Please Help 1

[grandpubah]

Hi,

On Monday I came into work to find my exchange server had filled it's hard drive with the database and log files. Exchange had basically quit. In order to get it running again and do a backup I had to delete some of the log files to give me enough space for the backup to run. Ever since this episode I can't get the log files to go away when I run a backup. How do I get this back in sync? I am backing up with windows backup utility.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[snootalope]

What log files are they that you are deleting? Do they start with E000xxxx.log or inXXXXXXXX.log?

 

[grandpubah]

They are all E000 files. I am able to do a successful backup now but when I do it doesn't remove the E000xxxx.log's.

Jon

 

[snootalope]

hmm... did you change something with your backups? Check the settings of your backup utility, you MUST be doing a FULL backup for those log files to be cleared on their own.

 

[snootalope]

Also, you can check to see if Exchange is actually seeing that those files were backed up. In your Exchange Manager drill down to the Mailbox Store (your store) and hit the properties of that. Then, hit the database tab. You should see it towards the botom, "Time of last full backup." does that time reflect the time of your last backup that did NOT clear the files?

 

[grandpubah]

I checked and the date reflects the time I in fact did the last full backup. All of the log files are still staying.

Jon

 

[snootalope]

Are you 100% positive you're doing a FULL backup, and not an incremental or differential? Anyway you can run a FULL backup sometime other than when you're current one runs? Just create a new job/task to back it up as FULL, and see what happens. If it's not the fault of your backup, than it's probably going to be something with Exchange and that means no fun..

May want to take a look at this:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;555360

 

[snootalope]

Here's someone else who was having the same problem:

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=204142&start=0

 

[markdmac]

Dismount both the Private and Public stores. At a command prompt navigate to the MDBDATA folder and do the following.

ESEUTIL /MH Priv1.edb
ESEUTIL /MH Pub1.edb

Check the results of each. You need to look for Logs Required.

If Logs Required is 0:0 for both then you are safe to delete ALL logs, so execute DEL *.LOG

Remount your stores. New logs will of course be created immediately. Test your backup after that.

If you are concerned about the disk space, then you might want to enable circular logging on the logs.

[red]Note: The above assumes you have added the path to your EXCHSRVR\BIN directory to your environmental variables Path statement. If you have not then you need to specify the full path to ESEUTIL in the command.[/red]



I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[grandpubah]

If I enable circular logging will I be able to do backups with nt backup? Am I correct in assuming that if I have circular logging enabled and have to do a restore that I will only be able to restore as of the last backup and that data since the last backup is lost?

Jon

 

[nsantin]

correct, circular logging = potential lost data on restore. However you dont need to turn on circular logging in order to use NTBackup. NTBackup is exchange aware and will purge the logs.

 

[grandpubah]

That is my problem. The logs won't purge. Even with a full, normal backup.

Jon

 

[markdmac]

The conversation has turned circular.

Verify you get a clean shutdown (which means no logs are needed) and delete all the logs you currently have. Do a full backup and verify if logs are then being flushed.

You deleted some logs but not all without doing a check to see if they were needed before. Time to let Exchange reset.

Report back what the ESEUTIL says if it does not list 0:0

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[grandpubah]

This may sound stupid but how do I do a clean shutdown?

What do I do if it is not 0:0?

Jon

 

[markdmac]

Dismount the stores. A clean shutdown is if all logs are committed to the database. If it is a dirty shutdown then follow my FAQ on the subject: faq955-5581

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[grandpubah]

I have about a 15 gb priv1 and pub1 and was wondering if you could give me an idea how long this was going to take?

Jon

 

[Zelandakh]

A dismount should take about 30 seconds depending on server load.

 

[grandpubah]

Sorry if I wasn't clear...I was refering to the time necessary to run the steps in the clean and repair link above.

Jon

 

[markdmac]

You really cannot predict how long without knowing if a repair is even needed. I have seen ISINTEG run for 5 minutes and also 27 hours. Depends on the size of the information store and how bad it is messed up.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[Zelandakh]

I used to ballpark isinteg at 10GB per hour but as Mark says, it varies a lot.