Exchange 5.5 running fine on a database really inconsistent

[vectorw16]

Hi everyone,

I'm running exchange 5.5 on an NT4 server ! All my services are up and the exchange server is responding well !

So where is the problem ??? here it comes

Lately I had a problem starting the internet service on the server ... with reboot it finally start up again !
But I decided to check consistency of my (3Gb) Priv.edb database... the result is ugly, I'm amaized it's still working today !
55 lines ex :
index entry 159 inconsistent.
index entry 718 inconsistent
index entry 191 inconsistent

I have many line with 1 inconsistent but still ...

Ok I've been negligent to check it because it was working fine and I'm not an exchange expert ! A mistake I won't do again !

But now, since it's still working, I don't wan't it to fail on me !

I copied the database from my backup and I've put it on a standalone server not in operation (2xXeon 2.4 1GB Ram 4HD so plently of horse power)
I've tried a eseutil /p... it's been running for 8 hours now ... repair.edb is 15 GB now and growing hour after hour ???

Is this normal ? It's only a 3Gb database ...

And should I run something else before I do eseutil ?

I've read stuff on GoExchange software is it good ?

Any suggestion is appreciated before I post another message telling my exchange failed on me !
Thanks

 

[vectorw16]

after one day one night running (68593 seconds)

My server fails to recover the database with an error ... insuffisient disk space ! I gave it 40Gb of space to work and it failed !

I've read article on eseutil telling I need "25 percent of the file being repaired" ??? 25% of 3 gb is 750M ?

I have 3057 inconsistency in my 3Gb database... how can I calculate the freespace required ?

Any advice please
Thanks

 

[zbnet]

ESEUTIL /P will cause data loss as it prunes away any 4K pages that contain errors. Only to be used in a production environment as a very last resort. That said, it does sound like you've got problems with that store.

Have you tried an ISINTEG -PRI -TEST ALLTESTS yet? Try that on your copy of prod and see what it reports, the fix version of this command might be enough to resusitate your database.

As a last resort, you could refresh your database. This basically means exporting all the user data, deleting and recreating an (empty) file, and then importing all the data again. It breaks single instance storage if you use Exmerge to PST files, though. You could do the same with a second server in the site, by moving each mailbox (out of hours) to the new server. This would clear the old server of users, you could then initialise the database and move all the users back again. Either way needs to be done out of hours, the second is less distruptive to the users.

 

[vectorw16]

No, I had not tried ISINTEG first ! I should definitively read more about those tools !

It's running right now I'll post the result !

Refreshing the database is not a bad idea, do you know where I could find information on how to perform this whitout reconfiguring another exchange machine ? Export and reimport on the same server !

Thanks for your help

 

[zbnet]

I think the first thing you need to do is read the DR white paper for 5.5 from the MS website

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/administration/55/BackupRestore.asp

I know it's big, but really until you've read it you shouldn't be messing with database tools and making decisions about what to do with your database.

 

[vectorw16]

You are probably right I'm fine managing Exchange but when it comes to nuts and bold it's another story ! But I need to lean this !

I'll read the article !

But anyway I'm doing experimentation on my database right now ! It's a good way to learn ! And predict a future failure !

I wanted to ask another thing ! How much space ISINTEG -PRI -TEST ALLTESTS takes ?

Like I told in my first post I put the database 3G on a 40G partition ! It's not enough for eseutil that's one thing I can tell, but what about ISINTEG ?

Thanks for your reply !

 

[zbnet]

ISINTEG doesn't ususally inflate the file size - it works on the internal structure of the database.

When you write "But anyway I'm doing experimentation on my database right now ! It's a good way to learn !" I get a nervous fluttering feeling in my chest. Be cautious with Exchange, unless you understand exactly what you're doing, you can make small problems into big problems, especially with ESEUTIL and ISINTEG.

 

[vectorw16]

Don't worry,

I may not be an exchange expert, but I definitively know what I'm doing lol !

No 1 rule in database "never work on the original copy of your database"

I think I wasn't clear... every test I run is done on a separate server that is not even on my domain and on a database copied from my tape backup !

By the way you wrote : "ISINTEG doesn't ususally inflate the file size - it works on the internal structure of the database."

I have run it and it failed with not enough disk space again ... so my question why ? Do I need a 100Gb hard drive to run these utility ? it seams 40Gb is not enough !

Thanks again for your help