Adjusting Software Settings

The Performance Optimizer is an essential step in maximizing your server's performance. It selects the software settings that are appropriate for your configuration and places Microsoft Exchange Server files in the best locations. It configures your server based on the following factors:

The number of users that the server supports and the number of users in your organization.
The types of activities the server will perform.
The server's hardware resources, including the amount of RAM, and the number and type of disks and processors.

For example, the Performance Optimizer uses the number of clients that the server will support to determine the number of database buffers to allocate for the information store.

You should run the Performance Optimizer after you run Setup or change your server's hardware configuration. In particular, you should run the Performance Optimizer after you:

Make changes to your server's disk.
Add a caching controller.
Change the amount of RAM.
Add a processor.
Change the number of users that the server will support.
Add or remove a component on the server.

Customizing Settings for Performance Optimizer

You can customize Performance Optimizer settings by typing perfwiz -v at the command prompt in the Exchsrvr\bin directory. When you run perfwiz -v, the Performance Optimizer displays two additional screens that provide the following options.

Option	Description

# of information store buffers	The number of buffers allocated to the information store. Each buffer is 4K.
# of directory buffers	The number of buffers allocated to the directory. Each buffer is 4K.
Minimum # of information store threads	The minimum number of threads within a process that the information store can initiate.
Maximum # of information store threads	The maximum number of threads within a process that the information store can initiate.
# of directory threads	The number of threads within a process that can be initiated by the directory.
Maximum # of cached categorizations	The maximum number of categorizations that the system is allowed to cache. Categorizations are generated on public folders or mailbox folders when you choose Group By from the View menu. Increasing the number of categorizations improves performance because existing categorizations can be reused. It also increases the amount of disk space used. The maximum number of categorizations can be estimated using the following equation: the number of public folders with categorizations plus (the number of users on the server times the number of categorizations that each user has on the private information store).
Maximum # of cached restrictions	The maximum number of restrictions that the system is allowed to cache. Restrictions are sets of data generated during a Find or Filter operation on the Microsoft Exchange Client. Increasing the number of restrictions improves performance because categorizations are not constantly re-created. It also increases the amount of disk space used.
Maximum # of concurrent read threads	The maximum number of threads that the MTA can read from the directory.
# of private information store send threads	The number of threads that the private information store can use to send messages to mailboxes.
# of private information store delivery threads	The number of threads that the private information store can use to deliver messages to mailboxes.
# of public information store send threads	The number of threads that the public information store can use to send messages to public folders.
# of public information store delivery threads	The number of threads that the public information store can use to deliver messages to public folders.
# of information store gateway in threads	The number of threads that a connector or gateway can initiate to the information store when receiving messages. For best results, the server should have multiple processors if the number of threads is increased.
# of information store gateway out threads	The number of threads that a connector or gateway can initiate to the information store when sending messages. For best results, the server should have multiple processors if the number of threads is increased.