We have exchange 2007 enterprise edition installed in a CCR environment with 2mailbox server roles and 1 hub transport role. Of course during the install of exchange 2007 a First Storage Group is created. If i don't have any mailboxes sitting in the database is it necessary to keep the storage group and mailbox database. The reason I ask is because the D:\Program Files\Mailbox\First Storage Group folder is over 100GB and it doesn't seem necessary to keep without a mailbox sitting in it. Will deleting the storage group break anything with exchange? Thanks in advance for all replies and answers.

Hi, I think it shouldnt give any problem because while removing first Exchange 2007 servers from environment it doesnt remind about First storage group/Mailbox Database. How to Remove the First Exchange 2007 Server in a Coexistence Scenario However I would suggest you to dismount the database for some time and see if you get any error and then remove it. You may need to remove the Microsoft Exchange Database Instance resource for first storage group from Cluster Administrator if it not automatically removed.

Removing the First Storage Group is perfectly fine and it is no more significant than storage groups that you make on your own later. The second storage group, however often has public folders (if you chose this option during setup) and can require some configuration before you remove. If you don't want to remove it, just recude the size, just take it offline and defrag it. Theres no way it would be 100GB unless user data used to reside in there and users have since been removed. look for event 1221 in the application log to see how much free space you stand to reclaim. - or just remove the db as you had planned.

Thank you very much for the responses. When I originally installed exchange there were mailboxes sitting in the first storage group and they were moved to the other storage groups I created. The db is definitely 100GB and I couldn't believe it myself. I will dismount it and then remove it after all seems to be well. Thanks again for the help.

I would also like to remove the First Storage Group from my Exchange 2007 standard server. However when I dismount the db I get the following errors in the Event log. I have moved all users into new sorage groups. Any help appreciated as I am reluctant to delete the First Storage Group until I am sure these errors will not cause any harm. Event ID 8197 Error initializing session for virtual machine LONEX01. The error number is 0x80040111. Make sure Microsoft Exchange Store is running. Also, make sure that there is a valid public folder database on the Exchange server. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Event ID 4001 A transient failure has occurred. The problem may resolve itself in awhile. The service will retry in 56 seconds. Diagnostic information: Cannot open mailbox /o=keytravel/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=LONEX01/cn=Microsoft System Attendant. Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionFailedTransientException: Cannot open mailbox /o=keytravel/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=LONEX01/cn=Microsoft System Attendant. ---> Microsoft.Mapi.MapiExceptionLogonFailed: MapiExceptionLogonFailed: Unable to open message store. (hr=0x80040111, ec=-2147221231) Diagnostic context: Lid: 18969 EcDoRpcExt2 called [length=245] Lid: 27161 EcDoRpcExt2 returned [ec=0x0][length=116][latency=0] Lid: 23226 --- ROP Parse Start --- Lid: 27962 ROP: ropLogon [254] Lid: 17082 ROP Error: 0x80040111 Lid: 26937 Lid: 21921 StoreEc: 0x80040111 Lid: 27962 ROP: ropExtendedError [250] Lid: 1494 ---- Remote Context Beg ---- Lid: 26426 ROP: ropLogon [254] Lid: 59409 Lid: 45073 Lid: 11173 StoreEc: 0x80040111 Lid: 22970 Lid: 8620 StoreEc: 0x80040111 Lid: 1750 ---- Remote Context End ---- Lid: 26849 Lid: 21817 ROP Failure: 0x80040111 Lid: 26297 Lid: 16585 StoreEc: 0x80040111 Lid: 32441 Lid: 1706 StoreEc: 0x80040111 Lid: 24761 Lid: 20665 StoreEc: 0x80040111 Lid: 25785 Lid: 29881 StoreEc: 0x80040111 at Microsoft.Mapi.MapiExceptionHelper.ThrowIfError(String message, Int32 hresult, Int32 ec, DiagnosticContext diagCtx) at Microsoft.Mapi.ExRpcConnection.OpenMsgStore(OpenStoreFlag storeFlags, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, MapiStore msgStorePrivate, String& correctServerDn, ClientIdentityInfo clientIdentityAs, String userDnAs, String applicationId, CultureInfo cultureInfo) at Microsoft.Mapi.ConnectionCache.OpenMapiStore(String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, ClientIdentityInfo clientIdentity, String userDnAs, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlags, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String applicationId) at Microsoft.Mapi.ConnectionCache.OpenMailbox(String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, WindowsIdentity windowsIdentityAs, String userDnAs, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlags, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String applicationId) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean secondTry) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean secondTry) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean secondTry) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.ConnectionCachePool.OpenMailbox(String serverDn, String userDn, String mailboxDn, Guid mailboxGuid, Guid mdbGuid, Object identity, ConnectFlag connectFlag, OpenStoreFlag openStoreFlag, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.Initialize(LogonType logonType, ExchangePrincipal owner, DelegateLogonUser delegateUser, Object identity, OpenMailboxSessionFlags flags) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.CreateMailboxSession(LogonType logonType, ExchangePrincipal owner, DelegateLogonUser delegateUser, Object identity, OpenMailboxSessionFlags flags, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.OpenAsAdmin(ExchangePrincipal mailboxOwner, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString, Boolean useLocalRpc, Boolean ignoreHomeMdb) at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Storage.MailboxSession.OpenAsAdmin(ExchangePrincipal mailboxOwner, CultureInfo cultureInfo, String clientInfoString) at Microsoft.Exchange.Servicelets.SystemAttendantMailbox.Servicelet.Work() For more information, see Help and Support Center at

You may want to start a new thread to get a better response. I do not believe this is specifically related to the removal / non removal of the first storage group. a quick google search produced some of these results you may consider: http://thebackroomtech.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/windows-2008exchange-2007-event-4001-a-transient-failure-has-occurred-the-problem-may-resolve-itself-in-awhile-the-service-will-retry-in-56-seconds/ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895853 http://eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=4001&eventno=8880&source=MSExchange%20System%20Attendant%20Mailbox&phase=1