exchange 2003 database problem

hi...

i have a problem in exchage 2003.

The file size of the Exchange database will never shrink unless you do an offline defragment.  When data is removed or deleted from the database and after the deleted item retention has expired the database file still won't shrink.  If data is added to the database it will grow, if needed.  If the file were to expand and shrink at will you could imagine that the hard disk file system could get very fragmented. Unless there is a very specific reason that you need the database to shrink the database (out of hard disk space, too long backup times, etc) it is usually best to leave the database alone. 

If database is properly running online maintenance, it will reorganize or defragment the whitespace within the database allowing new data to be placed in the database without growing the file.  After each full pass of the online defrag will log a 1221 event which will also note the approximate amount of free space in the database.  My rule is that if there is less than 20% free space, leave it.  If it is more than 20% and you have to get the space down move all the mailboxes to a new database on the same server and delete the original.  Of course you can go the old fashioned route and defragment the database.

To do an offline defragmentation to reclaim the free space, you need to dismount the database and then run:

C:\program files\exchsrvr\bin> eseutil /d c:\progra~1\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb
 
More information can be found on doing running a defragment here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192185

HTH 

hi..

thanks.

i run eseutil with /d /p /t switch but size of database dose not reduce.

how can i move all mailbox to a new database in exchange 2003?

 

  

 

How long ago was the data deleted?  Is it past the deleted item retention policy?

I did not set any retention policy on exchange.

how can i do that?

if i set retention policy  on exchange , dose that can reduce size of database after delete item from mailbox?

thanks.

 

Retention is set (by default) on the Limits tab of each of the databases.  Once the retention has expired and online maintenance has run to purge the data you should be able to do an offline defragmention to reduce the file size. 

I have a similar problem with my database for exchnage 2003. The priv1.edb file is 38 GB and the priv1.stm file is 12 GB. They have filled up the exchange drive. I did an offline defragmentation using eseutil tool which created just 500 MB space for me. It has gotten full up again in just hours. I ran defragmentation overnight again which has now created 150 MB. seems like its not working out for me. Any one with another solutioni can try out?

Joseph

How many users do you have in that database? Chances are that they are sending and receiving email which causes the database to grow. If you are using the Enterprise Edition you may want to add additional disk, create a second database on the new disk and move some users over to it.