BackupExec Not Purging Exchange 2007 Transaction Logs

Do you have the Advanced File Option licensing enabled? If so, there's a box "Process Logical Volumes for backup..."

This needs to be unticked for everything to purge properly. If you don't have the licensing for AOFO and the box is greyed out and ticked, it won't be causing an issue (obviously).

Look backup dont purge logs for many a reasons

1. If there is some missing or affected log
2. Was there some LCR or SCR for this DB not working or down ?
3. Is this the only DB in this SG ?

- Rancy

We don't currently use AOFO although I think we're licensed, but we unticked the option last use due to another issue (if I remember correctly).

So, would you recommend enabling AOFO, but unticking 'Process Logical Volumes' or just leave it all disabled?

It only appears to be the one storage group having the issue, the other 12 appear OK, and only have 100-200 logs, dated today, compared to Y-Z Users which seems to date back nearly a year!

Is it possible these 600,000+ log files are just orphaned and can simply be deleted? I found an MS article on how to check with Exchange 5.5, 2000, & 2003, but not for 2007!
exchange-aofo.jpg

This is the only database in the storage group.
It is in an LCR cluster, but there haven't been any issues with it going down. Only time it's gone down is for scheduled maintenance, and then we move to the passive node in a controlled manner!

I think it can be left "as is" - without the setting enabled, it wouldn't be affecting the backup set.

Does the cmd command "vssadmin list writers" shed any light on it (I can't recall whether that would address the individual storage groups)

I would simply enable Circular Logging Restart IS after production hours Disable Circular Logging again and then restart IS and this should take care of backup purge logs for that DB

- Rancy

vssadmin list writers reports all OK.

@Rancy: I will try your suggestion this evening, and report back.

Yes, check the VSS writers. They should all be working properly and porting no errors.

Also, make sure Backup Exec is fully updated. run Live Update and apply all updates.

What version of BE are you running?

I am a bit off why are we checking with VSSWriters or others as only one is affected whereas all rest is working fine :(

- Rancy

OK, this eveing I've enabled Circular Logging, restarted the Information Store, then disabled Circular Logging and restared the Information Store again. However there are still 667,000+ e***.log files in the folder.

I'm thinking that this have to be orphaned files surely!?

BE version as said is BE 2010 R3! With 6 hotfixes applied!

1. Disable LCR and Re-enable LCR.
 
2. Run a full backup again to confirm if it deletes the old logs and replays logs to the database ( event id: 916).
 
3. Output of Get-Storagegroupcopystatus command: The CopyQueueLength and ReplayQueueLength will now show 0 and the number of log files as 50. ( Note: The number 50 is hardcoded.)

References:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH126445
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/exchange-2007-log-files-not-purged
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/exchange-transaction-logs-not-deleting-after-full-backup

Results of Get-Storagegroupcopystatus from earlier today:


Name                      SummaryCopyStatus       CopyQueueLength         ReplayQueueLength      LastInspectedLogTime  
----                      -----------------       ---------------         -----------------      --------------------  
A-B-C Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:36:03  
D-E-F Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:53  
G-H-I Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:36:03  
J-K-L Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:34:53  
M-N-O Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:36:03  
P-Q-R Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:53  
S-T-U Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:53  
V-W-X Users Storage Group Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:36:13  
Y-Z Users Storage Group   Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:53  
VIP A-M Users Storage ... Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:03  
VIP N-Z Users Storage ... Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:33  
Archived Users Storage... Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 13:07:03  
Public Folders Storage... Healthy                 0                       0                      12/01/2013 14:35:03  

Currently running a full backup, but it can take a few hours!

Yes, all DBs setup in the same way. Only this one has the issue.

Creating a new backup job just for this storage group, and setting it to purge the log files didn't help.

I've also tried following the steps in the below URL, but that didn't help:
http://ilantz.com/2011/10/26/how-to-manually-purge-exchange-server-logs-clean-and-easy/

As you say, these don't appear to be part of the live DB, and must be orphaned files. I'm thinking that deleting every file older than a month is the only way to go! Just hope it doesn't have any detrimental effect!

Performed the steps suggested to clear out the orphaned E*.log files. Exchange has recreated a new set of E*.logs, whicch currents counts as 365, rather than the previous 667,000+. Hopefully this will resolve the issue, and they won't grow to that volume again!