npanprome
asked on
Can't create mailbox store on network drive
Dear Exprts,
I have a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2, We are kind of running out of space now
I was thinking to defrag the database but it's was too much down time
so I was going to share network drive on my file server (have 860gb)
and create a temporary mailbox store move all the user from the main mailbox store
when I trying to create a mailbox store on my network drive I got an error said
"The Specified destination frie is not a fixed drive, please advice can I create mailbox store on network drive? if can how do I do it? if not is there anyway else ?
Thank you
Natt
I have a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2, We are kind of running out of space now
I was thinking to defrag the database but it's was too much down time
so I was going to share network drive on my file server (have 860gb)
and create a temporary mailbox store move all the user from the main mailbox store
when I trying to create a mailbox store on my network drive I got an error said
"The Specified destination frie is not a fixed drive, please advice can I create mailbox store on network drive? if can how do I do it? if not is there anyway else ?
Thank you
Natt
ASKER
my mailbox storage drive cap (174gb) currently have only 6gb left
the database is 160gb,
how do I check the white space in the database? (we clear out lot's of email and purge lot's of user mailbox for the pass 2 yrs) but the reutention date = 365
If I change the reutention date = 0 will this help? will it bring back some of my space?
or can I build another exchange server then move all the mailbox there?
please advice, thank you
Natt
the database is 160gb,
how do I check the white space in the database? (we clear out lot's of email and purge lot's of user mailbox for the pass 2 yrs) but the reutention date = 365
If I change the reutention date = 0 will this help? will it bring back some of my space?
or can I build another exchange server then move all the mailbox there?
please advice, thank you
Natt
Event ID 1221 will tell you how much white space is in the store.
You have a retention date of 365 for what? Deleted items or deleted mailboxes?
If deleted items, that is very high. I would suggest reducing it. Not down to 0, but maybe down to 40 or 60 days. You will not see an increase in white space for two days, but it will arrive eventually.
Long term another server might be a better option, allow you to spread the load. A new single server with more storage might be an idea. You are using Enterprise edition, so if you purchased a new server and an external storage unit, then configured multiple arrays, multiple databases you would get things down to much more manageable size. A 160 store is just crazy, but you cannot do much with it for now, as you don't have the space. I try to keep databases below 50gb, remember that you can have four databases per SG, and four SGs, so you can have 16 mailbox databases - or 800gb of mail on a single server (storage permitting).
Simon.
You have a retention date of 365 for what? Deleted items or deleted mailboxes?
If deleted items, that is very high. I would suggest reducing it. Not down to 0, but maybe down to 40 or 60 days. You will not see an increase in white space for two days, but it will arrive eventually.
Long term another server might be a better option, allow you to spread the load. A new single server with more storage might be an idea. You are using Enterprise edition, so if you purchased a new server and an external storage unit, then configured multiple arrays, multiple databases you would get things down to much more manageable size. A 160 store is just crazy, but you cannot do much with it for now, as you don't have the space. I try to keep databases below 50gb, remember that you can have four databases per SG, and four SGs, so you can have 16 mailbox databases - or 800gb of mail on a single server (storage permitting).
Simon.
Changing the deleted items retention time to zero won't make the file any smaller. You will look at the event log for evend it 1221. This is what tells you how much free space there is in the store. After (up to) a couple of days you will see the amount of free space leap up. This means that your file will stay the same size for a very long time - until the users fill it back up again.
However, none of this will solve your problems. Your store is a little large and would take a good long time to restore. As you know, you can't do an offline defrag locally because you don't have any space unless you can plug in a big USB2 disk to be the temporary location for the file.
Now, whilst the idea of using a network drive isn't supported and isn't a good idea you can indeed still do it. There are two ways.
1) use the /t switch on the eseutil and specify the temporary location.
2) follow http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244525 to copy the store to the location and do the defrag on there instead. You don't have to have Exchange on the box to defrag a store.
However, none of this will solve your problems. Your store is a little large and would take a good long time to restore. As you know, you can't do an offline defrag locally because you don't have any space unless you can plug in a big USB2 disk to be the temporary location for the file.
Now, whilst the idea of using a network drive isn't supported and isn't a good idea you can indeed still do it. There are two ways.
1) use the /t switch on the eseutil and specify the temporary location.
2) follow http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244525 to copy the store to the location and do the defrag on there instead. You don't have to have Exchange on the box to defrag a store.
ASKER
Dear Simon,
We have it setup for both deleted items and deleted mailbox,
I look at the event viewer it said "The database "First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (EXCHANGE)" has 63 megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated."
Dear czc,
The idea deflag exchange database out side exchange server sound interesting but after I finish deflag the databse on the scratch drive how do I link it back to the original exchange server?
Natt
We have it setup for both deleted items and deleted mailbox,
I look at the event viewer it said "The database "First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (EXCHANGE)" has 63 megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated."
Dear czc,
The idea deflag exchange database out side exchange server sound interesting but after I finish deflag the databse on the scratch drive how do I link it back to the original exchange server?
Natt
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End of story.
As for your idea on defragging the store, how much white space is in the database? Exchange should use that first, before the physical size of the store increases.
You are going to have to increase the size of the local storage on that server.
Simon.