How Long do transaction Logs last on Exchange 2003?
I am wondering how long does the transaction log files last? If you go to the System Manager, and try and search for emails that came in 90 days ago, nothing shows up. Is it a 60 days limit for how long you can search emails that have gone into your inbox or 30 days? Can you set the number of days before the logs are wiped away in terms of searching for emails in Systems Manager of Exchange? Thanks!
April 15th, 2008 2:28am

I think you are talking about Message Tracking available in Exchange System Manager -> Tools -> Message Tracking Center. By default it is configured 7 days. It can be configured in two ways. 1. Individually on server. Right Click on Server in ESM -> Properties -> Remove Files older than (days) -> change the desired days here. 2. Create a server policy and assign it on list of servers How to Create a Server Policy Make sure that you have enough space at mentioned path in this setting.
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April 15th, 2008 6:50am

Yes I am talking about Message Tracking in Exchange System Manager... Sorry for the confusion. I thought that in order for the message tracking to work it relied on the Transaction logs for history information?Please correct me if I am wrong. If I am wrong, what is the main difference between these two log types? Thank you.
April 15th, 2008 7:09am

Message tracking doesnt depend on transaction logs. Message tracking logs are used to track the full route path for all messages in your organization which involves flow in various components of exchange and will be stored in text file format and ESM will use the same to track it trough Message Tracking Center. Transaction logs are used to save the information before changes are made to an Exchangedatabase file (edb & stm files).Exchangewrites the changes to a transaction log file firstand after a change has been safely logged, it can then be written to the database file. It is common for these changes to become available to end users just after the changes have been secured to the transaction log, but before they have been written to the database file. More info about Transaction logs: Understanding Transaction Logging
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April 15th, 2008 8:21am

Thanks Amit Tank for your wealth of Exchange Knowledge! Much appreciated.Sport
April 15th, 2008 6:16pm

Hi Amit, how come when I go to the individual Exchange server and Right Click on Server in ESM -> Properties -> Remove Files older than (days) -> change the desired days here,iIt is greyed out?I am logged in as the Enterprise Admin but I can't seem to check or uncheck it because it is greyed out?
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April 15th, 2008 6:38pm

Then Server policy must be applied on it and you need to change server policy. Go to Administrative Groups -> Admin Group Name -> System Policies, you can find all server policies here, check which one is applied on your desired server and change it but be advisedit changes the setting on all servers wherever it applies. So if you want to change on one or set of servers then create a new policy and move those servers to there. How to Create a Server Policy
April 16th, 2008 4:04am

Again Thank you Amit, you are right with the above statement ^, you've been very helpful! One thing though, I have 4 exchange servers, each sitting at different locations (physcially), I couldn't find the Server Policy that held the configurations under my Administrative Group (AG), so I had to dig around in the other 3 AG, is there a way to know exactly where this (an Exchange configuration setting)Server Policy is located (next time I need tothis information)via a command on a cmd window or do I have to dig around and find it the hard way the next time around?
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April 16th, 2008 6:12pm

Exchange configuration stores in Configuration partition of Active Directory. You can use ADSIEdit.msc utility which is available in Windows Support Tools to see the configuration partition. Be careful while using it, small misuse/mistake may give you big problem. Open ADSIEdit.msc browse the server at below path and open the properties of server. CN=<ServerName>,CN=Servers,CN=<AdminGroupName>,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=<ExchangeOrganizationName>,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=<DomainName>,DC=com There you can find msExchPolicyList attribute, which gives you the path of policies applied on the server. Example of policy path, CN=<Policy Name>,CN=<AdminGroupName>,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=<ExchangeOrganizationName>,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=<DomainName>,DC=com
April 17th, 2008 6:04am

Thank you Amit! Very useful info! Sport
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April 17th, 2008 11:02pm

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