Exchange 2003 server which is not freeing up .log files even after sucessful backup using net backup. Event log states:Event Type: ErrorEvent Source: ESEEvent Category: General Event ID: 485Date: 3/11/2010Time: 11:04:54 PMUser: N/AComputer: XXXXYYYYYDescription:Information Store (3708) Remote Users: An attempt to delete the file "D:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Remote Users\E023ACB9.log" failed with system error 5 (0x00000005): "Access is denied. ". The delete file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8). Then get.....Event Type: InformationEvent Source: ESEEvent Category: Logging/Recovery Event ID: 213Date: 3/11/2010Time: 11:04:54 PMUser: N/AComputer: XXXXYYYYYDescription:Information Store (3708) Remote Users: The backup procedure has been successfully completed. I came across the following from technet about this: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/transform.aspx?ProdName=Exchange&ProdVer=8.0&EvtID=485&EvtSrc=ESE&LCID=1033 Forefrount is our virus scann and I made sure that it is excluding the datastores for exchange. Using process explorer it shows that the above log file (which was created 2/15/2010) handle is held open by the System process.Sometimes you can terminate the handle and the next nights backup will process and clean up the log files. Other times the handle shows up again or it processes some of the log files and then stops on another log file.We have 5 other exchange servers and they are all suffering from various degrees of this problem.Running Exchange ver: 6.5.7638.1 on Windows 2003 SP 2 fully service patched.Is this the Exchange service which is keeping the log file locked; is there a way to know more specifically than system process to know what owns the handle? Also is there a way to manually tell the exchange server to clean up log files without having to run a backup agains the server?Thanks for your help and time.Larry

You will need to have AV exclude from not just the database folder but the logs and also the exchange\bin folder. For example, AV might be scanning a file in the bin directory and that file might be writing to the log.

Hi, Let us know is it single MBX server or it is in CCR model. Are you running VSS backups or regular Exchange API backups? There was an issue with running VSS and store backups in the same job... There is some issue in CCR model log purging issue and it purge log file in passive node only if logs are replicated in other node. http://support.microsoft.com/?id=258243 http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/06/21/161564.aspx http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/06/25/166104.aspx Anil

Hi,It's a good practice to run the full backup to purge the logs.Sometimes the Online maintenance may cause the problem. Please disable the Online maintenance or Reschedule it to make a test.Frank Wang

Hi Larry, How about your question now? Any updates?Frank Wang