Need to Defrag Exchange Database, but don't have hard drive space to run it on current server.

he's right
you'll be there all weekend
65gb took my 35+ hrs

don't move the DB if it can be avoided


ps have you looked for temp files and log files you can off load?
can you add more HD space?
can you find the user with the 10+ GB amount of files and help them archive

Have you tried this on a USB Drive?  I have one hooked up but didn't know that this could be done.

So when your talking the /t switch on eseutil this creates a temp on save the USB or another server?
Would it work on a external usb drive?

I have done it on a USB drive once, and it is even slower than the times Alan suggests.  If you have another server with sufficient space, I would use his recommendation and run with that.

Yes, the /t switch tells the defrag utility what location you want to use for the temp db file.  Do to your low, low space, I would suggest an alternate location for the temp stream file, too.

Justin

Yikes! USB - no wonder it was slow!

I guess you have to use whatever is available sometimes.

If you can use a disk other than USB I would, but if you don't have a choice - it will work, just don't expect it to do anything quickly.

Currently the server has a RAID 5 with 3 33gb drives, the backplane has 6 spots.  So I could create another RAID 5 buy 3 new `146gb drives and then move the database over.  I just won't be able to get the drives in before mid next week.

I've requested each user to delete un-needed email.  One user have 5K emails in there deleted items so fare.  But ya I did request each user to clean up their mail boxes.

Darin when your talking the temp and log files where are those files located that your mentioning that can be off loaded and where could I off load those too.

When I check the Event ID 1221 the events I find are all around 16,174MB.

Ok this is all great information.

QUESTION'S:

1.)  So if I run the t/ switch command I don't first need to copy that exchange database to another server.  And can leave it on the current and just have the temp be created on a different server?

2.) When running that command what is an example of the database route that it would be like.  Should I create a mapped drive and run it that way or ??

So basically if I use the t/switch what is an example of the path that I'd use, and I guess lastly after that is finished do I copy that temp rename it and remove the old database.

Yes to /t - it will write the temporary exchange database file to the location you specify.

Always a handy switch when you are low on space.

Yes to delete and copy the temp database too.

You can use a mapped drive to another server if you can map a drive to it or map to a drive with more empty space than the database is sitting on.

Map a network drive to the space on another server,

net use x: \\servername\folder

then

eseutil /d "c:\currentdb.edb" /t "x:\temp.edb"

you need to CD into the correct directory on the exchange server to run this,

c:\program files\exchsrvr\bin

If both servers and switch fabric supports Gig speeds, a mapped drive would be faster.  If not, in my experience, it operates at roughly the same speed as an attached USB drive.  Either are viable, but not the most desirable, options.

Justin

I would get my hands on a small premium-quality SSD.  I've defragged similarly sized files, and you should have no problems getting it done in a few hours, tops.

Get something like an OCZ vertex pro-II for a few hundred dollars, and it will read/write approx 40,000 RANDOM I/Os per second.

Then after the defragging is done, I am sure you can find a home for a small SSD on that same system, or in your data center for such situations.

I would suggest an Answer was given, but it would be hard to separate out who gets what points.  alanhardisty and DrUltima gave the most information and dlethe also gave helpful info.  I would suggest awarding Alan the Answer and myself and dlethe an Assist, someone objects.  As far as which exact post to choose, almost all of them have good tidbits of information.

DrUltima

Sorry for not getting the points alloted.  Will do now.

Been on vaca, and then forgot about this.

Thanks,

Nathan

Nathan,

Vacations happen to us all.  We understand.  Thank you for coming back to your Question.

DrUltima

What I did was;
1.) Move database to another server, it took 16 hours to copy over.
2.) Ran defrag on database on other server, I did copy the whole bin folder instead of picking out certain files to copy over to run the defrag on the other server.
3.) Copied the database back over only took 8 hours on the copy back over.

** We gained ruffly 17gigs.

I did move the old database that was still on the exchange server to an external drive for a backup just in case the defrag database didn't work, instead of deleting the old.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Hope you had a nice vacation : )  Welcome back!

Had a lot of great ideas, links, thoughts from everyone.  I tried splitting up the point fairly and checked the boxes on each post that helped.

Also would note it was easier just coping the bin folder over then finding the certain files and coping them over.

Also to note the exchange defrag took about as many hours as the copy, although I currently don't remember the exact amount of time it took.

Also when I ran the copy I should of just let the process run and not keep checking it every 20 minutes or so and should of done something else(Watch a movie).  Cause that copy and then defrag took a while.

Thanks for all the help.