and other Microsoft

server products can be licensed to run on

AWS

Two licensing models:

•Windows Server

•SQL Server Standard

Pay-as-you-go – AMI pricing includes

software

•SQL Server Enterprise

•SharePoint Server

•Other qualifying Microsoft Windows Server products*

BYOL – use existing licenses on AWS

*General info on AWS and License Mobility for a variety of MS server products:

http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/

Detail on AWS and License Mobility with SQL Server:

http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/sql/

Microsoft “License Mobility through Software Assurance” gives Microsoft Volume Licensing

customers the flexibility to deploy Windows Server applications with active Software

Assurance (SA) on Amazon Web Services.

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Summary – What You Will Learn

Part 1 Planning Your Exchange Server Deployment in the AWS Cloud

Part 2 Designing For Site Resiliency and High Availability

Part 3 Configuring For High Availability

Part 4 Sample Deployment Scenario

Part 5 Conclusion and Further Reading

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Summary – What You Will Build

• Small Business Deployment Scenario (250 mailboxes)

• Designed to provide cost-optimized high performance and availability that stretches across two AWS Availability Zones

• Scenario Details:

– 250 Mailboxes

– 5 GB Primary Mailbox Quota per User

– 5 GB Archive Mailbox Quota per User

– 100 Messages Sent/Received Per User Per Day

– Average Message Size of 75 KB

– 60% Outlook Anywhere, 30% Exchange ActiveSync, 10% Outlook Web App

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Part 1 Planning Your Exchange Server Deployment In The AWS Cloud

Part 2 Designing For Site Resiliency And High Availability

Part 3 Configuring For High Availability

Part 4 Sample Deployment Scenario

Part 5 Conclusion & Further Reading

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Planning Your Deployment

• Stage 1: Produce a Candidate Design – Processor Sizing

– Memory Sizing

– Storage Sizing

– Log Replication Sizing

– Network Traffic Sizing

• Stage 2: Test the Storage Components

• Stage 3: Verify Server Performance

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Part 1 Planning Your Exchange Server Deployment In The AWS Cloud

Part 2 Designing For Site Resiliency And High Availability

Part 3 Configuring For High Availability

Part 4 Sample Deployment Scenario

Part 5 Conclusion & Further Reading

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Designing For Site Resiliency And High Availability

• Regions

• Availability Zones

• Active Directory Site Design

• Cross-Region Deployment

• Client Access Load Balancing

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Part 1 Planning Your Exchange Server Deployment In The AWS Cloud

Part 2 Designing For Site Resiliency And High Availability

Part 3 Configuring For High Availability

Part 4 Sample Deployment Scenario

Part 5 Conclusion & Further Reading

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Configuring For High Availability

The whitepaper gives tips on

how to configure the DAG to

get the most out of your

deployment

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Part 1 Planning Your Exchange Server Deployment In The AWS Cloud

Part 2 Designing For Site Resiliency And High Availability

Part 3 Configuring For High Availability

Part 4 Sample Deployment Scenario

Part 5 Conclusion & Further Reading

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Sample Scenario

• Small Business Solution (specs on slide 6)

• Deployed in three parts, two of which are scripted

via included AWS CloudFormation templates

1 Launch and Configuration of the Virtual Network and Active Directory Infrastructure

2 Launch and Configuration of the Exchange Server Multi-Role Servers

3 Install and Configure Exchange

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Part 1 Planning Your Exchange Server Deployment In The AWS Cloud

Part 2 Designing For Site Resiliency And High Availability

Part 3 Configuring For High Availability

Part 4 Sample Deployment Scenario

Part 5 Conclusion & Further Reading

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Conclusion

The secure and reliable AWS cloud infrastructure enables highly

available and site-resilient MS Exchange Server deployments In this presentation, we gave an overview of the steps to deploy Exchange Server

in the AWS environment. Using the tools that you are already familiar with, we

provided recommendations and planning tips to configure the environment based

upon individual requirements and business needs.

Also provided is a sample deployment scenario using AWS CloudFormation

templates that help you launch in a few clicks. We highlighted several advanced

topics that require careful consideration to successfully deploy Exchange Server

on AWS with confidence.

