Hi guys, new to this forum and appreciate any responses. We have an Exhcnage server running 2003 STD with SP2. I have about 13GB free on the drive, though the private databses collectively are up around 20GB. Lately I have been having to restart the Information Store which is recitifying any email disconnections (about once daily), however today I noticed my backup failed for the first time in a while I had differnt looking errors in the application event log and about 5 x 5MB log files created. Anyway, I'm looking for a way forward quickly to stabilise the email environment. I've asked users to reduce their mailboxes etc, create pst's etc though I feel I'm beyond tackling it that way, and need to fix the DB before we start having major issues :( I found some stuff here relating to a registry fix for increasing the mailbox store though I'm wondering if this is the best option for the situation or whether I should be doing the database defragment with the 'eseutil' command? Thanks in advance

Registry fix would increase your DB size to 75 GB and is very good for the moment. Downloading the mailsto the PST will increase the whitespace on your DB , which in either way will not decrease the size of the dB unless you defrag it. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912375 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998066(EXCHG.65).aspx I would prefer Increasing the limits on the DB which will make no harm and my system will work as usual provided I have a good database in place. Increase use f archiving and PST woudl decrease some load on my server as the mails are now on the Users desktop. This mals may NOTbe backed up as it is on the user's PC and not on the server. Looking forward if it is mission critical opt for Exchange 2010 .

Thanks Khoj, yes will be looking to upgrade to 2010 later this year (and once I can plan on how to do it etc) - it is mission critical as sadly people can't live without email! Given I only have 13GB free on the server, am I right in assuming the current maximum db size for Exchange 2003 SP2 is 18GB, could I safely make the integer required in the registry to say 28? I do have a PST backup tool that works well, so not overly worried about users mail not being on the server. Cheers

You can safely make it 75GB. What's important is to monitor your disk space to ensure that you don't exceed it regardless of what value you put in the registry.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

You can for sure make the registry changes and increase the database size to 75GB. The articles suggested by Khoj are perfect. Also make sure you have sufficient disk space since you are only left with 13GB free space.Prateek

All good recommendations from the others, however, Why are you having to restart the information store? You are saying that the total amount of logs you have are five 5MB files? Are you running circular logging by chance? I am also curious as to why your backup was failing, i.e. it could be that you have a corruption issue in the DB or could be something else entirely. Please provide more information on the backup errors you referenced. Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Thanks Ed, I will increase it to 75GB.

Have to restart the information store generally each morning just to get email functional as it says 'disconnected' in the Outlook client. Although the service on the Exchange server appears as 'started'. The logs appeared yesterday and the day before and I'm not sure if they are created as a result of a virus scsn that was running at the time? There was about 140 of them at 5MB each. Can they be deleted? E00xxx.log - appear in C:\Program Files\Exchsvr\MDBDATA - sorry but I'm not sure what you mean by 'circular logging'? With the backup, I found some other people that had had DB related issues and theeir backups started to fail, so I thought maybe I was in the same boat. In saying that, the backup worked succesfully last night. I also found this type of Application Error in the event viewer. 'Database error 0xfffffbbe occurred in function JTAB_BASE::EcConfig while accessing the database "First Storage Group\Mailbox Store' if this helps. Thanks

If you don't know what circular logging is, you should learn soon. It's kind of important, and you may not have the protection you think you have for your data in the event your server fails.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Thanks Ed. I can advise that circular logging is not enabled. As far as data protection goes in relation to the Exchange Server, our nightly backup job currently backs up the following via NTBackup: All Documents & Settings, System Volume Information, Windows, System State & the 'First Storage Group' inc the Mailbox & Public folder stores. Is this sufficient?

Hi, Please go through the following documents for more information about circular logging http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997323(EXCHG.80).aspx http://support.microsoft.com/kb/147524 Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Thanks Prateek

In my opinion, you don't really need to back up anything nightly but the storage groups.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Thank you all very much for your input, it has been been very helpful and has certainly improved my fairly limited knowledge around Exchange Server. I changed the DB sizing via the registry and it has fixed/stabilized my problems with the store. May be back on here looking for advice when we upgrade to Exchange Server 2010 later this year :) Thanks again.

Request you to mark your questions as Solution Delivered..Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Thanks Prateek