Hi I am using Exchange 2010 on Server 2008 R2. The disk system I am using is a HP-Eva SAN. The EVA system has the option (like other SAN's) to dynamically extend the diskspace allocated for the servers. (NOT to compare with "ThinProvisioning" which I off course do not use). My question is this. Can I extend the allocated diskspace and after that use the "Windows DiskManagement" snapin to extend the diskspace on a running Exchange 2010 disk which hosts a mailbox db? Has anyone tried this - I can't see why this shouldn't work, but I would like to know for sure before applying :-) Best regards Jorgen

Thats purely a Windows thing. NetApp hosted LUNs can be grown and shrunk without a single problem and other vendors are the same. Practically I would suggest you dismounted the database and then took a controller level snapshot before you do the grow. You dont have to and you wont need it but hey, you have it available for you. Just. In. Case. "JorgenD1" wrote in message news:5236a522-f24e-4498-bda5-465a6acf93d7... Hi I am using Exchange 2010 on Server 2008 R2. The disk system I am using is a HP-Eva SAN. The EVA system has the option (like other SAN's) to dynamically extend the diskspace allocated for the servers. (NOT to compare with "ThinProvisioning" which I off course do not use). My question is this. Can I extend the allocated diskspace and after that use the "Windows DiskManagement" snapin to extend the diskspace on a running Exchange 2010 disk which hosts a mailbox db? Has anyone tried this - I can't see why this shouldn't work, but I would like to know for sure before applying :-) Best regards Jorgen Mark Arnold, Exchange MVP.

Hi. Ah yes I do know that this a Microsoft thing, but what I am curious about is how Exchange/mailbox.edb will react when extending tha disksize while Exchange is running. Have you tried that? Best regards.

I have done this a few times in the past and have always dismounted the database first and then extended the disk in Windows Disk Management, haven't had an issue with it as of yet. My process is 1) Shut down the server 2) Extended the disk/LUN that is presented to Exchange 3) Start up the server 4) Dismount the DB 5) Copy the EDB to another server and verify the last backup of Exchange has completed successfully (just in case everything goes pear shaped) 6) Extend the disk in Windows Disk Management

Hi, thanks for your reply. Well what I am looking for is a confirmation that I can Extend the disk on a Running Exchange 2010. In theory it should work, but I am not sure how the EDB-file/Exchange will react when the disk suddenly expands while Exchange is running. Actually I am running two servers in a DAG so the alternative method would be to stop IS on the passive node and extend that one first, put it online make the DB's active, shut down IS on the first server and extend the disks here. Still I would like to know if the "Online" expansion would work - It surprises me that no one have had this issue before.

The consensus is that it will work fine. Ive done it on lab systems with 1.5TB databases and its all gone fine. Id still make sure I had that store offline and a snapshot of the LUN before and afterwards, followed by an application-aware backup when the store is remounted. "JorgenD1" wrote in message news:d93188b5-7606-461c-b6c1-f2ef59580236... Hi, thanks for your reply. Well what I am looking for is a confirmation that I can Extend the disk on a Running Exchange 2010. In theory it should work, but I am not sure how the EDB-file/Exchange will react when the disk suddenly expands while Exchange is running. Actually I am running two servers in a DAG so the alternative method would be to stop IS on the passive node and extend that one first, put it online make the DB's active, shut down IS on the first server and extend the disks here. Still I would like to know if the "Online" expansion would work - It surprises me that no one have had this issue before. Mark Arnold, Exchange MVP.

Hi Jorgen, I had a 2007 server on 2008 that was running low on space on the logs drive and had plenty of space on the DB drive – I shrunk the DB drive and added it to the logs drive all on line and no issues encountered.Rowen TechNet Community Support

Hi Rowen Thanks, precisely what I needed. I have just tried it myself on a VmWare test environment without any issues at all.