Your system's performance is affected by the system's topology and the server's software and hardware configurations. In this chapter are suggestions for ways to maximize the number of users you can support and at the same time keep response times low. These suggestions for optimizing the performance of Microsoft Exchange Server are grouped into four categories:
Optimizing your topology Plan your system setup, and make sure the system has adequate network bandwidth to handle the traffic between clients and servers.
Optimizing your server Take advantage of the hardware and software resources on your Microsoft Exchange Server computer to provide the fastest, most reliable service possible for your users. Use Microsoft Windows NT Performance Monitor and the Microsoft Exchange Server Performance Optimizer to help you optimize server performance.
Balancing users per server Determine the number of users your server can support so that you can achieve the required level of performance. You can use Microsoft Exchange Server Load Simulator (Loadsim.exe) to estimate usage levels and measure the expected load on the server.
Note If you are running Microsoft Exchange Server in a production environment, be very cautious about making changes to your system.
For information about troubleshooting performance, see Chapter 12, "Troubleshooting." For more information about optimizing performance, see Microsoft Exchange Server Concepts and Planning.