I have users on a SBS 2003 server running Exchange 2003. I noticed this morning that the store.exe process was around 670,000. About an 1 hour later I get a call stating that they are disconnected from the Exchange server. I logged into their server and opened up System Manager and tried to view the server and it said the information store service wasn't running. I checked, and it wasn't, so I started the service and they were connected again. Why would this service stop without logging an error? I wasn't able to locate a warning or anything the service just shut down. Did it run out of memory? They have 4 GB on their server. I ran across an article stating to increase the memory but I am a little hesitant because it said it was not recommended on doing this for front-end servers or on a DC. Also, the users were unable to send or receive email upon reconnecting to the Exchange server, I'm guessing another service shutdown as well. I rebooted the server but I would like to know why this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, Exchange will consume available memory in an effort to create an efficient cache to improve performance. If other processes require memory, Exchange will reduce the size of the cache, reducing the amount of memory it requires. Besides, other application such as SQL also will use store.exe. Please use Process Explorer to check it. You can download the Process Explorer from the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx Meanwhile, please try to check whether McAfee anti-virus is installed on the same machine. You may need to exact the data file location from being scanned by anti-virus application. You can follow the below article to optimize memory usage in Exchange Server 2003 How to optimize memory usage in Exchange Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815372 Besides, please refer to the below knowledge base article: Monitoring programs report that the Store.exe process consumes additional memory after you install Exchange Server 2003 SP1 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=867628 Why is Exchange Store.exe so RAM hungry? http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/08/02/206012.aspx Update for Windows Small Business Server 2003: KB 843539 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0FE89C95-E767-428C-8621-6A586C655EE3&displaylang=en Hope it helps. Xiu

Thank you that was very helpful. I appreciate your response. I'm starting to not like SBS. After all the research I have done I keep reading never to put Exchange or SQL on a DC. Why does SBS come with these already installed? Are they just so trimmed down that they are able to run adaquetly? Currently I have a 5 person office who is just getting started and they have already outgrown their accounting package (which uses SQL express). We didn't anticipate them growning that quickly but this server only has 4 GB of memory and I keep seeing processes go through the roof. I would like to have them get another server so I can throw their SQL on a second server. I just do not understand SBS I suppose.

Hi, Its my pleasure. J Besides, with SBS 2003 premier edition, you can select to not install SQL. You can have a look at the installation guide of SBS 2003. Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sbs/2003/plan/gsg/default.mspx Besides, if you frequently use SQL (data read or write) and Exchange, then the performance of Exchange would be affected. It should depend on the hardware. You can use Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer tool. Description of the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer tool http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439/en-us Windows Small Business Server technet library http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc514417.aspx Hope it helps. Xiu

Awesome! I'll look over these. Again I appreciate your assistance with this!