Question

Changing Store Limits in Exchange 2003 SP2

Asked by: gerlis

We have a client running Windows Server 2003 SBS SP2
On their system we have an automated 3rd party driven monitoring syste. IN the last 3 days it has reported:

"The test Exchange Store Size - First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (BRILLIANTSERVER) failed. Additional information : Store size: 18.27GB "

So, yesterday,  I followed the procedure for increasing the size to 25GB from this article (and also a couple of others but this was the most thorough:

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Explaining-Database-size-limit-changes-Exchange-2003-Service-Pack-2.html

All seemd to work OK. I restarted the Information store service and checked the Event logs and they seemed fine. See attached screen shot from the event log for for Event 1216

However this morning our reporting system agan said that the Exchange Store Size was still 18.27Gb. I looked in the logs and you'l see event log 1221 says it only has 4Mb free.

Is our monitoring system misreporting it? Or is there something else that has confused me or I've not done?

Should I tell our client to reduce their mailboxes and delete or archive lots of messages anyway?

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Asked On
2009-09-06 at 13:17:59ID24711320
Topics

Exchange Email Server

,

SBS Small Business Server

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: shauncroucherPosted on 2009-09-06 at 13:26:16ID: 25271350

The first message is reporting that your database can grow to 25GB (so the registry key has worked).

The second message is just reporting how much space in the database is currently free, before Exchange will have to start increasing the size of the database. It's nothing to worry about.

Your databases will grow to 25GB quite happily.

Shaun

 

by: shauncroucherPosted on 2009-09-06 at 13:30:48ID: 25271367

You won't see a reduction in the pysical size of the database without doing an offline defrag, and I wouldn't do that unless you are running very low on general capacity, its not without risks, can cause data loss etc. The 'online' maintenance task will show how much 'free space' is available in the current database, and this is what will increase if you get your users to delete data (after the retention period has expired for the data items of course). This 'free space' is also known as white space, and should be overwritten before the physical size of the database increases.

Shaun

 

by: gerlisPosted on 2009-09-06 at 13:39:52ID: 25271397

Shaun: Many thanks for the explanation.. phew!

We need to find out why our monitoring service is reporting it though. Should I try to find out what it actually looks for on the system to trigger a report (we receive them as emails)?

 

by: Marcel_MPosted on 2009-09-06 at 15:13:35ID: 25271787

what monitoring service you use ?

 

by: gerlisPosted on 2009-09-06 at 15:20:09ID: 25271808

We're in the UK, it's called Hound-Dog.  We use it for several of our clients.

http://hounddogiseasy.com/

I'll check our Control Panel tomorrow (it's late here in London & I'm soon off to bed!) and if necessary call their support.

 

by: shauncroucherPosted on 2009-09-07 at 00:47:23ID: 25273338

Have you tried restaring the services related to the software? I'm not familiar with Hound-Dog I'm afraid.

Shaun

 

by: Marcel_MPosted on 2009-09-07 at 00:54:04ID: 25273360

I'm also not failiar with hound-dog, I'm using kaseya and wrote some scripts to monitor this, my script is comparing the registery setting with the actual size of the data base.
it looks lik hound-dog isn't doing this and just compare to the defaulth setting.
if it is in hound-dog a custom (vb) script I can give you some examples

 

by: gerlisPosted on 2009-09-07 at 01:18:51ID: 25273464

Shaun: "Have you tried restaring the services related to the software?"  It is just a client s/w I don't think it runs as a service, but I will check. Maybe we can just re-start it.

Marcel_M: Your suggestion sound plausible that Hound-dog is only comparing against the default. I'll see what I can find out from Hound-dog support


thanks

 

by: MesthaPosted on 2009-09-07 at 05:23:10ID: 25274522

I use Hounddog myself and have advised them on Exchange configuration tools in the past.
There is a separate configuration setting in their application for the size of the store. You need to change that as well. It is one of the checks.

Simon.

 

by: gerlisPosted on 2009-09-07 at 15:36:09ID: 25277632

Mestha: Yes we had discovered that first thing this morning. It was set to 18Gb we've now increased the threshold to 23Gb. Thanks for confirming it anyway.

We'll see if there are no 'Houndogs' in the morning then I'll award points to all who have helped.

Thanks

 

by: gerlisPosted on 2009-09-09 at 03:22:55ID: 25289695

Thanks, All

Their system now seems OK with the increased Exchange Store.

Points to all

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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