Exchange Server Forums

Size issue with information store

Users viewing this topic: none

Logged in as: Guest

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Microsoft Exchange 2003] >> Information Stores >> Size issue with information store

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Size issue with information store - 13.Jun.2008 1:12:07 PM

JohnnyForums

Posts: 6
Joined: 13.Jun.2008
Status: offline

Recently I ran into the 16GB cap on our Exchange 2000 server. I got it back online by using the registry hack to squeeze out the extra 1GB and then cleaned up over 1GB of old mailboxes. I then ran eseutil /d (had to do it on another server due to lack of space on my SBS box). Then I ran the online defrag. The total size of my priv1.edb and priv1.stm files is about 14.7GB now. However, after the online defrag ran, Event 1221 says that I only have about 232MB free and if I total up my mailboxes, they come to 15.7GB! So, how do I know how much space I really have, and how do I get the two figures to reconcile? I'm in the process of moving to Exchange 2007, but that's still a month or so out, so I have to keep this afloat for a while longer, but I need to know where I really stand.
Thanks!

Post #: 1

Featured Links*

RE: Size issue with information store - 13.Jun.2008 1:36:37 PM

mark@mvps.org

Posts: 3527
Joined: 9.Jun.2004
From: Philadelphia PA
Status: offline

That's a close enough number. You don't need it to reconcile any more than that. Don't total up mailboxes anyway, it's a pointless number that gets you nowhere really. If the priv/stm is reporting 14.7 and you've got 232MB of whte space in there I'd concentrate on getting another three to four GB of email out. THAT..... is when the use of the individual mailbox breakdown comes in handy, you can send emails to hog-users. You can also make sure your deleted mailbox and deleted item retention aren't too high. If you're space constrained and some user deletes something on Monday that he decides he wants back on Thursday it should be hard-cheese for him.

_____________________________

Mark Arnold (Exchange MVP)
List Moderator

(in reply to JohnnyForums)

Post #: 2

RE: Size issue with information store - 13.Jun.2008 2:08:54 PM

JohnnyForums

Posts: 6
Joined: 13.Jun.2008
Status: offline

Mark,
I already have my retention set to 0, so that's no good, and the office politics are too fragile here for me to really enforce any kind of quotas/limitaions. So, that leaves me dealing with the users one by one, which is maddening. But here's why I'm really concerned about this. I'd been holding steady at about 500GB free space for a while -slim, I know- when I had a user delete about 6 months of email. I had a backup of his mailbox, but it was a week old and I don't have the means to do a granular restore. So, to avoid overwriting his existing mailbox and losing a weeks worth of mail, I set up an additional mailbox and was restoring his backup to it. Well, I had a bit of a brain-fart, because I completely spaced the fact that I was about to add a restored 700MB mailbox into a store with only 500MB free. So, wham, bam, hello 16GB! I immediately knew what I'd done and got it back up in a matter of minutes. I deleted the mailbox I'd been restoring and then went through the whole eseutil /d process. That should have put me back to where I was before the restoration, i.e., approximately 500MBfree. Actually, before I ran th offline defrag, I cleaned out about another 1GB of termed employees that I hadn't been notified about. So, I was expecting to have about 1.5GB free. The fact that I wound up having even less room after I cleared more space is what has me more than a little worried... It doesn't make sense. At least not to me. What do you think?
One thing I just thought of is users archiving. Is there a way in Exchange 2000 to force them to archive or for me to do it at the server level? I've used exmerge to export to PST files, but I don't think it archived. Is there something I could do for that?

Thanks for all of your help!
John

(in reply to mark@mvps.org)

Post #: 3

RE: Size issue with information store - 13.Jun.2008 3:34:59 PM

mark@mvps.org

Posts: 3527
Joined: 9.Jun.2004
From: Philadelphia PA
Status: offline

Really, 1GB of difference in caculations is explained by 10 to 15 of 27 different parameters. Honestly, stop thinking about it this way.

If you're so stuck with 16GB (i.e. E2K) and can't have quotas and have already knocked DIRT down to 0 you should just let people have PST files and let them get on with it.

Tell them that PST files are their own responsibility and should not be stored on the server - you will delete ones you find, yada yada.

_____________________________

Mark Arnold (Exchange MVP)
List Moderator

(in reply to JohnnyForums)

Post #: 4

RE: Size issue with information store - 13.Jun.2008 4:02:20 PM