Exchange Server in its core form can be described as a
database management server. The server over the period of time has gone through
many changes and some of the notable changes are. For majority of people the
only thing they believe that Exchange server can do is manage emails.
Let’s see how the Exchange Server Database technology
evolved over the decade.
Exchange Server Version 2007
When it was in the process of launching up it was rumored
that it going to be based on SQL storage technology but once it was released it
proved to be a rumor only and as a matter of fact Microsoft increased the
researched fund to enhance the functionality of Extensible Storage Engine (ESE)
and it proved to be a great technology for Exchange Server database management over
the years. The company brought many changes in Exchange 2007 and there were two
major changes in database management. The first change was in increase limit of
available mountable database to 50. Second major change was in term of removing
the file size restrictions from the mailboxes. Removing STM Files from Exchange
Server was also a noticeable change made by the Microsoft in Exchange Server
2007. This removal of STM files gives total control of Exchange Server data on
the shoulder of EDB Files.
Exchange Server Version 2010
Many changes were made noticeably in ESE framework which was
redesigned after numerous technical inputs over the years from various sources
and to match and meet the changing dynamics of the current corporate email
management requirement. Server
architectural changes were incorporated in the framework and that includes
better compression technology, larger page size, online runtime defragmentation
and new database tables. This exchange server now allowed features which can
help the storage cost as lower performance JBOD can be incorporated within the
Exchange Server 2010 framework for storage cost minimization.
Exchange Server version 2013
Many improvisations took place in storage department to
further improve how mailbox database is handled. To improve the server
performance disk access was reduced. Changes in database schemas were also
introduced.
Exchange Server Storage Technology Mailbox Database:
All database setting can be managed via the configuration
objects provided by the mailbox database. The administrator can configure
different aspect of the database. There are various aspects that the administrator
can manage such as location of the db file, transaction log file setting and
other aspect of mailboxes that are part of the database.