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Are the edbxxxxx.log files in C:\WINDOWS\system32\CertLog safe to delete?

I have a disk space problem arising on my exchange server and have noticed that there are 2GB worth of edbxxxx.log files in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\CertLog directory folder. Some/most of these have a "Date modified" date that is sometimes over 3 years old.

Is it safe to delete some of these older files or is there another process that should be used to remove them in a safer manner?

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Randy_Bojangles

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ASKER

We use the NTBackup utility and I found no where in there to flush logs. Truth be told, I found no where that it mentions logs at all.

So, if I am reading your comment accurately, manually deleting the files in the directory specified above is a "safe" action?

Randy_Bojangles

Re-reading your post - these look like something to do with certificates, not Exchange judging by their location. Apologies for not spotting this sooner

Not my field at all so I'll leave this to another expert to confirm or deny and try to move you forward

PS you wont find those settings in NTBackup to my knowledge - you need something like BackupExec or ArcServe with their Exchange Agents

ASKER

Thanks Randy. I wasn't sure if this would apply to exchange or not. I'm not sure my predecessors were very... knowledgeable.. at best practices or even good practices so am trying to piece it together and make it "right" where I am able to. I'm just not terribly experienced in exchange myself, so I fumble a lot.

Thanks for the assist though, will definitely find out where I need to move this if I do need to.

ASKER

I think we found a solution to this. We have successfully deleted these files in the past and have done so again.

Thanks Randy for responding, even if it wasn't in-line with what we were doing.

ASKER

Randy provided a solution that was accurate in a sense and correct, but not quite what we were looking for. His encouragement of deleting old logs is why I want to award him the points here.

These log files will be deleted when you back up the Microsoft Windows Certificate Authority. To do this, you can use the Certificate Authority snap-in or the certutil command-line program, as described in Back Up a Certification Authority. Alternatively, you can use the PowerShell applet Backup-CARoleService, as described in CA Backup and Restore Windows PowerShell cmdlets.