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SBS 2003 Partition Sizes
Posted on 2004-09-17
I am currently running SBS 2003 on a RAID 5 (hardware) server. I have two partitions ... C:(OS) is 10 GB and D:(DATA) is 24 GB. I have set all Exchange DBs to store on the D: drive.
My problem is that C: is down to 400 MB, and seems to be decreasing everyday. I cannot determine what is eating up the disk space. I thought about the paging file, which is set for initial 1920 MB and max 3840 MB (I have 1.25 GB RAM). Should I decrease this file size?
I have PowerQuest Volume Manager 2.0 which I used for Windows Server 2000, but it will not run on SBS 2003. So I cannot resize the partitions at this point.
I'd like for all databases, programs, etc to be located on D: drive. We only have 12 employees here so I figured 36GB should be plenty of space.
Any idea what is causing my disk shortage, and any suggestions to fix the problem? The lack of Volume Manager is now restricting me. Any other tools to resize partitions?
My problem is that C: is down to 400 MB, and seems to be decreasing everyday. I cannot determine what is eating up the disk space. I thought about the paging file, which is set for initial 1920 MB and max 3840 MB (I have 1.25 GB RAM). Should I decrease this file size?
I have PowerQuest Volume Manager 2.0 which I used for Windows Server 2000, but it will not run on SBS 2003. So I cannot resize the partitions at this point.
I'd like for all databases, programs, etc to be located on D: drive. We only have 12 employees here so I figured 36GB should be plenty of space.
Any idea what is causing my disk shortage, and any suggestions to fix the problem? The lack of Volume Manager is now restricting me. Any other tools to resize partitions?
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7 Comments
If you have Exchnage insalled on C: it's log files would be doing the trick, Iwould do a search using *.* on c: and sort by size and then have a look what is causing it, to move the log files follow this link
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=821915&product=exch2003
the other thing to check is are your backups working properly, as they would be responsible for deleting the exchange logs
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=821915&product=exch2003
the other thing to check is are your backups working properly, as they would be responsible for deleting the exchange logs
Moving the logs freed up about 25 MB. Using the search method, I found memory.dmp and user.dmp files that were about 1.3 GB and 65 MB and deleted them.
I will wait now to see if these changes stop my "storage leak".
I will wait now to see if these changes stop my "storage leak".
36GB is really NOT enough space when you have 12 employees, if you want to use the redundancies built into SBS. Consider that the default quota for each person is about 1GB, so that takes up what you would think to be 12GB right there. But then consider discarded email retention as well as Volume Shadow Copy. These wonderful features can take up a fair amount of storage depending on how you've configured them.
You can see the settings for these by running the "Modify Storage for Deleted Files and Emails Wizard" found under Backup in the Server Management Console.
Personally, I wouldn't install anything less than 80GB on an SBS (even for my clients that have only one or two users. The cost difference is nothing when you compare it to managing tight storage availability, not to mention the inconvenience to the employees and time wasted in managing an avoidable problem.
FYI, my own SBS at home currently has 28GB in use -- and I have only 2 client computers attached.
Of course the best solution would be to buy bigger drives. However, in the mean tim you may want to see about converting your drives into Dynamic Volumes. I did this for one client using a Raid 1, and it works very nicely. That would keep you from having to move the partitions right away. Also, moving the Exchange Store and User Shared Files off of the system partition is always recommended.
Good luck!
Jeff
TechSoEasy
You can see the settings for these by running the "Modify Storage for Deleted Files and Emails Wizard" found under Backup in the Server Management Console.
Personally, I wouldn't install anything less than 80GB on an SBS (even for my clients that have only one or two users. The cost difference is nothing when you compare it to managing tight storage availability, not to mention the inconvenience to the employees and time wasted in managing an avoidable problem.
FYI, my own SBS at home currently has 28GB in use -- and I have only 2 client computers attached.
Of course the best solution would be to buy bigger drives. However, in the mean tim you may want to see about converting your drives into Dynamic Volumes. I did this for one client using a Raid 1, and it works very nicely. That would keep you from having to move the partitions right away. Also, moving the Exchange Store and User Shared Files off of the system partition is always recommended.
Good luck!
Jeff
TechSoEasy
I have another server (no hardware RAID) with 120 GB storage. It used to function as a backup domain controller, but now that I have SBS it is sitting idle (I'm surprised you can't have a backup domain controller with SBS). If I were to reformat, install W2K Server, and move all user mailbox stores to this second server, would I take a signficant performance hit? Currently the Exchange store is on the D: partition of the SBS server, not the system partition.
Also, I have a third server with 200+ GB for network file storage, so we do not use User Shared Files and do no file sharing with the SBS server.
Also, I have a third server with 200+ GB for network file storage, so we do not use User Shared Files and do no file sharing with the SBS server.
First, you can ABSOLUTELY have a backup domain controller with SBS, or have two backups if you want... the SBS just needs to be the PRIMARY DC.
Second, I know you can't separate out Exchange to another box, and would be doubtful if you could put the store on another box... but why would you want to? Why not take the 120GB drive and pop it into the SBS? Assuming that your motherboard still has an available IDE controller, adding another drive to the server would be a great idea. You could also put your swap file on that drive which would free up enough from your C drive to give you breathing room.
Although files on that drive wouldn't be protected by the RAID, it does help get you more space without any additional cost.
I'm a bit confused about your last comment regarding the third server... do you have your user's My Documents folder redirected to that server? If not, you really should consider doing that so you can take advantage of the Shadow Copy feature which allows recovery of previous file versions. But since you aren't keeping data files on the SBS, adding teh 120GB drive should be plenty to keep you going!
Good Luck!
Jeff
TechSoEasy
Second, I know you can't separate out Exchange to another box, and would be doubtful if you could put the store on another box... but why would you want to? Why not take the 120GB drive and pop it into the SBS? Assuming that your motherboard still has an available IDE controller, adding another drive to the server would be a great idea. You could also put your swap file on that drive which would free up enough from your C drive to give you breathing room.
Although files on that drive wouldn't be protected by the RAID, it does help get you more space without any additional cost.
I'm a bit confused about your last comment regarding the third server... do you have your user's My Documents folder redirected to that server? If not, you really should consider doing that so you can take advantage of the Shadow Copy feature which allows recovery of previous file versions. But since you aren't keeping data files on the SBS, adding teh 120GB drive should be plenty to keep you going!
Good Luck!
Jeff
TechSoEasy
That's good advice ... I guess I was held up by a concern of not being RAID protected on another drive, but it seems to make the most sense.
The third server is a NAS box from Dell. We are an engineering firm and use it to store all of our client data, such as CAD drawings, specifications, etc. All users' My Documents are kept on their local machines and are for personal use only.
Thanks for both of your help. I will split points up for both of you.
The third server is a NAS box from Dell. We are an engineering firm and use it to store all of our client data, such as CAD drawings, specifications, etc. All users' My Documents are kept on their local machines and are for personal use only.
Thanks for both of your help. I will split points up for both of you.
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