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Customer Success Stories

Choice Logistics

Case Study http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/choicelogistics/

Webinar (replay)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcyBusOiO28

Choice Logistics manages a global logistics network of 800+

locations with a 99% SLA. They have many locations worldwide,

and messaging services are critical to their business. This case

study describes their migration from an on-premises Exchange

2007 solution to Exchange 2010 on the AWS cloud.

"Using AWS makes it easy for us to resize instances and increase

storage without having to go through a lengthy procurement cycle.“

– Tom Bentzen, Director of Information Systems

Banro Corp

Case Study http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/banro-corporation/

Banro is a Canadian gold mining company with exploration and

development along a major gold belt in the Democratic Republic of

the Congo (DRC). Traditional procurement would have required

long lead times and high capex. It was not possible to estimate

capacity or accurately plan the rollout of the 16+ software systems

that executives expected to be running in less than a year.

“The pressure of rolling out key organization systems — including

ERP, workflow systems, email systems, data warehouses, and

reporting tools — required us to deploy these systems at our

Twangiza mine site in the DRC, where we faced the hurdles of

logistics and lack of infrastructure.”

– Thorsten Neumann, Group IT Manager

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Sonian http://www.sonian.com

AIS http://www.appliedis.com

AWS Partner Network

Smartronix http://www.smartronix.com

Apparatus http://www.apparatus.net

Booz Allen http://www.boozallen.com

RDA http://www.rdacorp.com

A selection of APN members that specialize in Microsoft Exchange workloads

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Test Drive

Exchange 2013 HA

Discover how a company of any size can

achieve High Availability, increased

performance, and the seamless transfer of

resources in this Test Drive. Launch your own

private, secure Exchange instance in less

than 30 minutes and begin sending and

receiving mail at no charge for up to 3 hours.

Exchange Server 2013

This lab will provision you a private Exchange

2013 environment in less than 30 minutes on

AWS and show you the new admin

experience for Exchange 2013. In addition,

the lab will provide you with OWA access to

this internal email system.

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The Test Drive enables customers to quickly and easily explore the benefits of using Microsoft server

software on AWS. Developed by APN Consulting and Technology partners, these labs are provided free

of charge for demonstrational purposes. Each Test Drive lab includes up to 5 hours of complimentary

AWS server time. Two Exchange test drives are highlighted, the program also includes versions for

SharePoint, SQL, and storage. http://aws.amazon.com/testdrive/microsoft/

Further Reading

Web Pages

Microsoft on AWS http://aws.amazon.com/microsoft/

Amazon EC2 Windows Guide http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/

Microsoft AMIs for Windows and SQL Server http://aws.amazon.com/windows/ (includes pricing)

https://aws.amazon.com/amis?ami_provider_id=1&platform=Windows

&selection=ami_provider_id%2Bplatform

Microsoft License Mobility http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/

Covers Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, Lync Server,

System Center Operations Manager, and Dynamics CRM. See page

for specific details including which versions are covered.

Whitepapers

Microsoft SharePoint Server on AWS: Reference Architecture

Secure Microsoft Applications on AWS

Implementing Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC)

and SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups in the AWS Cloud

Contact Us

Microsoft (general) https://aws.amazon.com/microsoft/contact-us/

SharePoint https://aws.amazon.com/sharepoint/contact-us/

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Additional Resources Exchange Server

V20.8 of the Exchange 2010 Server Role Requirements

Calculator

Exchange Processor Query Tool

Jetstress

Jetstress Field Guide

Exchange Server Load Generator 2010

Exchange Client Network Calculator

Exchange Backup solutions listed in the Windows

Server Catalog

Exchange, Firewalls, and Support… Oh, my!

AWS

AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio http://aws.amazon.com/visualstudio

AWS Windows and .NET

Developer Center http://aws.amazon.com/net

AWS Management Pack for

Microsoft System Center http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2013/05/aws-

management-pack-for-microsoft-system-center.html

Other

Spamhouse.org block list removal center: http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup/

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Microsoft Exchange Server in the AWS Cloud:

Planning & Implementation Guide

Thank You

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