Index Folder is Huge. 1

[bmdb]

I have taken over the management of a Novell 4.2 Server running GroupWise 5.2. I know nothing of GroupWise. We have 35 users with mailboxes. I noticed the J:\MAIL\gwdom\gwpo\ofuser\INDEX folder was 3.51 GIG. I have about the right number of .inc and .idx files but a good chunck of them are huge. More than half of the .idx files are larger than 150 MB and that is for today's date....then there are equal number of .idx files with yesterday's date that are about the same size. We only use groupwise for Email and nothing else and we do not share anything between users. Is this file size normal? What can I do to correct this problem. Disk space is now only 2.55GB free on my vol_sys out of 9gb total. As you can see the INDEX folder is using 1/3 of my disk space. Do I even need to have QuickFinder enabled? I am a little confused as to what QuickFider is actually doing for us in our environment. Thanks.

 

[MichiganRon]

[red]bmdb[/red],

I would not recommend disabling QuickFinder indexing. If your users have large mailboxes (and it looks like they do), it could adversely impact performance.

I would recommend running maintenance on the post office. In ConsoleOne, select the post office (assuming there's only one). Right-click the post office and select "GroupWise Utilities > Mailbox/Library Maintenance..." from the pop-up menu. It wouldn't hurt to run "Analyze/Fix Databases" with all options enabled (Structure, Index Check, Contents, Collect Stats, Fix Problems, Update user disk space totals). Under the "Results" tab, be sure to have the log file sent to yourself. It may take a while for the maintenance to finish running. Once you get the log file, parse it using GWMBSize. This will tell you who is using how much storage space.

Approach the "problem" users and tell them to clean up their mailboxes. If needed, take the information to your boss and ask to impose mailbox size limits.

Hope this helps.
Ron

P.S. You may need to run the maintenance multiple times to get all the errors corrected. Review the log file after each run and keep running it until it comes back with little or no errors.

We all play from the same deck of cards, it's how we play the hand we are dealt which makes us who we are. -Me

murof siht edisni kcuts m'I - PLEH

 

[bmdb]

Thanks for your reply. I do not have ConsoleOne installed here that I can find. I do have GWCheck32 and I do have the GroupWise Administrator "add-in" with my NWADMIN utility. When I go to the Mailbox/Library Maint.... options I have all options you mention except for the Update user disk space totals option. Is there anyway else to access this option if needed? Also, on the Results tab there is an option to send to Administrator or individual users but not a specific user.
Is there somewhere I can get this ConsoleOne utility for free? Regarding the QickFinder Indexing...Users do not perform any searches of emails...just send and receive and obviousely store them...also use spell check. Would disabling it affect them still? Thanks again for you help.

 

[MichiganRon]

What version of GroupWise are you running on the server? Note that it may not be the same version as the client you are using. I am not familiar with the Windows version of the server software. I'm sure there is a way to check the module versions (POA, MTA) on the Windows server.

We all play from the same deck of cards, it's how we play the hand we are dealt which makes us who we are. -Me

murof siht edisni kcuts m'I - PLEH

 

[bmdb]

As stated above....Novell 4.2 is the server OS. GroupWise Server/Client are both 5.2. Thanks.

 

[MichiganRon]

Oh. I guess I'd better read the FULL post before I spout off a question. %-)

DISCLAIMER: I don't have any experience with GW 5.2, so it's possible that my advice and "facts" do not all apply to your version.

You cannot administer GW 5.2 with ConsoleOne (it only works with 6.0 and up). You'll need to do all administration with NWAdmin. You can use GWCheck32 to perform the maintenance. It's entirely possible that "update user disk space totals" is not available on that version.

If you're running the stand-alone maintenance program (GWCheck), then you can just retrieve the result file manually (instead of having it emailed to you). Be sure you input a file name on the "Logging" tab. When the maintenance is complete, that log file will be saved in the same directory from which you ran GWCheck.

Regarding the QuickFinder Indexing: I'm going to stick with my original advice on this one but am willing to defer to someone else with more experience in 5.2. PING...

Hope that helps. Sorry about the confusion.
Ron

We all play from the same deck of cards, it's how we play the hand we are dealt which makes us who we are. -Me

murof siht edisni kcuts m'I - PLEH

 

[bmdb]

Thanks for your reply(s). I am now thinking I should leave the QuickFinder Indexing alone. Do you know if the logfile produced from the above procedures will show how many messages in each mailbox or will it only show the mailbox size in MB's? Thanks.

 

[MichiganRon]

Yes it will, as long as you have "Collect Statistics" enabled. The log file is a little difficult to read if you have many users, so use GWMBSize (see link above) to make the report easier to read.

You're welcome.

We all play from the same deck of cards, it's how we play the hand we are dealt which makes us who we are. -Me

murof siht edisni kcuts m'I - PLEH

 

[bmdb]

A star from me for all your help. Should I do this after hours with no users on or will it not affect performance? Thanks again for all the help.

 

[MichiganRon]

Shouldn't affect system performance. If you run the maintenance via the POA (from NWAdmin), it will run on the server as a low priority. That means that mail processing will receive a higher priority and most likely not be affected by the maintenance. If you use the stand-alone GWCheck utility then your personal workstation will most likely see a slowdown.

Either way, the end users shouldn't even notice.

Ron

P.S. Thanks for the star!

We all play from the same deck of cards, it's how we play the hand we are dealt which makes us who we are. -Me

murof siht edisni kcuts m'I - PLEH