Microsoft KB Archive/250348

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XADM: Exchange Server Support for Network-Attached Devices

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Q250348

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0, 5.0, 5.5
 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server

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SUMMARY
There is no support for network-attached storage devices in Exchange Server 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, and Exchange 2000 Server. This article explains the reasons for this decision.

MORE INFORMATION
The Exchange Server team is not staffed to test Exchange with network-attached devices, such as devices that go through Microsoft Windows NT Redirector and use server message block (SMB). In particular, the Exchange 2000 Server architecture introduces a new file system driver that already requires extensive testing to make sure that the file system driver works at the device driver interface. Therefore, the Exchange Server product group cannot compound the testing matrix by adding additional coverage and has no plans to performing such testing.

As a result, network remote drive access is an unsupported configuration in Exchange 2000 Server.

We have asked vendors of these solutions to obtain certification from the Windows HCL group to ensure that they provide equivalent performance characteristics to locally attached storage.

The primary concern of the Exchange Server product group is to make sure that ExchangeServer is a reliable platform, and the Exchange Server product group cannot make this assurance to customers in good faith if a remote drive infrastructure is employed for the Exchange store.

Additional query words: NTAP Filer Compaq SANWorks Virtual Replicator SWVR EVM EMC Timefinder Symmetrix IBM Shark Hitachi HDS ShadowImage recovery restore

Keywords : exc4 exc5 exc55

Issue type : kbinfo

Technology :