Hi, I started working for a small non profit organization recently and they are running exchange 2003 sbs. Yesterday the store was dismounted because the database reached the max limit. We had people archive their emails and delete anything they don't need and maybe shaved 10 GB worth of space and we are continuing to archive more emails to shave another 10-15 GB. We made the deleted items retention to zero days. Still we get this error Exchange store 'First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (xxxx)': The logical size of this database (the logical size equals the physical size of the .edb file and the .stm file minus the logical free space in each) is 70 GB. This database size has exceeded the size limit of 70 GB. If the logical size of this database is not reduced to less than the maximum size limit, this database will be dismounted the next time a database size check is performed. I thought once the online defragmentation is done, the database size will go down by the amount we deleted from users mailboxes. Just checking the size of the users mailboxes from the exchange manager, the total is around 60 How can we reduce the size without offline defragmentation? Or is it a must? Any help or suggestion is much appreciated. Thanks

An offline defrag is a waste of time, as it will not reduce the database by very much. The new method of enforcing the database size takes in to account the white space. The most common cause is deleted item retention. If you have that set for 30 days, then the amount of content removed will not be reflected in the amount of white space until 30 days + 1 have passed after its removal. You can reduce the deleted item retention period, but you will still need to wait before it reflects in the white space. You also have another 5gb, as the actual limit is 75gb, not 70gb. The registry just needs to be modified and the store restarted. Don't waste your time adding up the mailboxes, as that isn't accurate. http://blog.sembee.co.uk/post/Exchan...nd-Limits.aspx Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources

Thanks Simon. We have already set the retention persiod to zero days and increased the limit to 75GB. Also, I just saw this in the events log The database "First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (xxx)" has 52 megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated. But looking at the physical database location, it shows that the edb and stm files combined is 73.2GB. Will this cause the store to be dismounted again tomorrow morning once the database size check is performed? Thanks

If you restart the information store service then it will report the database size. Do remember that it is only a soft enforcement - therefore even if the database dismounts, you can simply remount it again. How long ago was the data removed and then DIR time set to 0? It can take more than one pass to get the white space available. Plus, due to the way that Exchange stores the data, you will never get all of the space that you think you will back. Ultimately at some point a move to Exchange 2007 or higher will be required, as those don't have database limits (well the do, but they are measured in TB - hit those limits and you have bigger problems to worry about). Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources

Hi Simon, Thank you again for your help. We started deleting data 2 days ago but the retention was only set yesterday. I will restart the server tonight and see what we get when the size check is performed in the morning. I know this is only a soft enforncment but it requires me to be up around 5 am (west coast) to mount the store again and before the east coast staff start complaing that they can't get their emails...(-: I'm hoping we will get our budget approved to migrate to either 2007 or 2010 exchange server. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again.