The following Technet Article may be of some help. Make sure you have a backup of your Exchange Server before you attempt to defrag the Database. Remember, it only costs $100 to call Microsoft and ask them to help you walk through a sticky issue. $100 isn't bad compared to losing everyones e-mail.
PSS ID Number: Q186291
Article last modified on 10-26-2000
winnt:5.5
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5
- Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
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SUMMARY
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Exchange Server does not include a utility that allows you to determine how much
free space is available in an Exchange Server database. You may need to
determine how much space is available to help you decide whether you need to
perform an offline defragmentation.
MORE INFORMATION
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Microsoft recognizes the need for people to determine how much free space is
available in an Exchange Server database. In Exchange Server 5.5 and later, the
amount of free space that is available in a database is displayed in an event
that is logged in the event log after an online defragmentation of the database
is performed. Note that the online defragmentation is performed automatically
during normal information store maintenance. In addition, note that the event is
logged in the event log even if the associated logging level is set to None.
Events that are similar to the following events are logged in the event log
Event: 1221
Source: MSExchangeIS Private
Type: Information
Category: General
Description: The database has <nnn> megabytes of free space after online
defragmentation has terminated.
Event: 1221
Source: MSExchangeIS Public
Type: Information
Category: General
Description: The database has <nnn> megabytes of free space after online
defragmentation has terminated.
where <nnn> is the amount of free space that is available in megabytes.
NOTE: In Exchange 2000, the event ID 1221 message description contains the
following text
The database "<storage_group>\<mailbox_store>
(<server_name>)" has <nnn> megabytes of free space after online
defragmentation has terminated.
where <storage_group> is the name of the storage group,
<mailbox_store> is the name of the mailbox store, <server_name> is
the name of the Exchange 2000 Server computer, and <nnn> is the amount of
free space that is available in megabytes.
NOTE: To determine the total space, make sure that you take the total of the
event ID 1221 messages between the event ID 179 (beginning of full pass of OLD)
and either event ID 180 (completed full pass of OLD) or 182 (completed resumed
pass of OLD).
If one of the preceding events indicates that significant free space is available
in the database and you recently performed an operation that may have caused a
large number of objects to be removed from the database, you may want to perform
an offline defragmentation. The following are some examples of operations that
may cause a large number of objects to be removed from the database:
- Moving a large number of users to a different server.
- Changing the retention time or disk quota for deleted items.
- Receiving a large number of messages (for example, junk e-mail), and then
deleting the messages.
To perform an offline defragmentation of the database, perform the following
steps.
NOTE: Microsoft recommends that you only perform an offline defragmentation of
the database when you have performed an operation that caused a large number of
objects to be removed from the database. Performing an offline defragmentation
under any other circumstances may actually hurt database performance.
1. Stop the information store service:
a. In Control Panel, double-click Services.
b. Click the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, and then click
Stop. If a dialog box is displayed that states that additional services
will be stopped, note the services that will be stopped, and then click
OK.
2. Defragment the public and private information stores by using one of the
following methods, as applicable:
- In Exchange Server 5.5, to defragment the private information store, type
"eseutil /d /ispriv" (without the quotation marks) at a command prompt,
and then press the ENTER key. To defragment the public information store,
type "eseutil /d /ispub" (without the quotation marks) at a command
prompt, and then press the ENTER key.
- In Exchange 2000, there is no /ispriv, /ispub, or /ds switch. You must
specify the file name by typing the following at a command prompt
"eseutil /d d:\<path>\<file_name>.edb" (without the quotation
marks)
and then pressing the ENTER key.
3. Start the information store service:
a. In Control Panel, double-click Services.
b. Click the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, and then click
Start.
4. Start any additional services that were stopped when you performed step 1.
5. Perform a full online backup of the information store databases.
This feature is included in the latest Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5 U.S.
service pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the
following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):
S E R V P A C K
For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q178931 XADM: Database Size After Offline Defrag Not Same as Total K
Q181824 XADM: Jet Doesn't Detect Removed Page in B-tree Split Operation
Q185271 XADM: Orphaned LV Errors Running ESEUTIL Consistency Checker
Additional query words: off-line defrag eseutil /d
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Keywords : exc55
Version : winnt:5.5
Issue type : kbinfo
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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 2000.
