Exchange best practices for a front-end server - 3GB switch

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From: Sabo, Eric (sabo_e_at_cup.edu)
Date: 11/24/04 

Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 09:23:22 -0500

After running the exchange best practices, I am getting the following: I
always thought that it was necessary to use the /3GB switch if the server
had more than 3 GB of memory in it. So I remove this switch in my
front-end server (Exchange 2003/windows 2003)
This Exchange front-end server has the /3GB startup switch in the Boot.ini
file

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool queries the
Win32_OperatingSystem Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class to
determine the amount of virtual address space allocated to user mode
processes (MaxProcessMemorySize) on the Exchange Server computer. The
Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer also examines the Exchange_Server
WMI class in the root\MicrosoftExchangeV2 namespace to determine the value
for the IsFrontEndServer key. A value of False indicates that the Exchange
Server computer is not a front-end server. A value of True indicates that
the Exchange Server computer is a front-end server.

If the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer determines that the value for
the MaxProcessMemorySize key is not equal to 2097024 and that the
IsFrontEndServer key is set to True, a warning is displayed.

This warning indicates that the Exchange Server computer is not properly
configured for optimal memory usage because the /3GB startup switch has been
set in the boot.ini file. This switch should only be used on computers with
1 GB or more of memory that are running any of the following operating
systems:

      . Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition

      . Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

      . Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition

      . Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

      . Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server 

-- 
Eric Sabo
NT Administrator

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