Too much transaction logs in my system 1

[vincet]

My exchange server has 20 GB of data and over 70 GB of logs. I know that I am not suppose to delete these logs manually and when I do a backup, it should clear it but is there any setting in the backup that I need to check? I am using Backup Exec and it does not seem to have cleared the log. I also try NTBackup and just backup that whole computer but the log is still there.


Thanks for any advice.
Vince

 

[dominicc41]

Are you using the actual Exchange agent from Backup Exec to backup the database? If you are, you should see in your Exchange log files that a backup is starting, finishing, and then deleting your old log files. Check your event log on your Exchange server when you run the backup.


d;

 

[compgirlfhredi]

The logs will only be cleared on a full backup. I can tell you how to purge these logs acquire more space, but you will need a backup of the logs.

 

[Moonrsr]

OK, I'm game, as I have no space left!! Yes, I have a FULL backup. The backup incudes the full logs as well, right?

 

[justin2000]

moonrsr

do you really have a full backup? have you ever had to restore from your full backup?

If you are using the Exchange agent to backup Exchange, are you just backing up the mailboxes or are you backing up the mailbox store?

When you do a full backup of the Mailbox store and it completes successfully it will flush the logs automatically.

 

[vincet]

Ok, I am using the Backup Exec Exchange Agent and I do a full server backup. Do I need to stop all the exchange services when I am doing this? I assume that I don't need to. When I backup without stopping all the services, there are files that it skipped however. Is this causing the system to not flush the logs? What if I use NTbackup and selected to backup the whole system. Will this do the trick?

Vince

 

[dominicc41]

Don't do just a full server backup, i don't remember what it looks like in Backup Exec, but i know in Arcserve you have to actually select the Information Store, i'm going to go out on a limb and say that backup exec is the same way.
d.

 

[de1458]

just wondering, what is the setting on the 'log file maintenance' in the exchange server properties, the specific item to look for is how many days the exchange should keep the log files,
for a normal/full backup of exchange you need to select the information store, which you want to backup, in backup exec otherwise the exchange agent does nothing for the backup purpose

 

[justin2000]

de1458,

those log file settings are the message tracking logs - they are the ones in teh shares called LOGS.

 

[compgirlfhredi]

moonrsr,
The Basics:

To back up an Exchange 2000 Server computer:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
Click the Backup tab.
Expand the Microsoft Exchange Server branch in the left pane, and then expand the server branch you want. To expand a branch, double-click the branch or click the plus sign (+) to the left of the branch.
Select the objects that you want to back up. To select an object, click to select the check box to the left of the object. For example, to select a particular storage group, expand the Microsoft Information Store branch, and then select the storage group that you want to back up.
Type the full path and file name of the backup file in the Backup media or file name box, and then click Start Backup. Note that you can click Browse to locate an existing backup file or specify a new backup file instead of typing the full path and file name manually.
Specify the settings for this backup operation, and then click Start Backup. Note that you can view additional settings by clicking Schedule or Advanced.

Restoring a Server
To restore an Exchange 2000 server, dismount any database that you want to restore, and then restore its backup.

To dismount a database:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
If the Administrative Groups branch exists in the left pane, expand it, expand the appropriate administrative group branch, expand the Servers branch, and then expand the appropriate server branch. If the Administrative Groups branch does not exist, expand the Servers branch in the left pane, and then expand the appropriate server branch. To expand a branch, double-click the branch or click the plus sign (+) to the left of the branch.
For each database that you want to restore, expand the associated storage group branch, right-click the database, and then click Dismount Store. In addition, right-click each database, click Properties, click the Database tab, verify that the This database can be overwritten by a restore check box is selected, and then click OK.
To restore the backup:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
Click the Restore tab.
Expand the File branch in the left pane, and then expand the backup branch that you want to restore. To expand a branch, double-click the branch or click the plus sign (+) to the left of the branch.
For each object that you want to restore, expand the associated storage group branch, and then select the objects that you want to restore. To select an object, click to select the check box to the left of the object.
Note If you are prompted to enter the path and file name of the backup file when you attempt to expand the storage group branch, type the full path and file name of the backup file in the Catalog backup file box, and then click OK. Note that you can click Browse to locate the backup file instead of typing the full path and file name manually.

Select the option that you want in the Restore files to box, and then click Start Restore.
Type the server name in the Restore To box, and then type the full path of the folder in the Temporary location for log and patch files box. Note that you can click Browse to locate the server instead of manually typing the server name.
Click to select the Last Backup Set check box, click to select the Mount Database After Restore check box, click OK, and then click OK again.
Type the full path and file name of the backup file that you want to restore in the Restore from backup file box, and then click OK. Note that you can click Browse to locate the backup file instead of typing the full path and file name manually.
When the restore process finishes, click OK.
Note If you did not verify that the This database can be overwritten by a restore check box is selected in step 3 above, it may take up to 15 minutes for the databases to be mounted after the restore is finished.

Helpful Tips and Suggestions

Exchange 2000 Server supports multiple databases and storage groups on the same server. This support allows you to split a single logical database into multiple physical databases. You can back up and restore these smaller physical databases much faster than larger databases. In addition, you can help improve overall system reliability by using multiple physical databases because you can restore an individual database from a backup while other databases continue to service client requests.

Hope this helps you further acknowledge that you have a FULL backup...

 

[de1458]

justin2000

thanks for pointing out, I forgot to mention, I have seen more tracking log building up than transaction logs if a correct normal/full backup is effective, just a side trip to all the discussion which going to the correct direction, do a normal/full backup.

