Help w/priv.edb

[mvelasco2]

I'm running Exchange 5.5 SP3 and priv.edb has grown to a size of 30 gigs(gradually, over 3 years). I know that only an offline defrag will help me clear some space but I don't have enough free space to do this. Doing the offline defrag on another machine is also not an option because none of my
servers has enough space. The only possible solution I can come up with is to create another server and move the mailboxes to it (applying tight mailbox limits and reducing deleted items retention time).

1. If all the mailboxes are moved and I run a defrag on the original server
will it still require the same amount of free space for an offline defrag?

2. Does anybody have any other ideas? I would like to minimize downtime and
keep the same server name if possible.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Marlon

 

[SimonDavis]

I don't know the size of your organisation, but the priv.edb is the users inboxes, right?

Is it feasible to move some of their old stuff from the server to their own hard disks, and have them stored in .pst files - normally .pst files are undesirable because they're difficult to back up, but if you get a copy of each one, and they don't get new messages, it shouldn't be a problem.

You could also have the same setup on a server, a .pst archive for each user. Same deal.

 

[SLLOYD]

Can anyone advise me on how to carry out an off-line defrag of the priv.edb

Thanks

Stephen.

 

[age]

Moving mailboxes off of the server probably won't free up any space - in my experience, the space doesn't get freed until you run the defrag, so if you for instance moved 10gb of mailboxes onto another server to free up space on the original server, you would still find that your original priv.edb was 30gb, and not 20gb as you might expect, and you wouldn't get that 10gb back until you run the offline defrag (hmmm chicken and egg)....

Can you increase the hard disk space in the server? Is it a Raid? Can you maybe chuck another disk in the server? Or even backup the disk on the server that contains the exchange database, and then replace the disk or disks with new larger ones, and then restore the exchange data back on to your new, much bigger hard drive?

Just a thought.

Adrian.

 

[Kbu]

If you have a few users who are taking up the majority of your space try using the Exmerge utility to offload this information to PST files. You might be able to free up space that way. Also, you can cut down the number of days you keep deleted items.