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How can I
defragment Exchange 2000/2003 Server
databases?
Exchange
databases run a defragmentation process
once a day by default. This process
rearranges mailbox store and public
folder store data more efficiently,
eliminating unused storage space.
Exchange database online defragmentation
occurs automatically as part of the
database maintenance process. Online
defragmenting is performed automatically
at 2:00 AM every day by default. Online
defragmentation makes additional
database space available by detecting
and removing database objects that are
no longer being used. The
defragmentation process provides more
database space without actually changing
the file size of the database.
The
following are two ways to schedule
database defragmentation:
-
To
schedule database defragmentation
for an individual database, on the
Database tab of a mailbox store or
public folder store object,
configure the maintenance interval
using the Maintenance interval
option.
-
To
schedule database defragmentation
for a collection of mailbox stores
and public folder stores, on the
Database (Policy) tab of a mailbox
store or a public folder store
policy, configure the maintenance
interval using the Maintenance
interval option.
Although
online defragmentation provides some
additional database space, you should
also defragment your Exchange database
offline to reduce the physical size of
your Exchange database. You can perform
offline defragmentation by using the ESE
utility (ESEUTIL) while your mailbox
stores and public folder stores are
offline.
You would
perform offline defragmentation, for
instance, if you had recently moved a
large number of users from a server
running Exchange 2000/2003. In that
case, defragmenting offline decreases
the size of your Exchange databases by
rearranging the data on the server’s
Exchange databases, and discarding any
unused database pages.
Note that the length of
time that the defragmentation will take
will depend on the amount of white space
in the database, as well as the size of
the transactions recorded in the
database, and your hardware
specifications.
Offline
defragmentation creates a new database
by copying all records and tables
from the old database into the new
database. Because this is a copy,
defragmentation requires free disk space
equal to the size of the database
(actually, you'll need 110% of free
space).
Very important note:
After
defragmentation is complete, ESE
considers the new database to be a
different database from the original.
Therefore, the original database is
deleted and its member log files
cannot be replayed into the
successor database. |
