Exchange 2000 Database defrag

Hi hardybarlow,
XADM: How to Defragment with the Eseutil Utility (Eseutil.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;192185

XADM: How to Defragment Exchange 2000 Server Databases
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;328804

PeteL

thanks Pete,

I was looking for more real life experience of the product. Things to do and no do, things to look out for, success of the tool, any pre and post operatrions.

Have you successfully defraged an Exchange 2000 databases before? Was it a success?

Ive never run defrag on a production E2K server it impedes the performance and Im not conviced it makes much of a difference.

I prefer to maintain mailbox limits to stop my users, using the Exchnge system as their "filing system" - all exchange admins are now smiling - cause everybody does it

If I were you I would see who your worst offenders are and educate them as to the fact, that exchange and outlook are peices of communication software - windows "my documents is the place for your 256 page pdf printer user guides" :0)

I prefer this method to ENFORCING mailbox limits, because two seconds after you ENFORCE them you will find out the worst offenders are the cheif executives and directors of your comapany, and you will be turning it off sharpish.

also backing up huge 2K databases is not good ju-ju, most backup software dosnt like backing up mailbox's "brick level" if they are huge which means you have to back it up as a whole - BAD

These are just my personal thoughts, Im sure there will be other guys along who have run Eseutil and swear by it.

best wishes

Pete

"Ive never run defrag on a production E2K server it impedes the performance and Im not conviced it makes much of a difference."

If I may elaborate, Pete...eseutil, in my opinion should only be used when needed, not as a regular maintenance. the difference it can make depends on what problems you're having, it creates an entire new database, re-indexes the pointers and reclaims any "white space" in the database, then copies that new database back into the correct folder. Just an FYI, (my 2 cents worth)

D

Pete, I'm in the process of educating users.

Once we've addressed the main offenders I want to reduce the database size and enforce a mailbox limit. Then they will have no option other than to perform regular housekeeping.

Kidego, I'm approaching my 16gb limit. I'm gonna get users to delete/pst a lot of info.

I then want to defrag the database to reduce it's size. Is this the best method anf the right situation to reduce E2K database size?

I believe there are event logs detailing how much free space you will get if you Defrag, what are they? Also, how can you tell if your Exchange maintenance is working correctly?

What is the command line and switch(s) for the Eseutil command and are there any pre or post tasks to take into consideration....

Apologies for amount of questions......

Thanks for the feedaback Kidego - allways a pleasure

Pete

no problem..

d

Thanks Guys,

Your comments confirmed I was nearly there, just looking for a bit of re-assurance.

I've set the online maintenance to run every night between 3am and 7am and it's currently indicating 1.5gb of free space.

I'm gonna dismount the databade and run the eseutil rather than the exmerge util.

I'd like to use the /p switch as well as /d if poss. I understand that you need the disk space to run it but is this better than running just the /d on it's own?

no, NEVER USE /P, unless your database is corrupted. Yours is not, unless it cannot be backed up, in which case you may have corruption, but you'd still need to run eseutil /g to determine that.

D

I thought using the /P switch informs the ESEUTIL to make a de-fragmented copy of the database as opposed to de-fragmenting and overwriting the original.....

no, /P is a repair, and when a repair is performed, data loss is guaranteed. How much you never know. I won't get into the specifics of what it does, but I doubt if it's anything you need to do at this point. /d is defrag, /g is integrity check, /mh is database consistency check, /mk is a .chk file check, and /ml verifies the log signature matches the database (i think)

D

I'm in the EXACT same position as hardy....
1.) When using Exmerge, will that make a seperate .pst file for every user on the box?  Where will these files be placed by default?
2.) Will online defrag of the database reclaim space or do you HAVE to run ESEUTIL /d....?

Thanks.

1.) When using Exmerge, will that make a seperate .pst file for every user on the box?  Where will these files be placed by default?===Yes, it will make a separate file based on the alias. It has a default location of C:\exmergedata, but you can change it during the process.
2.) Will online defrag of the database reclaim space or do you HAVE to run ESEUTIL /d....?===Nope, to get the disk space back, the database must be compressed offline.

D