Storage space issues 1

[danno74]

Last week our exchange server went down because there was no more room on the drive the data was being stored. We were advised to move some of the data files to a different folder on another server.

Under the exchange data folder on the exchange server, there are a couple different types of files - there are files labeled "E000XXXX", where X=increasing alphanumeric figures. These are TXT files that all are the same size, 5.12meg. Then there is a priv1.edb that is about 3.4gig, and a priv1.html that is about 1.1gig.

He wanted us to move some of the 5 meg files to another server. My question is this. What are those files? Is this the data each email is stored in, or is that the EDB file, or both? Could I get rid of those TXT files, or would people's email start disappearing? We need more space on the drive, so if I could move some more of those TXT files, that would be great. If not, any suggestions? (i know mailbox restrictions is one)

 

[brontosaurus]

those are log files and it's likely you'll need them, so move them as well. user mail is stored in the EDB and STM files.

 

[danno74]

But is it imperative that I keep those log files? They take up 28.1 gigs, is there anything I can do to reduce this?

 

[brontosaurus]

no, i didn't realize you were talking about that many...apparently, you don't have an "exchange aware" backup program running or the older log files would be deleted periodically...
i think you'd be pretty safe with just moving the past weeks worth of logs, but the question still remains, do you have a good backup?

 

[danno74]

Therein lies a whole other bag... we have arcserve as our backup, but it doesn't come with an Exchange agent, something we have to license separately and were never told so by the company that set us up with this solution. I am now actively looking for an affordable license.

These logs start back 10/01/01. Can I delete some safely? Are you saying I could clean this up to say a month ago, 12/01/02?

 

[brontosaurus]

absolutely, keeping the past month's worth of logs would be more than adequate.

 

[wyzard]

I disagree with the last part of the last post by brontosaurus, especially if you don't have a good backup. You may risk database corruption and if you keep only the last month's logs and the server goes down, you may not be able to restore properly due to checkpoint analysis issues.

Bronto, if I'm wrong please post the info, so that I may learn more.

 

[Tumpy613]

Deleting anything can be risky. The log files might be okay. You should go to the microsoft web site (

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;257184)

which will show you how to move files around.

 

[brontosaurus]

hey Wyzard, i would NEVER tell anyone they're wrong when being cautious. It's just been my experience that exchange servers are typically "done" with log files after a few days. That is to say, that the info from those log files has been fully written to the information store. I assumed from danno's remarks that they did have a backup of these files, albeit not "exchange-aware", so if they needed them, they'd be available for restore.

 

[wyzard]

Thanks Bronto! I wasn't sure of his state on backups and I was being cautious.
Wyz

 

[securityforums]

Danno I use arcserve and do have the agent, and as much as I HATE computer associates with a passion the agent is good to be fair to them , I had to put it into practice last week
and it worked well.

Anyway this doesnt solve your problem, but the transaction logs are needed, they are replayed during a restore, and although you could delete them its not really recommended.

They are flushed after every successful backup. What I would suggest is you use the standard NT backup that comes with windows 2000 and do a backup to:

-Another partition // drive
-Another server // SAN etc

This will flush the logs properly and you will also have a proper backup then. This is a way to avoid paying for the licence, the resulting output from a win2k backup is a .bkf file so you schedule this on the exchange server and then back this up using the normal arcserve software

HTH

 

[danno74]

Well we deleted up to 4/1/02, which freed up about 20 gigs. Hope from what you guys have been saying that it doesn't mess anything up. We still DO NOT have a backup, so I assume I should do as little delteing of the log files as possible. We are still looking for an exchange agent for arceserve.

So you're saying I should use the backup program that comes with Windows for now until then? Never done it - I assume it will work just like a normal arcserve backup. So you're saying the results from that will be acessible from arcserve as a normal backup, and I could at least have the files there... that would mean I wouldn't be able to do the advanced restores like specific mailboxes, correct?

 

[securityforums]

Correct, backup using the standard windows software and then backup the outputted file using arcserve.

This is more long winded than using agents but will work fine, assuming you give time for exchange to backup first before trying to back up the output.

Indeed you will not be able to restore at 'brick' level, only the whole server, but I dont do brick level anyway as:

-twice the space, as the store is backed up at db level then again at user / mailbox level
-This has a massive speed issue on backup, my backup speeds are reduced from 300meg/min to 50meg/min when doing brick level
-Im not saying this is impossible, but realistically, what are the chances of ONE mailbox becoming corrupt in the store. You cannot accidentally DELETE a user as they then have to be purged from ESM, and in my experience so far I have only had a whole store corrupt, not just one user(im not saying this is impossible, just hasnt happened to me yet)

If I were you I would get a standard 2k backup ASAP and get this onto some other storage just so you have some piece of mind.

As much as I hate arcserve, I would recommend the exchange agent

 

[danno74]

Thanks so much for the help, everyone that posted. This has been a nightmare, I can't waiting until we have something in place. One last question... I read people talking about using backupexec... is that the windows backup app, or something different?

 

[rheller]

Backup Exec is made by Veritas, and comes bundled with some of Seagate's tape drive kits. Older versions were very similar to the backup app under Windows NT Server 3.51 -- maybe Microsoft OEM'ed it, I don't know.

This thread helped me out a lot, too. My Exchange 2000 server was swamped by those 5mb E00xx.log files. I tried dbrasco's suggestion of backing up the Exchange store with W2K's backup app. It crashed my server after 30 seconds, but that's another story.

When it came back up, all but the last two E00xx.log files had been purged, demonstrating -- at least in my case -- that Exchange doesn't need an extensive page file history.

 

[danno74]

See, I am weary of doing the w2k backup option, because of how many log files I have and how long it will take, how it it effect the exchange server, will it crash, etc.

I really should, but people around here are so sensitive about it.... little do they know what would happen if the server died how f'd we would be! Oh well.

 

[THerman]

I am interested in this issue as I have just inherited a server with disk space issues, and a large number of those nasty 5mb log files. From running eseutil, I beleive I am right in believing all of these logs to be committed.

For backup, Veritas is running on another server with the remote backup agent on the exchange server. Every scheduled backup includes Exchange in full backup mode, and I have checked that the option to flush committed logs is selected. Backups are running successfully, however the log files are still there.

any ideas anyone?