Exchange 2003 eseutil doesn't shrink edb and stm

[Miles]

I've done some searching on the already, but I'm coming up with zilch.

We're running Windows 2003 SP1 and Exchange 2003 Standard SP1. We have
recently run up againts the 16gb limit and must create some space. We have
had our users clean their mailboxes (deleting old stuff, archiving, etc) and
then we ran the eseutil /d utility. After running it, if we look in the
System manager at the mailbox sizes, they add up to 11 gig, but the actual
edb and stm files add up to 15.5 gig. I wondering why the discrepency and
what I can do to get the size down and keep it down until sp2 for exchange
comes out. eseutil didn't shrink the edb and stm files at all. I've tried
running it a couple of times with the same result...no change.

Thanks!

[David Strome [MSFT]]

hi Miles.

Do you have Deleted Item retention enabled on your server? In Exchange
System Manager, check the Limits tab in Mailbox Store properties on your
Exchange Server. Is "Keep deleted items for (days)" configured with a value?
What is that value, and have you waited at least that many days between
purging mail in the mailboxes and attempting to defrag the store?

Also, ensure that the users have actually emptied their Deleted Items in
their mailboxes.

You can also check your Exchange server's Application event log for Event
1221 errors, similar to the following:

==============
Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Store
Event Category: General
Event ID: 1221
Date: 8/2/2005
Time: 1:48:15 AM
User: N/A
Computer: EXCHANGE
Description:
The database "First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (EXCHANGE)" has 74 megabytes
of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.
==============

Event 1221 will tell you how much free space ("whitespace") you have
available inside the store. This whitespace is what will be reclaimed when
you run an offline defrag. If this is value, like the example above, is very
small then your server has not yet purged the deleted data from the
mailboxes and you must either reduce "Deleted Item Retention" to zero (or a
value substantially less than the current value to see any benefit), or wait
until you have passed the number of days specified to keep dumpster data.

You can also confirm that deleted item retention is what is holding you up
by

- opening the Mailbox Store in Exchange System Manager (ESM) on your server,
- selecting the Mailboxes container.
- Right click on an empty white space in the right hand pane, and select
View, then Add/Remove Columns.
- In the window that opens, select "Deleted Items (KB)" and click the Add ->
button. Then click OK.
- A new column will appear in the main ESM window (possibly off the right
side so scroll to the right). If Deleted Item Retention is the cause, your
mailboxes will have values in the "Deleted Items (KB)" column > 0.

If Deleted Item Retention is the cause, you will have to wait for the
deleted data to exceed the retention period, or set the retention period to
zero, and allow an online defrag to occur. Be aware however, that setting
the retention period to zero (or a value substantially less than the current
value to see any benefit), will remove your ability to recover accidentally
deleted mail without doing a full restore to the Recovery Storage Group.

I hope that helps.

--

David Strome
Exchange Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange
Visit the Microsoft Exchange Server TechCenter!
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/default.mspx

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Miles" <Mi...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C2019DF4-4697-49C9...@microsoft.com...

[Miles]

David,
Thanks for the reply. The info on the event log was helpful. It looks like
we just needed to wait another day for the online defrag to run. Our
retention was already set to 0. The event log showed that 3.5 gig would be
freed up so we ran the offline defrag and all is well. Guess we just got a
bit anxious when we were getting so close.

Thanks a million!

[Exchange2003]

Hello,

Outlook 2003 and Exchange 2003 systems.

I had a user with 1MB of mail. Her mailbox size limit is 50MB.
She had 80MB in "Recover Deleted Items"...nothing in "Deleted Items"
container.

And she received the message, "You are approaching your mailbox size limit."

Does the "Recover Deleted Items" container really impact the mailbox size?

Is there any documentation supporting this?

Thanks,
Exchange2003

[Rich Matheisen [MVP]]

Exchange2003 <Exchan...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Outlook 2003 and Exchange 2003 systems.
>
>I had a user with 1MB of mail. Her mailbox size limit is 50MB.
>She had 80MB in "Recover Deleted Items"...nothing in "Deleted Items"
>container.
>
>And she received the message, "You are approaching your mailbox size limit."
>
>Does the "Recover Deleted Items" container really impact the mailbox size?

No, it does not.

>Is there any documentation supporting this?

Don't know. I DO know that if it did there'd be a lot of unhappy
people.

--
Rich Matheisen
MCSE+I, Exchange MVP
MS Exchange FAQ at http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm
Don't send mail to this address mailto:h.p...@getronics.com