The effect of end to end latency in a distributed storage area network on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 performance - Part I

The ever increasing demand for fast and reliable data storage has caused dramatic changes in the storage model. The direct attached storage (DAS) model is being replaced by storage area networks (SANs). SANs provide the capability to distribute the storage across multiple servers leading to decentralized and externalized storage. Recently, the accessibility of SANs to small companies has been improved by using existing IP networks to distribute storage over long geographical distances, leading to the distributed storage area network (DSAN). Although DSANs have provided additional capabilities to SANs, they have created a new set of problems for enterprise class applications, like Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, with increasing end to end latency (ETEL), due to large physical cable lengths. We present an attempt to analyze the effect of ETEL in DSAN on the performance of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 by monitoring the Exchange behavior using LoadSim 2003 benchmark.