365Calc – Basic sizing tool for Microsoft Office 365

Thanks for using 365Calc!

365Calc is a tool to help determining the size and the growth of storage repositories for Microsoft Office 365 Backups. It provides an understanding on how to plan the storage for future growth. In addition, 365Calc also simulates the numbers of proxies and backup jobs. All current version features are available in the release notes.

Configuration

365Calc offers different types of calculations:

• Repository sizing
• Proxy sizing
• Backup jobs

The purpose of 365Calc is to help understanding how much storage should be allocated for Microsoft Office 365 Data depending on the desired retention period. The Microsoft Office 365 Data used for calculations include: Exchange, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint. Calculations are valid for both On-Premises and Online deployments.

A separate mention goes to Exchange calculations. 365Calc offers two profiles: Simple and Advanced. The first one uses a small number of details like the total mailboxes storage size, the growth size and the desired retention period. These numbers can be easily obtained for both Exchange Online and On-Premises. The Advanced profile includes more details that can be used to forecast the storage required at the end of the chosen retention period. Simple profile only does the calculation for Primary Mailboxes. Avanced profile can be used for Primary and Archive Mailboxes (as separate tasks). Each profile is available for versions 1.5 and 2.0. The latter provides calculations for OneDrive for Business and SharePoint.

Proxy sizing simulates the number of required proxies to run Backup jobs irrespective of the types and amount of Office 365 Data. In fact Proxy sizing calculates requirements with any combination of Mailboxes, Archives, OneDrive and SharePoint sites.

The Backup jobs type in 365Calc provides information on how many jobs should be created for several object types in Office 365 (Mail,Archive,OneDrive and Site). The total number of jobs should be spread across the number of proxies. This calculation also displays the number of required proxies making it more convenient.

Output

Depending on the calculation type the Output section automatically shows the information requested. In the case of Repository sizing the 365Calc also displays values in GB and TB.

Summary

The Summary section is a quick breakdown of figures based on the actual settings. For Repository sizing, the Advanced Profile shows more settings that can be used to tweak the calculations and adjust for different requirements. The values in this section are always displayed in GB. Backup jobs Summary section instead shows the suggested number of separate jobs per Office 365 Data object.

How to use 365Calc

Using 365Calc is very easy. This section explains how to use the fields available in each profile. Green star are mandatory fields. Where applicable all values are in MB and GB. 365Calc automatically converts values in GB and TB. Each Profile provides different fields. The remaining fields are read-only. When entering the values, 365Calc dynamically formats the numbers to show thousands and hundreds. For example 1000 MB is automatically formatted in 1,000 MB (1 GB). 1234,50 is automatically formatted in 1,234.5.  All values in Output and Summary sections are formatted to show rounded by the first two digits (eg 1.23).

365Calc is wizard driven and easy to use. The first drop-downs dictate what would be available in the next ones. As soon as all mandatory fields are compiled 365Calc will calculate the output. By changing other values (eg. Growth Period or Retention) the new values will be automatically calculated. This way it is easier to see values for different areas and plan storage accordingly.

365Calc fields

Growth Size and Period, Desired Retention and Working Area are used in both Simple and Advanced Profiles. The other fields are Application specific. The Reference section at the end of this page includes a full list of fields used in various versions of 365Calc.

Configuration for Exchange

• Mailboxes Size: it represents the total Exchange Mailboxes storage for Primary Mailboxes only. This value can be obtained from Office 365 Admin Portal > Reports > Usage > Exchange > Mailbox usage >  Storage. As an alternative PowerShell cmd-lets can also be used to get same information on both Exchange Online and On-Premises deployments:

“Get-Mailbox | Get-MailboxStatistics | Select-Object DisplayName, ItemCount, TotalItemSize | Format-Table –autosize”

• Growth Size: is the value which defines the changes that occur on Exchange Mailboxes inclusive of deletion and retention activities. Both starting and Ending periods can be obtained from the Office 365 Admin Portal > Reports > Usage > Exchange > Mailbox Usage > Storage. By default there are different periods set at 30, 60, 90 and 180 days. Growth size is obtained deducting Starting Size from Ending Size. It can be calculated with this formula:

((Ending Size in period) – (Starting Size in period)) / (number of Days in the period)

No need to make this full calculation manually. 365Calc will make the necessary calculation by providing just the difference between ending and starting periods. For example by providing the current value from the subtraction.

