Re: Exch 2K disk fiils up, then contracts and then fills up again

wow...pushing a 2 - 10 gb email through Exchange isn't going to be pretty...

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]



"bestbapu" <bestbapu@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:46D617F3-2754-48BD-A16C-046903B140BB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
All,

First off, I finally found what was "growing". It was priv1.edb.
This led me to belive that it was some VERY LARGE email was trying to get
thru.

So, I seem to have solved the problem for over 48 hours, now.

Since my database was small and non-critical (only two users), I deleted
the
old priv1.edb, recreated a fresh db and set limits on the mailboxes of
1000KM
and ran this way fro over 48 hours without incident. This morning I raised
the user limit to 10000KM and will monitor this carefully.

I know this seems absurd that I am using Exchange for only two users, but
I
need this capabiliyt to "test" applications that I write that send and
recieve emails via Exchange. Also, on a personal level I have the need to
occasionally recive emails in the 2-10GB range (in this recent case I was
not
expecting anything this large and since my 36GB free space was filling up,
obviously somthing was out of whack).

Thanks all for your attempts at helping.

"Tushar Shah" wrote:

On Sep 27, 3:08 am, bestbapu <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
BTW, when this is happening, I do not see any extraordinary process
running
in the task manager.

"bestbapu" wrote:
I'm not sure if I am viewing all file types but I will check that
tonight. I
did not specifically setup a page file on that drive, but again I
will check
both of these items tonight when I get home.

Let's assume, for now, that some "huge" email is trying to get thru.

What would I do to stop that? I set the limit to 10000 KB. I could
set it
lower, temporarily to see if that rejects some "large" emails.

Secondly, what if someone is trying to "relay" thru my exchange
server? How
would I know that? How would I stop that (even if I don't know that
it is
being used as a relay). My exchange server operates behind a firewall
(DSL
router points to internal LAN address for SMTP port).

But again, as a reminder, this is pretty much a vanilla install (sans
installing to D: rather than C:), so I may have overlooked some basic
security issues and not know it.

BTW, I have been running exchange 2000 for over 5 years and I
recently
resinatlled this server from the OS up (reformatting the drives).

"Susan" wrote:

i just thought of something...do you by any chance have a huge
pagefile
configured on that drive? are you viewing "hidden" and "system"
files when
you look?

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]

"bestbapu" <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:217E99F6-F09D-4BE7-A630-E57303141FB4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Susan,

Once it begins, it happens continously (over and over) with no
"down time"
in between.

For clarity (when you say):
It's very strange that you would not see any files at all...
I'm sure you mean "growing and contracting". There are files on
the D:
drive.

No other AV programs are installed on this machine sans Norton AV
for
Exchange. Remember: this was happening before I installed AV for
Exchange.

"Susan" wrote:

and this happens once a day, or how often? It's very strange
that you
would
not see any files at all...you are certain there is no
file-level
Anti-Virus
on this server, scanning the M:\ drive?

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]

"bestbapu" <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0D7954E9-8366-4B22-814F-CC8794C0FBF3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Actually Susan, you are right. Something is still wrong. After
about 13
hours
this problem has started up again.

Nothing else is installed nor running on this machine. It's
purpose is
to
be
an Exchnage server.

Again, to be clear, what is happening is that the D: drive
(where I
installed Exchange) "fills up" then an Event Log entry says
"D: is at
or
near
capacity, you should delete some files" and then moments later
the dive
has
full availability. The disk is 38GB and has ~2GB installed on
it
(Exchange
Data and Logs).

By "fills up" I mean that with a My Compter exploer window
opened the
Free
space slowly decreases to zero. This takes about 20-30 minutes
of
periodically hitting the refresh key and seeing the free space
slowly
get
eaten up.

During this time I cannot see any files on the D: drive
expanding. It's
inexplicable.

While this is going on I cannot open a MS Outlook client to
llok at
emails.
However, as I've said, my main mailbox has a forward to an
external
email
address (which is how I am notified that this thread has
replies, by
receiving a copy of the email sent to the main mailbox, on my
alternate
web
based email client at dslextreme).

This is really frustrating.

"Susan" wrote:

that doesn't really seem to make much sense...yes, a backup
will purge
committed transaction logs, but something about this doesn't
sound
quite
right...

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]

"bestbapu" <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:51C24F8E-C702-42CE-9C50-494F5C4FF281@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Problem has been eliminated (not solved, though).

I took only one backup on this server when I did the fresh
install.

I restored that backup (and eliminated the current log
files)..

I installed Norton AV for Exchange, restarted sever and
have not had
the
problem since.

"Susan" wrote:

sorry...I did misread that...what else is installed on
this server?

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]

"bestbapu" <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:90AA3E46-B7C1-4F79-9FC2-8BE7BCF7FFDE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Susan,

Maybe you did not undertsand my post.

I said I did NOT have AV installed (but I have the
software
available
to
install). Your question implies that I do have it
installed.

"Susan" wrote:

and yes, it's possible that your AV is reponsible...do
you have
all
the
proper exclusions for your AV in place?

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]

"bestbapu" <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DBCD7ACA-9616-4A88-A6BE-76BF7E2D69DC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I've done nothing to alter any of the standard
install options
of
exchange
(especially in the area of logging).

When the disk usage is high, I do not see any files
on either
D:
or
M:
that
indicate what is happening.

No backups are running.

FWIW, while this is happening I cannot open an
Outlook client.
As
I
said,
emails are coming into the system and are being
forwarded from
the
one
mailbox to the designated external address.

I have Norton Anti-Virus for Exchange but I have not
installed
it.
Should
I
install it?

Methinks this has something to do with a very large
email (or
virus)
trying
to get through. Or, has someone gained "control" of
Exchange
server?
If
so,
how can I tell, and/or stop that from happening? My
email
server
is
behind
a
firewall.

"Susan" wrote:

do you have some logging turned up very high? when
it's
high,
what
files
do
you see there? is a backup running just before it
clears
out?

--
Susan Conkey [MVP]

"bestbapu" <bestb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:A090C63F-3351-4BAB-893D-02C0ED66CB2B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm stumped. My D:/M: drive is in a constant loop
of
filling
up,
then
an
event is logged saying the disk is full and
shortly after
that
the
disk
has
plenty of free space and the process starts all
over again.

This is a 38GB drive with ~31GB free. This drive
is where
Exchange
is
installed and that is the only thing on the drive.

This is a standard Exchnage 2000 install and
nothing else
is
installed
on
this Windows 2000 Server with all current updates.

I assumed that maybe I was trying to receive a
VERY LARGE
email
and
I
set
the Mailbox Store limit to 20000KB. That did not
help so I
tried
10000KB
and
that did not help either.

Any ideas what is happening?

Can you provide a list of events that take place at that moment
"Please do not copy paste the event description only"
Also, if things are way outside your reach - Call Microsoft PSS and
get things sorted out.

Or the other way around - format the box - install same old O/S with
fixes and SPs with same drive name - perform a disaster recovery
switch to get back Exchange in its old format - install SPs and fixes
- place old DB - hopefully Exchange should be back and rocking.



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