May
02
Project Coconut entries:
- Project Coconut: Introduction
- Project Coconut: Part 1 - Getting the environment up to scratch
- Project Coconut: Part 2 - Sizing the Exchange Server 2007 servers
- Project Coconut: Part 3 - Deploying the first Exchange Server 2007 server
- Project Coconut: Part 4 - Configuring Standby Continuous Replication
- Project Coconut: Part 5 - Its mailbox migration time!
- Project Coconut: Part 6 - Finishing the job
Sizing the Exchange Server 2007 Servers
In this post in the Project Coconut series I’ll describe the process that was undertaken for sizing the hardware that will run the Exchange Server 2007 servers.
Microsoft provides extensive guidance on how to calculate your hardware requirements for Exchange Server 2007. If you are embarking on an Exchange Server 2007 project you should familiarise yourself with these resources.
- Planning processor configurations
- Planning memory configurations
- Planning storage configurations
- Mailbox Server role storage calculator
I certainly recommend you read the abovementioned resources, however here are some guidelines that I follow which outlining the bare minimum, recommended, and maximum configurations.
Jun
27
Laptop Memory Upgrade
Here is a pro tip for you all - when upgrading the memory in your laptop you should always first bring it out of hibernation mode and shut it down properly before reaching for the screwdriver. Whoops.
My Dell Inspiron 6400 has the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG wireless network adapter in it. Prior to the upgrade to Windows Vista this was operating fine using the Intel PRO/Wireless utility software that installs with the driver.
After the Vista upgrade I activated the CPU/Memory utilisation gadget in the sidebar. Over a few days I noticed that the CPU utilisation was often quite high, and would never drop below 50%. I opened Task Manager and found that the process ZCfgSrv.exe was consuming 50% CPU at all times.
A little hunting around online and I found a notification on the Intel website that they are providing driver-only support for the 3945ABG adapter for Windows Vista at this time, and the Intel PRO/Wireless utility software is not compatible.
The solution I found was to remove the utility software but leave the driver installed. You can do this by opening Control Panel in Vista and choosing Uninstall a Program. Then highlight the Intel PROSet/Wireless entry in the list and choose Uninstall/Change
 
 When the installer loads choose Modify and then Next. Unselect all installation options except for the Wireless LAN adapter driver (see screenshot), then click Modify.
 
This will remove the Intel PRO/Wireless utility software but leave the adapter driver intact. You can then simply use the Vista networking options to manage your wireless networking.
The Vista upgrade on my Dell Inspiron 6400 went pretty well in the end. I took the time to update the system BIOS first as advised by the Vista Upgrade Advisor, and also downloaded the Vista drivers from the Dell website before I started.
The upgrade itself was fine, no errors or problems whatsoever. After the upgrade I had to repeat the reinstallation of AVG Free 7.5 as with my earlier test upgrades. Another application that needed updated was Daemon Tools. Downloading the latest version (4.08 at the time of this writing) fixes the incompatibility. I’d recommend removing or upgrading Daemon Tools first, as the installation of 4.08 after the Vista upgrade required a couple of reboots to remove the non-functioning earlier version and get the new one on.
After a few hours of poking around Vista I went to install Office 2007 and found my optical drive (NEC-6650A DVD+/-RW) didn’t work. I tried a few reboots, tried uninstalling the device in Device Manager and letting it detect again, but still it wouldn’t work. Eventually I found this KB article on the Microsoft website. This solution worked perfectly first time, although only one of the two registry keys mentioned in the article were present on my laptop.
All systems go.