• Growth Period: defines the number of days for which the growth size is calculated per day. 365Calc uses this value to obtain the total expected growth of data. Let’s assume the actual growth is based on last 180 days. For example if value used in subtraction for “number of Days” is 180, then 365Calc will provide the growth per day based on this number.
• Desired Retention: is the period of time for which the content is retained in the Repository before getting deleted by Repository Retention Policy. This value is calculated based on the Daily Growth (Summary section) and the lenght of the Desired Retention period. The final value is automatically displayed on the Summary Expected Growth field.
• Working Area: is the additional storage space required to allocate transaction logs and checkpoints. By defualt this value is set to 10% and can be changed to accomodate different requirements. For example environments with generous email attachments policy.
• Mailbox Type: Only with Advanced Profile. Default calculation is based  on Primary Mailboxes. Archive Mailboxes can be selected for a separate calculation.
• Average Mailbox Size: Only with Advanced Profile. When planning for Repository storage this field helps forecasting the final size at the end of the retention period. Ideally before using the Advanced Profile it would be beneficial creating different mail gorups based on types and activities and use these groups to model the final calculations. This way the total would be closer to the current usage of different user types.
• Average Daily Growth Size: is the standard figure used to make a projection across all Users Mailboxes. It represents the average single mailbox growth on a daily basis. Working with groups of mailboxes types gives a more accurate sizing.
• Total number of Mailboxes: Only with Advanced Profile. It is used together with Average Mailbox Size to calculate the overall storage.

Output

• Repository in GB / TB: Calculates and converts in GB / TB the final value for Repository storage planning.

Summary

• Mailboxes Size GB: Simple Profile only. Converts in GB the size of all mailboxes
• Mailbox Size GB: Advanced Profile only. Converts in GB the size for the average mailbox
• Daily Growth GB: Simple and Archive Profiles only. Show the estimated growth per day on each Mailbox.
• Total Growth GB: Simple and Advanced Profiles. Added to the formula to include the estimated growth for the specified retention period.
• Total Mailbox and Daily GB: Simple and Advanced Profiles. Shows the total storage required for the actual Backup Data stored into the Repository. Does not include the Working Area.
• Work Area GB: Simple and Advanced Profiles. Is the area where Repository database files run and commit the transactions during Backup Jobs and Retention Policy schedules.

Configuration for OneDrive and SharePoint

• OneDrive / SharePoint Current Size GB: Use this filed to specify the current OneDrive / SharePoint storage used
• OneDrive / SharePoint Daily Change Rate GB: Use this field to specify the daily change rate.  From OneDrive / SharePoint storage Report Usage is possible to collect info about starting and ending size in period. Daily change rate can be calculated as:

((Ending Size in period) – (Starting Size in period)) / (number of Days in the period)

This formula provides the daily growth for the intended period.

• Desired Retention: is the period of time for which the content is retained in the Repository before getting deleted by Repository Retention Policy. This value is calculated based on the Daily Growth (Summary section) and the lenght of the Desired Retention period. The final value is automatically displayed on the Summary Expected Growth field.
• Working Area GB: is the additional storage space required to allocate transaction logs and checkpoints. By defualt this value is set to 10% and can be changed to accomodate different requirements. For example environments with large files in OneDrive or SharePoint libraries and list with many item versions.

Output

• Repository in GB / TB: Calculates and converts in GB / TB the final value for Repository storage planning.

Summary

• Total OneDrive / SharePoint Size GB: Includes in Summary the total size in GB of all OneDrive/SharePoint
• Daily Growth GB: Show the estimated growth per day on on the total of OneDrive / SharePoint sites.
• Expected Growth: Total growth expected for all OneDrive / SharePoint sites included in the backup job
• Total OneDrive / SharePoint  and Daily GB: Total space required as the sum of OneDrive / SharePoint sites plus expected incremental for the desired period of retention
• Work Area GB: Is the area where Repository database files run and commit the transactions during Backup Jobs and Retention Policy schedules.

 

Reference

All 365Calc fields:

Doesn’t work? Let me know!

Please don’t shoot me. I’m only the piano player! (cit.). If you find bugs please feel free to report them and I will try to improve the tool for everyone’s benefit. The idea is also to add more features along with more Office 365 solutions getting popular in the market. Chances are these might change the calculation logic in the future due to new configuration maximums. Trying my best to do some testing before any 365Calc Beta or Public release. Indeed a fresh pair of eyes is always welcome!

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