 

[compgirlfhredi]

 

[TheWhiningingPom]

Vincet et all

I have had a number of problems with my exchange server and space. I have now successfully got Backup Exec to backup and flush logs.

Backup Exec settings.
Make sure you have installed the Backup Exec “Exchange Agent” and “Server Agent” on the machine (or remote machine).
When setting up the backup job select only information store and system state data in selections tab.
In the exchange tab make sure FULL - database & logs (flush committed logs) is selected.

This should backup your exchange server and remove the extra log files. I set this up to run weekly with a mailbox backup running daily. To run a mailbox backup you need outlook installed on the backup server and your backup account needs permission to the relevant mailboxes.

After a while you will find your priv.edb (or priv1.edb) and possibly pub1.edb (or pub1.edb) getting a lot larger than the total size of all your mailboxes. To compress your data base have a look at Microsoft’s knowledge base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;192185

I used the following command to compact (/d = compact and defragment) my private mailbox store which was based on the d: drive.

D:\exchsrvr\mdbdata> eseutil /d priv1.edb /te:\temp\tempdfrg.edb

/t specifies the location of the temporary file used on my e: drive under the temp folder. You need to have enough space on the temporary drive to cover 110% the uncompacted size of the priv1.edb private mailbox store file. In my case the priv1.edb was 2 GB so I used 4 GB disk as during my first attempt the compaction failed. What happens is eseutil copies the priv1.edb to the temporary location and compacts the copy. Once it has both existing and compacted versions it checks to make sure no data loss has occurred then copies the compacted copy over the original. Read the knowledge base article for full info.

Prior to running this command I stopped all exchange server services. Once the compaction had completed (30 mins for 2 GB compressed to 700Mb) I restarted the services.

I hope this helps.

Regards

The Whinging Pom

 

[compgirlfhredi]

You need to move transaction logs to another drive because they keep filling up the partition they're on now?

IMHO

You've hit on the only real drawback of Exchange Server's transaction-oriented architecture. Because each change to IS database generates a transaction in the transaction log file, anything that makes lots of changes to your IS (such as a mail loop or moving lots of mailboxes) makes your log files balloon in size. If you don't have enough space on the drive where the log files are stored, the IS shuts down, logging a message in the event log at the same time. When this happens, you have a problem: You shouldn't delete the log files manually, but if you don't do something to make more space available, you won't be able to restart the IS.

If you do regular online backups, you should find that the backup process automatically removes the log files for you. If you’re backing up but the log files aren't disappearing, YOU ARE'NT GETTING GOOD BACKUPS. Check your event logs for errors.

You can take one of three actions to fix a space squeeze once it starts happening:
1) Delete unnecessary files on the log drive. Be very careful if you choose this route. Don't delete any of the log files themselves! If you’ve followed the recommendation to put your log files on their own physical disk, this approach won’t help you because you don’t have any unnecessary files.
2) If you need to move the log files to another drive, use the Performance Optimizer to move them. This is the only safe way to move log files. Don't move log files yourself, and don't edit the registry subkey that shows where the files are. The IS databases contain references to the log file paths, so if you move things manually, you're heading for trouble.
3) Create a volume set to temporarily extend the log drive's partition. This is a neat trick that I first learned from Andy Webb.

To create a volume set, you first need to install an extra physical disk in your server (your IS is stopped anyway, so that shouldn't be a problem). Add the disk, then use your Windows Disk Administrator:

Launch Disk Administrator. Partition the new disk if you need to, but don't format it. Note that you can build volume sets only on NTFS volumes, so you must convert your log drive from FAT.
Select both the current log drive and the new drive (click one, then hold down the Ctrl key and click the other one). This action tells Disk Administrator that you want to do something to both drives.
Select Extend Volume Set from the Partition menu, and tell Disk Administrator how much of the new drive’s space to tack onto the end of the existing log drive volume.
Now that you have some additional space, you can restart Exchange Server. As soon as it comes back up, do an online backup to remove the log files. While the backup is proceeding, determine why the logs are growing so fast. If a mail loop is responsible, fix it or you'll end up with the same problem again. After the online backup is completed, shut down the IS and Directory Service (DS) and do a full offline backup for safety's sake.
Go back to Disk Administrator, and break up the volume set. If the new drive you installed is larger than the old one, you can use Performance Optimizer to move the log files to the new drive.

 

[vincet]

One thing I did not do is to install Exchange system manager in my backup server therefore it is not backing the information store properly. Installing this fixed my problem.

Thanks
Vince

 

[compgirlfhredi]

Vincet, forgot to mention this important fact. If your transaction log files are being created in the Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder and are being created at approximately the same time on a nightly or weekly basis,
then you are possibly scanning drive M with antivirus software.
Make sure that you do not scan drive M or the Exchsrvr folders with antivirus software.

To properly protect your Exchange 2000 Server computer from viruses, you must use antivirus software that is Exchange 2000-aware. If you also need file-level protection on your server, you must make sure that you exclude drive M and also all of the Exchsrvr folders. Please note that you may have Exchsrvr folders on multiple drives.

For more information about how to exclude drives with your Exchange 2000-aware antivirus agent, refer to that product's documentation.

 

[caweaver]

I'm sure you have already been told but it's not some much a full backup, but you need to backup the inforamtion store with either a client designed for exchange (Ie veritas with exchange license) or use the ntbackup you find right on the server.

Good luck if you have more problems e-mail me at postoofice@atlascold.com, been there and done that, but it's not hard to get out of this problem.