Exchange problem

Hi Guys. Can someone please explain something to me. I have to defrag some exchange databases, but there is not enough room on the drives for me to use the eseutil, but i have heard that you can place them elsewhere? Does this mean i can move them to a different server? if so what would be the procedure? how would i run the eseutil? As you can tell, i am confused by this. On the same drive! not a problem. Moving them, i am not sure!!

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Mishra

Just take a look at the utility with /?
There is a flag you can run which will temporarily place the database it builds on another server. I'm pretty sure they list it in the examples of the help.

eseutil /?

billybob01

If i run the /t switch to a temp location do i then rename the temp copy to the original name and copy it back to it`s original location and re-mount the store?

Mishra

billybob01 wrote:

If i run the /t switch to a temp location do i then rename the temp copy to the original name and copy it back to it`s original location and re-mount the store?

Nope eseutil takes care of everything for you. Just run that option and it will do the magic.

billybob01

Ok so what happens to the original log file? Is it deleted? and what happens to the new compressed log file? It would still be on a different drive on another server, i dont fully understand. Please excuse my lack of knowledge.

Mishra

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997972.aspx

How Eseutil Defragmentation Works

As part of the defragmentation process, Eseutil creates a new database that contains all the information in the original database. When defragmentation is complete, the original database is deleted or saved to a user-specified location, and the new version is renamed as the original. If the tool encounters a bad record, it stops and displays an error message.

When an offline defragmentation is performed, Exchange makes a temporary copy of the database file. Tables from the database file are preserved and copied into the temporary database, but empty pages are discarded and indexes are rebuilt. Because this action causes physical page numbers in the database to be changed, pages are not copied unaltered. The page links between pages are all updated, and all pages left in the database undergo integrity checks.

There are quite a few articles around showing how defragmentation works. google is your friend. Read some of the articles out there and if you have any more questions then feel free to ask. Defraging a database is pretty straight forward though. I'm never scared to defrag an offline exchange store, not like a repair.

billybob01

I do understand about defragging databases, but i have not enough room on our drives to be able to defrag the databases, so i read that if you use the /t switch you can specify a remote location for the temp logs that eseutil creates. My misunderstanding is Do i then rename the temp logs back to what the original logs were called and copy them back to the original location and then re-mount the store? Something like below:

eseutil /d /p E:\program files\exchsrvr\Contoso Storage Group\Users.edb /t O:\temp\Users.edb

Instead of using the default temp name i was wondering if i would be able to choose the actual name instead?

Would this work? Also i have 4 stores in the storage group. Do i need to defrag these one at a time?

Mishra

billybob01 wrote:

I do understand about defragging databases, but i have not enough room on our drives to be able to defrag the databases, so i read that if you use the /t switch you can specify a remote location for the temp logs that eseutil creates. My misunderstanding is Do i then rename the temp logs back to what the original logs were called and copy them back to the original location and then re-mount the store? Something like below:

eseutil /d /p E:\program files\exchsrvr\Contoso Storage Group\Users.edb /t O:\temp\Users.edb

Instead of using the default temp name i was wondering if i would be able to choose the actual name instead?

Would this work? Also i have 4 stores in the storage group. Do i need to defrag these one at a time?

It creates a temp database for rebuilding the database with on the other drive. Once it is complete it still performs the same processes as the defrag without the /t "Eseutil creates a new database that contains all the information in the original database. When defragmentation is complete, the original database is deleted or saved to a user-specified location". So the original is deleted and the temp database is moved back into the original location. There is not renaming or moving databases after you perform a defrag with the /t option.

This looks like all you need to run "eseutil /d /p E:\program files\exchsrvr\Contoso Storage Group\Users.edb /t O:\temp\Users.edb"

You can defrag as many times as you like as long as the stores are unmounted. Remember to backup your databases before defragging!

billybob01

Yep, this worked a treat yesterday. Thanks.

eseutil /d /p E:\program files\exchsrvr\Contoso Storage Group\Users.edb /t O:\temp\Users.edb

Mishra

billybob01 wrote:

Yep, this worked a treat yesterday. Thanks.

eseutil /d /p E:\program files\exchsrvr\Contoso Storage Group\Users.edb /t O:\temp\Users.edb

Did I get your questions answered or just confuse you more?