Hi, I recently setup two new 2008 servers, one running AD and one running Exchange 2007. During the migration, the import of the PST files, caused the Exchange logs to accumulate extremely quicly and our 300GB drive soon hit its limit. At this point I moved some log files to a temporary directory and I could then re-mount the database. I have tried flushing the logs with Windows Server Backup, but it complains that Exchange fails the consistency check (which makes sense as some of the log files are not in the default storage group location). I have since been able to allocate more space to another local drive (conected to the SAN) and have tried to move both the log files and the mailbox database (using the admin console) and both fail - the log files fail with a WMI error on quota (seems to be related to the large amount trying to be moved) and the mailbox databse fails with an error relating to failing the consistency check (once again due to some log files missing). I cannot put the log files back and then flush them with a backup as there is 45GB of log files but only 14GB of free space on the drive. I cannot add space to the curent drive. At this point I am not sure what I can do? Can I physically move the database and ALL the log files (to the larger drive) with robocopy and then forcibly change the default storage group path with ADSIEDIT? I understand this changes the default storage group path, but is that only what one sees when creating a storage group, or will Exchange detect the storage group and log files has moved? Can I turn on circular logging to purge the transaction logs, or will this also fail due to some of the log files being in a different location? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards Matt

I would like to advise not to make any change via ADSIEdit. This can cause weird issues with Exchange. I would suggest creating a new DB on the new location and then move a hand full of mailboxes at a time and then get backup to purge the logs and then move a couple more mailboxes and repeat the same steps again. Then delete the original db.

Thanks for the suggestion Michael. Will moving the mailboxes to the new location involve the users connection to Exchange being interrupted?

Sorry one more question: should I create a new storage group first and then create the new database? Thanks Matt

Sorry one more question: should I create a new storage group first and then create the new database? Thanks Matt Yea..create a new SG/MB and create a dummy mailbox that has emails and then move that mailbox to the new database. Let me know how it go.

Thanks Michael, I will be performing this over the coming weekend and will be sure and let you know on Monday. Regards Matt

Hi Matt, Since a great quantity of logs are created by importing of pst, maybe you can just remove (or move to another disk) the logs. Details about How to remove Exchange Server transaction log files, you can refer to the Exchange 2003 KB. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/240145 Please backup Exchange immediately after you remove(move) the logs.Frank Wang

I usually cheat and temproarially compress the log directory; long enough to do the backup and get the logs truncated, the put it back. Avoids the problem of gaps in the log sequence. J

Thanks for the suggestion Frank and the link to the KB article. I followed this approach as it seemed the more logical. I ran the ESEUTIL /MH command on the dismounted mailbox database and found the database had shut down cleanly and that no log files were required for the database to be re-mounted. I moved all the log files to another location, however as per the article's instruction I left the most recent log file E00.log, along with E00.chk, E00res00001.jrs and E00res00002.jrs and of course the mailbox database. The database mounted successfully and I left it for a little while (allowed some log files to be created), then I was able to perform a successful online backup using Windows Server backup. The log files are still not flushing however. There are no errors in the backup (as there were originally), but all the log files remain. One thing to note is that the mailbox database is around 160GB yet the VHD file created by the backup is close to 270GB, which is closer to the size of the mailbox database plus the log files - it is as if the backup still sees the log files as part of the backup, even though they are not in the directory anymore (they are on a separate drive completely, which is excluded from the backup). Do I need to also remove the most recent log file for the logs to flush? Should I now move the physical path of the log files, combine those with all the moved ones and try the backup again? Should I enable circular logging to flush the logs? The space issues has been rectified by moving the logs, but I would like to ensure the logs are being flushed. Regards Matt

The database mounted successfully and I left it for a little while (allowed some log files to be created), then I was able to perform a successful online backup using Windows Server backup. The log files are still not flushing however. Hi Matt, What's the "The log files"? The new created logs or the old ones moved? Was the new created logs flushed after you run a backup?Frank Wang

Hi Frank, The log files I am referring to, are the newly created one (I copied all the other ones, except the most recent one E00.log, to another drive) after re-mounting the database, the backup completed fine, but none of the new log files were flushed. Also the size of the backup is much larger than the mailbox database (as I mentioned above). Regards Matt

All working well now, thanks for your assistance and to Frank for his solution. The space situation has been resolved and the logs are flushing correctly after an online backup. Matt