Need to reduce .edb file size by having remote users archive inbox

[Erik Korstad]

The exchange server is running NT server. The client boxes are running Win98 and Win2000. We have users who access exchange remotely and use .ost files. In order to reduce the .edb files on the server, I have had the users archive all of their messages over 30 days old to a local archive.pst on their machines. This has not seemed to help reduce the size of the .edb files. Any ideas on what we might be doing wrong?

Thanks,

Erik

[Russ]

You could delete every email and it would not reduce the size of the priv. You are only creating white space, so it will not grow any more until you use that all up again. To actually reduce the size, you need to do a defrag. The utility is called eseutil. Should be plenty about it in technet.


------------
Erik Korstad at 7/11/01 7:39:21 PM

The exchange server is running NT server. The client boxes are running Win98 and Win2000. We have users who access exchange remotely and use .ost files. In order to reduce the .edb files on the server, I have had the users archive all of their messages over 30 days old to a local archive.pst on their machines. This has not seemed to help reduce the size of the .edb files. Any ideas on what we might be doing wrong?

Thanks,

Erik

[Jonathan Chubb]

Erik,

Once you have defraged your priv.edb you will regain the lost space - the process can take a while and you will need twice as much disk space as the priv.edb is now. This may be where you have the problem - but you could add more disks, create a new volume and perform your defrag from there.

When you have done all that you will have a smaller db but loads of data all over the company in pst files. You may find that you want to put something in place which is a bit more long term but if you want to talk further on the subject mail me directly.

jc


------------
Erik Korstad at 7/11/01 7:39:21 PM

The exchange server is running NT server. The client boxes are running Win98 and Win2000. We have users who access exchange remotely and use .ost files. In order to reduce the .edb files on the server, I have had the users archive all of their messages over 30 days old to a local archive.pst on their machines. This has not seemed to help reduce the size of the .edb files. Any ideas on what we might be doing wrong?

Thanks,

Erik

[Stephen Mynhier]

ESEUTIL /D (the offline defrag) will take about 120% of your database size to run. A couple of ways to determine (in advance) how much space you will regain. First, is to monitor the Application Log for event 1221. This event will tell you how much (the minimum) each database would look to regain from a defrag. The other method is ESEUTIL /MS priv.edb (or pub.edb or dir.edb). The appropriate service must be stopped to do this. It shouldn't take any more than a few minutes, but it will generate a report for you. The only thing that you are interested in is the number at the bottom right hand side. This is the total number of pages (maximum) that you would look to regain. To convert this, multiply by 4096 to get to bytes. Divide by 1000 to give you KB, and then divide by a thousand again to give you MB. If needed, divide by 1000 again to get GB.

Stephen Mynhier


------------
Jonathan Chubb at 7/31/01 7:57:58 AM

Erik,

Once you have defraged your priv.edb you will regain the lost space - the process can take a while and you will need twice as much disk space as the priv.edb is now. This may be where you have the problem - but you could add more disks, create a new volume and perform your defrag from there.

When you have done all that you will have a smaller db but loads of data all over the company in pst files. You may find that you want to put something in place which is a bit more long term but if you want to talk further on the subject mail me directly.

jc


------------
Erik Korstad at 7/11/01 7:39:21 PM

The exchange server is running NT server. The client boxes are running Win98 and Win2000. We have users who access exchange remotely and use .ost files. In order to reduce the .edb files on the server, I have had the users archive all of their messages over 30 days old to a local archive.pst on their machines. This has not seemed to help reduce the size of the .edb files. Any ideas on what we might be doing wrong?

Thanks,

Erik