HELP! Can't mount information store.

[mtb1996]

A friend of mine directed me here for help, b/c I've exhausted the Microsoft support site for a fix to my problem.

I have 2 mailbox stores and 1 public store that won't mount (EXCH 2000 SP3). I followed the event IDs to the Microsoft support site and according to them, it looks like possibly the database files got out of sync with the transaction logs (I was missing the required log file). I've tried recovering using eseutil.exe with no success. I restored from a recent backup (backup was made with BackupExec 8.6 w/exchange agent), but eseutil still reported db status as "Dirty Shutdown". I tried again to recover using eseutil on the restored databases and was able to get the db status to show "Clean Shutdown" but still cannot mount any of the 3 stores.

This problem came out of nowhere, there was no server failure, no unexpected or abnormal shutdown... nothing. I rebooted the server on Friday and when it came back up, the stores wouldn't mount. Windows is patched with every available patch from Windows Update, I constantly update my virus software, and we're protected behind a PIX firewall with only ports 80, 25, 1110, 3389 open, and I'm the only person with access to this server.

Help... I'm stuck. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[mtb1996]

I've actually solved my own problem. The mdbdata folder is not located on the C: drive. The permissions on the drive that contains the database files had been changed. The default of full control for Everyone had been changed to full control for Domain Users. Even though the enable propogation check box was checked, the changed permissions didn't show up in the sub folders. Changing the permissions back to the default, fixed the problem.

 

[rtichnor]

WOW - Good for you.

I like those easy solutions the best, but I hate to sweat like that.

 

[mtb1996]

Thanks... unfortunately I only discovered it after about 6 hours of troubleshooting using directions from Microsoft, only to realize that I was the idiot who screwed myself in the first place.

 

[MMCCSSEE11]

I know this sounds simplistic, but are you sure the IS service is started? If it isn't the store won't mount.

 

[mtb1996]

Yeah, IIS was started. It turned out to be the permissions on the D: drive. Believe me, I felt like a total idiot when I discovered it because I was the one who changed the permissions... I figured it out about 5 mintues after I orignially posted this thread too.

Thanks for the advice anyway. I didn't know that the stores won't mount without IIS... good for future knowledge.

 

[MMCCSSEE11]

No, that's IS (Information Store) not IIS.

 

[mtb1996]

Sorry... duh. My bad. Yeah, IS service was running.