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Exchange 5.5 Server is running slow

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Steve

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Mar 18, 2003, 10:01:24 PM3/18/03
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Hi:
I built an Exchange 5.5 Server 4 months ago. It handles
90 mailboxes. The exchsrvr folder is only about 800 MB
in size. The 5.5 Server sits on a W2K SP3 platform. I
have a small environment, and my server rarely needs
attention. However, I feel that I need to give it some,
because when Users try to access their email sometimes
after double-clicking on a message it takes about 6-8
seconds for the message to open in Outlook 2000. I've
read good and bad stores about using the Eseutil, to
defrag the database. What do I need to do to properly
maintain the Server so that it continues to run with good
performace? I back it up nightly, buy doing a Flat file
backup.
Thank you in advance,
Steve

Martin Chisholm [MSFT]

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Mar 18, 2003, 11:38:45 PM3/18/03
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I don't have much experience with it, but I know that many people are
using Exchange 5.5 happily. BTW, have you upgraded to the latest
Service Pack?

Online Defragmentation (OLD) should ensure that the used parts of the
database aren't fragmented, so the disk head shouldn't seek back and
forth much.

Offline defragmentation will shrink the file on disk most of the time
(there are a few odd cases where it doesn't shrink, or gets slightly
larger). There shouldn't be horror stories for `eseutil -d`. Repair on
the other had (`eseutil -p`) is lossy, and can easily cause
headaches. Repair is 'more than enough rope to hang yourself'.

I don't know if Exchange5.5 needs frequent offline defrags. Older
versions definitely needed them often.

It's likely you're experiencing just 'normal' performance
problems. Typical things to check out are:

-is it only slow when everybody is using it (typically occurs in the
morning when people arrive at work)

-network bandwidth. Do you have enough hardware?

-is the server overloaded? Is it swapping to disk? Are other processes
running on it? Do you have 'enough' memory and cpu (where 'enough' is
highly subjective)?

-does Exchange run fine when you first start the service, and does it
slow down the longer you run it? Is it fast if you stop&restart the
service? Or is it always slow?

perfmon is your friend. It's got a pretty lousy UI, but it can tell
you lots of iteresting information. The Exchange-related coutners are
under 'Database'.

You can enable extended Exchange counters by adding the 'Squeaky
Lobster' key. I tried a google search for it, but it no longer seems
to come up. The counters aren't secret -- but they provide information
that will probably just confuse most people. The 'Squeaky Lobster'
term was just chosen one day at lunch.

To get the enabled counters:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ESE97\Performance
REG_DWORD
"Squeaky Lobster" (without quotes)
set it to 1.


-martin

Boring-but-necessary-disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with
no warranties, and confers no rights.


In article <130201c2edc3$d3a7a460$a401...@phx.gbl>,

steven

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Mar 21, 2003, 12:26:36 AM3/21/03
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Martin:
Thank you for your response.
Steve
>.
>
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