RE: Defragmenting Windows 2003 SBS

I've noticed that drives in SBS 03 get fragmented quickly and severely. Is
there anything we can do to keep the systems from getting so fragmented?
Typically, I run SBS with 3 drives - a system drive, which contains SBS
including Exchange, etc, and a data drive - containing user data - mirrored
to the third drive.

I'm using Adaptec 29160 SCSI adapter and 72GB 10kRPM SCSI drives. For
instance, I just defragged a client's drives - C drive (system) had 52% total
fragmentation, E drive (data) was better with "only" 30% fragmentation.
(pretty high in my book).

Thx,

--
TD ABQ, NM


""Jenny wu [MSFT]"" wrote:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your update!

Regarding to the disk defragmenter analyze report, it is normal. Yes, you
are right. We need use the exeutil tool to reduce the Exchange database
size. You can refer to the following KB articles for detail steps:

328804 How to Defragment Exchange Databases
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=328804

192185 XADM: How to Defragment with the Eseutil Utility (Eseutil.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=192185

If you have any further question on the issue please let me know. I am
happy to be assistance of you and look forward to your update!

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Jenny Wu
Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
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Jenny,

Thank you for your reply.
After using Window's Disk Defragment, I print a report that describes
files
that could not be defragmented. Following are some of the details:

Volume Size = 14.65GB
Cluster Size = 4 KB
Percent Free Space = 25%
Total Fragmentation = 17%
File Fragmentation = 34%
Total Fragmented files = 6
Pagefile fragments = 1
Fragmented folders = 1
Total MFT Fragments = 2
Files that could not be defragmented:
\WINNT\SchCache\(FQDN) 19 fragments, 974KB
\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.stm 182 fragments, 740MB
\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edg 264 fragments, 953MB

Please advise your recommendations; should I run the tool for Exchange
defragmenter?

""Jenny wu [MSFT]"" wrote:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for using the SBS newsgroup!

I am sorry for the delayed response due to weekend. Please understand
that
the newsgroups are staffed weekdays by Microsoft Support professionals
to
answer your systems and applications questions. Your understanding is
greatly appreciated!

For your description, I understand that you have some concern on the
Disk
Defragmenter tool of the SBS 2003 server box. If I am off base, please
don't hesitate to let me know.

You need not process defragmenting under safe mode.

Before we go further, please kindly help me collect some information to
isolate the issue:

I. How you know the C: drive is horribly fragmented even after processed
defragmenting?

The Disk Defragmenter tool is based on the full retail version of
Diskeeper
by Executive Software International, Inc. The version that is included
with
Microsoft Windows 2000 and later provides limited functionality in
maintaining disk performance by defragmenting volumes that use the FAT,
the
FAT32, or the NTFS file system.

This version has the following limitations:
a). It can defragment only local volumes.
b). It can defragment only one volume at a time.
c). It cannot defragment one volume while scanning another.
d). It cannot be scheduled.
e). It can run only one Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in at a
time.
f). It cannot defragment NTFS volumes with cluster sizes larger then 4
kilobytes (KB) in Windows 2000.This limitation has been removed for Disk
Defragmenter in Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
g). Fine-grained movement of uncompressed NTFS file data is not possible
in
Windows 2000. Moving a single file cluster also moves the 4-KB part of
the
file that contains the cluster. This limitation has been removed for
Disk
Defragmenter in Windows XP and later.
h). In Windows 2000, it does not defragment NTFS metadata files, such as
the Master File Table (MFT), or the metadata that describes a
directory's
contents. This limitation has been removed in Windows XP and later. It
cannot defragment encrypted files in Windows 2000. This limitation has
been
removed in Windows XP and later.

For more detail information, you could refer to the following KB article:

Disk Defragmenter Limitations in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows
Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;227463

II. And also I suggest you take a look at the following KB article to
try
some third-party disk defragmenter tools to test.
Third-party disk defragmenter tools for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP,
and Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;130539

How Disk Defragmenter Works

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/TechR
ef/58b410b9-8de8-459b-a43d-ddebb5ec3398.mspx

III. It is recommended that you use the "Eseutil /d" command to defrag
the
Exchange 2003 server databases. When the users delete messages, the size
of
the database will keep the same and you must perform an offline
defragmentation using the exeutil tool to reduce the Exchange database
seize. Please note that defragmenting a database requires free disk
space
equal to 110 percent of the size of the database that you want to
process
so if you do not have enough free space to run the eseutil tool, you can
defrag the database on another computer. See:

328804 How to Defragment Exchange Databases
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=328804

192185 XADM: How to Defragment with the Eseutil Utility (Eseutil.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=192185

IV. What is more, you can use the Disk Cleanup tool to delete all
temporary
files. You can launch the tool from Start -> Programs -> Accessories ->
System Tools -> Disk Cleanup. For more information, you can refer to the
following KB article which also applies to Windows 2000:

310312 Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310312

V. Perform an online backup of the Exchange 2003 Information Store to
purge
the transaction log files. You can use either the Windows 2003 built-in
NTBackup tool or an Exchange-aware third party backup tool. To use
NTBackup
to backup Exchange information store, you can refer to the following
Microsoft KB article:

258243 How to Back Up and Restore an Exchange Computer by Using the
Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=258243

VI. I would like to give your some information about some Best Practices
experience for defragment:

- Analyzing after large numbers of files are added

Volumes might become excessively fragmented when users add a large
number
of files or folders, so be sure to analyze volumes after this happens.
Generally, volumes on busy file servers should be defragmented more
often
than those on single-user workstations.

- Ensure that your disk has at least 15% free space

A volume must have at least 15% free space for Disk Defragmenter to
completely and adequately defragment it. Disk Defragmenter uses this
space
as a sorting area for file fragments. If a volume has less than 15% free
space, Disk Defragmenter will only partially defragment it. To increase
the
free space on a volume, delete unneeded files or move them to another
disk.

- Defragmenting during low-usage periods

Defragment file server volumes during low-volume usage periods to
minimize
the effect that the defragmentation process has on file server
performance.
The time that Disk Defragmenter takes to defragment a volume depends on
several factors, including the size of the volume, the number of files
on
the volume, the number of fragmented files, and available system
resources.

- Defragmenting after installing software or installing Windows

Defragment volumes after installing software or after performing an
upgrade
or clean install of Windows. Volumes often become fragmented after
installing software, so running Disk Defragmenter helps to ensure the
best
file system performance.

Hope above information helps! I am happy to be assistance of you and
look
forward to your reply!

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Jenny Wu
Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
======================================================
This newsgroup only focuses on SBS technical issues. If you have issues
regarding other Microsoft products, you'd better post in the
corresponding
newsgroups so that they can be resolved in an efficient and timely
manner.
You can locate the newsgroup here:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx

When opening a new thread via the web interface, we recommend you check
the
"Notify me of replies" box to receive e-mail notifications when there
are
any updates in your thread. When responding to posts via your
newsreader,
please "Reply to Group" so that others may learn and benefit from your
issue.

Microsoft engineers can only focus on one issue per thread. Although we
provide other information for your reference, we recommend you post
different incidents in different threads to keep the thread clean. In
doing
so, it will ensure your issues are resolved in a timely manner.

For urgent issues, you may want to contact Microsoft CSS directly.
Please
check http://support.microsoft.com for regional support phone numbers.

.

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