asked on

Move Exchange Server mdbdata or log files

Up til now our mailserver has stored its data on the same drive as the OS. Because the drive is filling up, I installed a new drive (D). I now want to move the logs or the data to that drive, as I understand that it's better to separate those two.

1) Can I just go to the First Storage Group > properties, and click on the browse-button for the transaction log location, change that to the new drive, and that's it? (We use only one storage group, one private and one public store. I suppose moving the FS Group is the same as moving just one store.)
2) Will this have consequences for people using the mailserver at that time? Or do I have to disconnect the server, or stop some services?
3) Does it make a difference to move the log or the data (system path location)? What is better? I suppose the new drive is a bit faster, but am not sure. (I've read it's better to separate mdbdata and log files in case one disk crashes.)

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

ikm7176

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

grexx

ASKER

Thanks for your long answer. I forgot to tell we use Exchange 2000 on W2K, but that doesn't seem really important. We have quite a small network, one mailserver, one storage group, one store. We don't have a raid at the moment, not on this server anyway. (The disks are SCSI, but different in size, and I believe that won't work in a raid.)

I know the domain is installed on the mailserver as well, and the domain is mirrored on another server. (I don't know if this is common practice.) I haven't set up this network, but I've been told this would make a copy of all exchange data on the other server. I can't find any files on that server though.

I moved the log files to the other disk, after I made a full backup. This all was done really quickly, so quickly that I wondered if it even happened at all. But the files have moved, so I guess it's okay. I kept the other files on the original drive. With the backup and logs I can recreate all data. The backup is scheduled daily, and the backupfile is copied to tape the next day. I suppose this should be enough, or am I missing something?

NB: Changing everything to raid would be a very big operation, and is not an option, involving too much risks (as I'm not an experienced Windows network admin), and my manager probably wouldn't aprove (if it works and if we have backups, that's good enough).