Exchange 2003 server's system drive shrinking
We installed Exchange 2003 on a data drive, not the system drive, but the system drive continues to shrink. We continue to save & clear eventlog files and any other files we can delete or move, but it continues to shrink. We don't see this happening on any other servers. Other server system drives stay fairly constant; all have the same anti-virus software, so we don't think it's the pattern files growing. The server is a Dell PowerEdge 2850 installed 4 years ago. The C: drive is a 12GB partition with only 821MB free (all new server installs we increase the system drive) . The data drive is a 261GB partition with 241GB free. The OS is Windows 2003 SP1. We don't have room to install SP2. Exchange 2003 SP2 version 6.5.7638.1. We have less than 70 mailboxes, so the db isn't large and it is all on the data drive not the system drive: the priv1.edb = 6,693,320KB, pub1.edb = 1,389,640KB, priv1.stm = 5,224,456KB.Is there somehting within the operation of Exchange 2003 that would continue to take up room on the system drive even though it was installed on another partition? At the rate it's been shrinking we'll be out of room on that drive in less than 2 months.Tim
February 11th, 2010 10:15pm

Ok. Where have you got the exchangse server log files??? Can you check if you have them in the System drive?- Nagesh
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February 12th, 2010 1:45am

There are a number of log files on the system drive. There is 2 edb.log; one under Windows\datastore\logs (128kb); the other under Windows\security\logs (1,024kb). There are number under Program Files\Exchsrvr\mtadata, but none are over 257kb and most are 0kb. Those are the only ones that I see have to do with Exchange. There are numerous log files starting with ex followed by a date configured as 091212 for 12/22/2009 and so forth. Those are all under the System32\W3SVC1. Is the "ex" refering to Exchange? Is there a way to have Exchange log those elsewhere?Tim
February 12th, 2010 2:41am

Tim-There's a free utility called TreeSizeFree you can download and run to see what's consuming disk space. I'd start there.Active Directory, 4th Edition - www.briandesmond.com/ad4/
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February 12th, 2010 4:30am

I would suggest looking at your Page File, if its located on C: then its most likely the culprit. I would move it to a larger partition. I would also suggest looking at some repartitioning software if you cannot free any additional space on C:.MVP Exchange Server
February 12th, 2010 6:05am

This certainly helped! I should of thought of that sooner. It buys us some time, but it's not what is chewing up the bytes. I think it may have to do with the log files that Nagesh recommended looking into. It does appear that there are years of log files in the System32 directory that appear to be related to Exchange. I don't know if it safe to delete them and if there is a way for Exchange to starting logging elsewhere.Tim
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February 12th, 2010 11:20am

Thanks, I'll check that out.Tim
February 12th, 2010 11:21am

I found what may be contributing the the chewing up of the system drive. I followed some the suggestions given; I moved the paging file; I searched for Exchange log files.It was while searching for these files that I found 4.21GB of log files in the System32\W3SVC1 all starting with an ex followed by a date. I verified that we didn't turn on logging for SMTP which puts log files here by default. Then I found some information stating that Exchange Server ActiveSync requests get recorded in that folder. We do use the mobile function of Exchange.What I haven't been able to discover is: are these files safe to delete? Can Exchange be directed to store them somewhere else?Tim
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February 12th, 2010 12:06pm

You can delete the logs in System32\W3Svc1. They're the IIS request logs. They also compress well if you think you'll ever need to refer back to them. If youw ant to change where they go, go in IIS (Start>run>inetmgr), pull the properties of the Default WebSite, and towards the bottomof one of the tabs (Might be the first one) is a logging button where you can change where they're stored.Active Directory, 4th Edition - www.briandesmond.com/ad4/
February 12th, 2010 9:40pm

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