0 Hello all, I have a stand alone E2003 server that is attached to a NAS device via iSCSI. I created two LUNs on the NAS for Exchange, for Data and Logs. I attached these two LUNs to the Exchange and everything is fine. I made the data drive M: and the log drive L:. When I installed Exchange I put all binaries, DBs and logs on the NAS. Now my questions are: 1. Was it a mistake to have the data drive as M:? If yes, do I run that script to change the IFS drive letter to another letter? 2. Is there any way to move the binaries and\or DBs off the M: drive and put it to another LUN? Any feedback would be great. Thanks!

This should help you. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821836

I wouldn't have put the application on the external storage personally. No benefit to doing so. Have the application files stored locally. Unfortuantely the only way to move the application now is to remove Exchange and reinstall it. That will cause significant headaches with downtime and possible data loss. Exchange 2003 doesn't use the M: drive itself, so using M for your data shouldn't cause any problems. If you want to change the drive letter you would need to create a new drive, then move the database through ESM to that location so that all internal settings are moved correctly. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources

Thanks for the link. I did review this link before. But my concern is does E2003 still use the M: drive in the background still? Does my mapping the DBs to the M: on the drive array cause E2003 to falter? Is this still a concern? Thanks for the feedback.

Yes thanks for the feedback. Yes I know now that I should have kept the binaries locally to the server. As for reinstalling, that is not an option and will be only be considered as a last resort. I read some articles on moving the Exchange binaries, but haven't read much on someone actually doing it and the issues if any that they came across. I was thinking of moving the DBs to another LUN and changing the pointers in ADSIEDIT to the new location. But my biggest concern is does E2003 still use the M: drive in the background somewhere. Every now and then, the IS service will stop unexpectedly. Faulting store.exe to store.exe, which are the same version. Another tech mentioned it was because of the M: I am using for the DBs. I just want to clear this issue of IS crashing for some unknown reason. If it is the M: drive then I should move it another LUN, correct?

I remember you can change this setting , though it is not used in Exchange 2003 , even then if you want you can change it to another drive letter.

There may well be something in Exchange from the days of the M drive support. You can certainly put it back in again on Exchange 2003, so it is probably something avoided. I would therefore be looking to move the data to another drive letter. I wouldn't want to change the drive letter under Exchange, as that will cause a problem with getting the locations correct afterwards. It is best to allow Exchange to do any location move. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources