Re: Opinion of offline Exchange maintenance

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

My personal Exchange (the LoungeAN SBS) is tiny, 2GB (which is mainly my
personal mailbox, the family POP the rest out).

I perform consultancy for a number of organisations. A few stores I've
recently worked on are approaching SBS maximums, specifically a couple have
been perceived as being slow, minimal performance improvement was gained by
defragmenting the systems, in one case significant improvement was gained by
moving the store to a dedicated RAID set.

"la02" <2@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:bzTbe.8506$yc.5782@xxxxxxxxxxx
> How many e-mail do you have stored in you Exchange server?
>
> --
> Stokes
> "SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:On8p020SFHA.2812@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> the other side of that being I have Exchange databases which have not
>> been defragged in 4 years, or longer, and are not suffering because of
>> it.
>>
>> There is nothing special about an Exchange database, it is, in all
>> respects, an RDBMS. As items are added and removed from the database
>> pages are allocated and de-allocated. De-allocated pages are filled by
>> new items until system criteria require new pages to be allocated, at
>> which time the database grows.
>>
>> There are two aspects to Exchange fragmentation.
>> Fragmentation of the data. This refers to items requiring multiple
>> pages of the database for storage (eg. an item may be on page 1,3,56 &
>> 732) or items which are accessed on different pages (if you access the
>> last item to enter your inbox it may be stored on page 1, the previous
>> item may be on page 345). Both cases require multiple pages of the
>> database to be consulted. This is why store.exe uses apparently large
>> amounts of memory, as pages are brought in from the database they are
>> kept in memory on the assumption they will be accessed again, when
>> Exchange is asked to hand back RAM the least frequently accessed pages
>> are committed to the database and freed from memory.
>> Fragmentation of files on disk. Pages of the database will be spread
>> about the disk. Depending on the ratio of the page size of the database
>> to the formatted block size of the disk a single page may be spread
>> across different areas of the disk requiring multiple disk accesses to
>> retrieve a page. If the formatted block size of the disk equalled the
>> page size of the database we could mostly ignore this but then page 1 is
>> most likely in a different location of the disk than page 2, if we want
>> to access 1 then 2 disk activity will be increased (compared to a
>> situation where the pages may be located optimally).
>>
>> Why is Exchange fragmentation at both levels not a problem?
>> Look at how people use mail.
>> The majority of access is to most recent items. Joe creates a
>> spreadsheet, attaches it to mail and sends it to Sally, Sally reviews it
>> and sends it back to Joe who approves the changes and sends it to
>> everyone in his address book, internal and external addresses. Most of
>> this process happens in RAM, as recently accessed items Exchange tries to
>> keep them available.
>> An item comes into Exchange, Joe reads it, laughs 'coz it's really funny,
>> and forwards it to everyone in his address book, suddenly the whole
>> office is laughing (except the IT guy, who either got left out of the
>> distribution or received the joke 354 times). Again, as recently accessed
>> items Exchange attempts to keep the items in RAM.
>> Of course, the joke reminded Sally of a joke she received 3 months ago,
>> so off she goes and finds it, has another giggle and sends it on it's
>> merry way. Again, after the first access most of this occurs in RAM with
>> Exchange opportunistically writing changes to disk.
>>
>> What really mucks this up is people doing searches in the database,
>> causing large amounts of data which would otherwise not be accessed to be
>> paged through RAM.
>>
>> On the file side.
>> NTFRS suffers _significantly less_ from fragmentation than other
>> filesystems, also, we hope your Exchange database is on RAID of some kind
>> and though it is not the optimal type for storage of an Exchange database
>> an SBS is hopefully using RAID5 for the DATA partitions (if not the whole
>> kit). RAID systems are less affected by fragmentation than single disks.
>> Throw in that while the Exchange is being accessed it is _almost certain_
>> that other stuff is happening too, those heads are moving all over those
>> disks, so hopefully they're SCSI or advanced SATA and support command
>> queueing.
>>
>> Why don't I want you to perform your procedure?
>> You're stopping your Exchange, not only making it unavailable for a time
>> but interfering with SBS performance tuning. The whole store is released
>> from memory (there goes our 'recently accessed' stuff) and only again
>> brought into memory when a user accesses an item. Also, a process not
>> normally required is being run, skewing performance tuning away from
>> normal operational parameters. To what benefit? Very little.
>>
>> Sure, run a defrag if you think the system is being significantly
>> impacted. Heck, take the database offline and do a full file level defrag
>> of the drive, if indicators suggest it is desirable. Just don't do it 'as
>> a matter of course' or on a regular basis.
>>
>> "la02" <2@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:VyObe.8279$yc.1652@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>> While I am not going to argue my point here, Exchange 2000 EDB has the
>>> tendency to grow out of proportion, and generate errors every now and
>>> then. As I said, I am running this batch file for 4 years no, along with
>>> mandatory archiving via policies, and have never had to stop Exchange
>>> for repair.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Stokes
>>>
>>> "SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>> news:OaI4QEqSFHA.3732@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> there is no reason to do it on a regular basis with any Exchange.
>>>>
>>>> "Derek D" <derek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>> news:%23yye2XpSFHA.3732@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> Will do. I'll do a manual step through of the batch to make sure
>>>>> there isn't anything drastically changed.
>>>>>
>>>>> I did some research and was supprised to find that some sites say that
>>>>> unless you do a large addition/deletion of accounts that this proccess
>>>>> does not need to be done all that often, if at all, under EX2003. I
>>>>> don't believe everything I read online though ;) *grin*
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks again,
>>>>> Derek D
>>>>> "la02" <2@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>> news:7lwbe.6921$yc.5357@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>> Just remember, I believe some commands were replaced in Exch03, make
>>>>>> sure you check it first.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Stokes
>>>>>> "Derek D" <derek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:erWfqVoSFHA.904@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> You Rock!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Very handy script! I'll check into adding it to the growing list of
>>>>>>> off hour atomated baching we do.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cheers!
>>>>>>> Derek D
>>>>>>> "la02" <2@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:XXtbe.13143$Nc.6374@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>>>I have been running this batch file on a exchange 2000 for 4 years,
>>>>>>>>never had one single exchange crash, error or any type of problem:
>>>>>>>> Date /t >D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> Time /t >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net stop MSExchangeSA /Y >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> d:\exchsrvr\bin\eseutil /d d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb /s
>>>>>>>> d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.stm /t d:\temp\privbox.edb /f
>>>>>>>> d:\temp\privstm.stm
>>>>>>>> >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start MSExchangeSA >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start MSExchangeIS >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start REsvc >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start IMAP4svc >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start FEEserver >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start W3svc >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start "FAXmaker Exchange Connector" >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start "FAXmaker FAX Server" >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> Sleep 60 >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net stop MSExchangeSA /Y >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> d:\exchsrvr\bin\eseutil /d d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.edb /s
>>>>>>>> d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.stm /t d:\temp\pubbox.edb /f
>>>>>>>> d:\temp\stmpub.stm>>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start MSExchangeSA >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start MSExchangeIS >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start REsvc >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start IMAP4svc >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start FEEserver >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start W3svc >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start "FAXmaker Exchange Connector" >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> net start "FAXmaker FAX Server" >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> Net send \\IT Done with With Exchange
>>>>>>>> Echo ^^>>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> Date /t >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> Time /t >>D:\tasks\ese.txt
>>>>>>>> Del D:\Ladco\Erd\Exchange.bkf /q /f /s
>>>>>>>> C:\WINNT\system32\NTBACKUP.EXE backup "@C:\Documents and
>>>>>>>> Settings\veritas\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows
>>>>>>>> NT\NTBackup\data\Exchange.bks" /n "Media created 6/12/2002 at 3:49
>>>>>>>> PM" /d "Set created 6/12/2002 at 3:49 PM" /v:no /r:no /rs:no
>>>>>>>> /hc:off /m normal /j "Exchange" /l:s /f "D:\Ladco\Erd\Exchange.bkf"
>>>>>>>> sdelete "d:\Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\BadMail\*.*"
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The result in ese.txt
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Sun 04/24/2005
>>>>>>>> 1:26a
>>>>>>>> The following services are dependent on the Microsoft Exchange
>>>>>>>> System Attendant
>>>>>>>> service.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Stopping the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service will also
>>>>>>>> stop these
>>>>>>>> services.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks
>>>>>>>> World Wide Web Publishing Service
>>>>>>>> Microsoft Exchange Information Store
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks service is stopping.....
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks service was stopped successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service is stopping...
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service was stopped
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is
>>>>>>>> stopping................
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service was stopped
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service is stopping......
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service was stopped
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Microsoft(R) Exchange Server(TM) Database Utilities
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Version 6.0
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1991-2000. All Rights
>>>>>>>> Reserved.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Initiating DEFRAGMENTATION mode...
>>>>>>>> Database: d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb
>>>>>>>> Streaming File: d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.stm
>>>>>>>> Temp. Database: d:\temp\privbox.edb
>>>>>>>> Temp. Streaming File: d:\temp\privstm.stm
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Defragmentation Status (% complete)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
>>>>>>>> |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
>>>>>>>> ...................................................
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Moving 'd:\temp\privbox.edb' to 'd:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb'...
>>>>>>>> DONE!
>>>>>>>> Moving 'd:\temp\privstm.stm' to 'd:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.stm'...
>>>>>>>> DONE!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Note:
>>>>>>>> It is recommended that you immediately perform a full backup
>>>>>>>> of this database. If you restore a backup made before the
>>>>>>>> defragmentation, the database will be rolled back to the state
>>>>>>>> it was in at the time of that backup.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Operation completed successfully in 2375.469 seconds.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service is starting.
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service was started
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is starting....
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service was started
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service is starting.
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service was started
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The following services are dependent on the Microsoft Exchange
>>>>>>>> System Attendant
>>>>>>>> service.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Stopping the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service will also
>>>>>>>> stop these
>>>>>>>> services.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> World Wide Web Publishing Service
>>>>>>>> Microsoft Exchange Information Store
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service is stopping.
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service was stopped
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is stopping.......
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service was stopped
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service is stopping.....
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service was stopped
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Microsoft(R) Exchange Server(TM) Database Utilities
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Version 6.0
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1991-2000. All Rights
>>>>>>>> Reserved.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Initiating DEFRAGMENTATION mode...
>>>>>>>> Database: d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.edb
>>>>>>>> Streaming File: d:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.stm
>>>>>>>> Temp. Database: d:\temp\pubbox.edb
>>>>>>>> Temp. Streaming File: d:\temp\stmpub.stm
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Defragmentation Status (% complete)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
>>>>>>>> |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
>>>>>>>> ...................................................
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Moving 'd:\temp\pubbox.edb' to 'd:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.edb'...
>>>>>>>> DONE!
>>>>>>>> Moving 'd:\temp\stmpub.stm' to 'd:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.stm'...
>>>>>>>> DONE!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Note:
>>>>>>>> It is recommended that you immediately perform a full backup
>>>>>>>> of this database. If you restore a backup made before the
>>>>>>>> defragmentation, the database will be rolled back to the state
>>>>>>>> it was in at the time of that backup.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Operation completed successfully in 2390.937 seconds.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service is starting.
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service was started
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is starting...
>>>>>>>> The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service was started
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service is starting.
>>>>>>>> The World Wide Web Publishing Service service was started
>>>>>>>> successfully.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ^
>>>>>>>> Sun 04/24/2005
>>>>>>>> 2:48a
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> Stokes
>>>>>>>> "Derek D" <derek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>>>> news:ua4HICnSFHA.1348@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>>>>I wanted to get some feedback on the offline Exchange store
>>>>>>>>>maintenance for a 30 seats and very little public folder use. We
>>>>>>>>>do have a front line spam filter to try and keep a lot of the junk
>>>>>>>>>from entering the Exchange environment, also we do purge delete
>>>>>>>>>items older than 30 days.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> 1. How often do you normally perform the defrag/compaction of the
>>>>>>>>> data store? (We don't want to run into the 16GB limit!)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> 2. Is there a handy way to automate the process at off hours?
>>>>>>>>> (My users get grumpy when Exchange is offline ;)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Thanks for the feedback!
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Derek
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>


.

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