Exchange Database size help
I'm running Server 08 on a Proliant server. This is my first time managing an exchange server, and I am currently having issues with space. My server is running exchange 2007. My problem is this: about a week ago, my server stopped sending/receiving emails. I logged into it, and got a message that my drive with the exchange databases was out of space. I went in and cleaned up some stuff that wasn't needed anymore, and it worked for another week. Then I got the same message again. Now I'm scrambling to try to find a fix. This server was configured before I came on as an IT Administrator. It is set up with two databases, one for the first storage group (mailbox database) and another for the second storage group (public folder database). These databases are on my T drive and are listed as exchange database and exchange database2. There are a ton of text files in these folders and each folder is over 300GB in size. The public folder database.edb sits at 42 MB, while the mailbox database.edb sits at 22 GB. The T drive only has 683 GB total, with 1.4GB currently available. NEED HELP ASAP. thanks, Sean
October 24th, 2012 9:08am

1. Enable circular logging on the mailbox database. 2. Take a coffee break. If you don't see free space increased significantly when you come back, proceed with next step. 3. Arrange a down time. Dismount the mailbox database, then move a few of those text files (are you sure they are text file?) to another folder in the same drive. Now mount the database. 3a. If nothing goes wrong, move the text files to other drive. You can move other text files also. 3b. If you can't mount it back, move the "text files" back and mount. 4. Good luck!
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October 24th, 2012 9:25am

Hello, To reduce the logs, You can 1. Fully back up the Exchange server or 2. Enable circular logging. As Li Zhen mentions, enabling circular logging will reduce your database substantially. Taking into account that the mailbox is only 22 GB and the public is only 42 MB, you likely have a substantial amount of log files. Please keep in mind that before enabling circular logging, you should make a backup of the Exchange server using Windows Backup since the log files are required for restoration. There is a caveat when you enable circular logging: In circular logging, the oldest logs are eventually overwritten as they're phased out. Therefore, circular logging makes it impossible to run incremental backups on Exchange Server stores. Really though, should back up the server periodically (at least weekly) as a way of keeping the log files from growing out of control. This is a better method than circular logging. This article explains it all: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb331951(v=exchg.80).aspx Once you complete a full backup, you should get back that disk space. Since the log files are numerous, this first backup may take a very long time.I would not recommend messing around with the log files manually. Miguel Fra | Falcon IT Services, Miami, FL www.falconitservices.com | www.falconits.com | Blog
October 24th, 2012 9:37am

Are you maybe inferring that the .log files are text files? They are very definitely NOT text files. Having a large number of log files is indicative that you aren't getting successful backups of the server. A simple full backup should remove most all of the .log files. If it doesn't, then there should be entries in the application event log indicating why the logs were not truncated. If you actually think that you are backing up the server, then either it is actually failing or you are not doing it correctly. You do not want to backup mailboxes individually, you want to do Exchange, the application and not the files or folders. You must use a backup application that supports Exchange 2007. The native Windows backup will, but when you configure it, you must see it performing Exchange functions.Ed
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October 24th, 2012 11:14am

There are a ton of text files in these folders and each folder is over 300GB in size. thanks, Sean These are log files. They show up as file type TEXT FILES although they have a .log extension. Miguel Fra | Falcon IT Services, Miami, FL www.falconitservices.com | www.falconits.com | Blog
October 24th, 2012 12:24pm

Yes, those "text" files are almost certainly log files. Do you happen to know if backups had been configured? No backup running is the most likely cause for all those files. You can see when the last backup was run (if ever) by looking at the properties of the mailbox database: http://www.andersonpatricio.org/Tutoriais/Exchange2007/ap0915_04.pngPlease mark as helpful if you find my contribution useful or as an answer if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.
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October 24th, 2012 10:05pm

You must use a backup application that supports Exchange 2007. The native Windows backup will, but when you configure it, you must see it performing Exchange functions. ---- With Exchange 2007, you'll need SP3 to backup Exchange using the native Windows "ntbackup" program. Which may or may not be the case here.Please mark as helpful if you find my contribution useful or as an answer if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.
October 24th, 2012 10:09pm

So, here's the update. I ran a full backup using win server backup last night. It completed successfully, but did not clear up the space for some reason. But, I couldn't figure out how to get it to perform Exchange functions. So, this morning, since i have a full backup, I changed over to circular logging, and it completely cleared up all that space. I'm back to having 600+ GB free. I do run backup exec every night, successfully, but apparently it had never been set up to do the exchange stuff. So, i'm going to try to get it set up correctly then I plan on turning off circular logging. I've already done some research and it looks like I'll have to install some add-ons to backup exec, but it sounds fairly painless. Thank you all for your help on this!!!!!!
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October 25th, 2012 8:01am

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