I have an Exchange DB that is very large and currently contains all our users. Would it be advisable to create a new database and split all the users? So Mailbox Database = 100GB Split it to (create a new DB for the follwoing users): General Users = 30GB Admin Users = 50GB Others = 20GB So i can split them across other servers but having one Exchange installation? If this is recommended then once i have created my new DB do i just move users to the new DB? And it will move everything including the current items in their mailbox and once they log on to them it will be as if nothing happened? Thanks

It depend on your Exchange procedures and DR. I would suggest to have as small as possible for the db because of backup and restore speed. You can have 3 db each for the above users etc. You can move them to the new db and will have to take the original db offline to defrag the db to shrink it back down to the correct size.

What i would be hoping to do is have 3 dbs and then move the users from Mailbox Db to the required db..... i dont mind the downtime but the way i see it is create the DBs then move the users to the appropriate DB and then delete the original - would this be ok to do? Thanks

What i would be hoping to do is have 3 dbs and then move the users from Mailbox Db to the required db..... i dont mind the downtime but the way i see it is create the DBs then move the users to the appropriate DB and then delete the original - would this be ok to do? Thanks I agree with this approach. Create a new DBs, move the users to the new DBs and then delete the originaly DB. That way you don't have to worry about all the whitespace left over after moving users. As Michael suggested, keep the DBs small to meet your SLAs. You didn't mention what version of Exchange that you had. I am assuming this is a single server installation without HA. In that case keeping them small is important.Tim Harrington - Catapult Systems - http://HowDoUC.blogspot.com

If you delete the first store created on the server, be sure to restart the System Attendant afterwards to recreate/move the System Attendant mailbox to another store. ( I dont know what version of Exchange you are running)

If you delete the first store created on the server, be sure to restart the System Attendant afterwards to recreate/move the System Attendant mailbox to another store. ( I dont know what version of Exchange you are running) Im using Exchange 2007 - would this still be applicable? So in a nutshell - I create a new DB on a new partition (new server). Once i have all the databases i just right click the user amd move them to the correct database. Once done i mount all databases and this will then bring all users back online? Thanks again everyone

Yes, it would still be applicable if you remove the first store that was created on that server so the System Attendant mailbox can be moved to another server. ( which you may or may not do fter moving mailboxes) As for moving mailboxes themselves, The stores have to be already mounted to move mailboxes to them, so there is no concept of bringing users back online in this case.