Discussion:
Reclaiming freespace/whitespace?
(too old to reply)
decipher
2009-02-04 15:51:21 UTC
Permalink
Hello,

We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been tough and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox. Retention policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes takes two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day. On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit. I’m finding that each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was under the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown? Is an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.

Thanks
Susan
2009-02-04 18:41:42 UTC
Permalink
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need for an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been tough and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox. Retention policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes takes two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day. On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit. I’m finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was under the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown? Is an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
decipher
2009-02-04 19:44:05 UTC
Permalink
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need for an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been tough and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox. Retention policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes takes two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day. On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit. I’m finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was under the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown? Is an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
Susan
2009-02-05 00:35:00 UTC
Permalink
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't think the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is your online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need for an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been tough and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox. Retention policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes takes two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit. I’m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was under the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown? Is an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
decipher
2009-02-05 14:32:15 UTC
Permalink
HI Susan,

The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem to be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like Exchange is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't think the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is your online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need for an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been tough and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox. Retention policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes takes two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit. I’m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was under the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown? Is an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
Susan
2009-02-05 15:27:44 UTC
Permalink
how much whitespace is in the store? how much email traffic do you really
have in a day? a re you seeing event 1221 in your event log?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
HI Susan,
The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem to be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like Exchange is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't think the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is your online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need for an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been
tough
and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox.
Retention
policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes
takes
two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit.
I’m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was
under
the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown?
Is
an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
decipher
2009-02-05 21:13:33 UTC
Permalink
There are a number of stores on this server, but here is the event id 1221
for one of our general stores:

The database "EXCH General Storage Group\EXCH General Store" has 6215
megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.

There is about 240 mailboxes and I would consider the users medium to low.
Post by Susan
how much whitespace is in the store? how much email traffic do you really
have in a day? a re you seeing event 1221 in your event log?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
HI Susan,
The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem to be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like Exchange is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't think the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is your online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need for an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on
Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been
tough
and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that we archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox.
Retention
policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period mailboxes are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535). Our online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes
takes
two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space. We've probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit.
I’m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was
under
the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown?
Is
an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
Susan
2009-02-05 22:45:51 UTC
Permalink
and that is the same store that is growing by 100 MB per day? something
must be wrong, there...I've never heard of a store behaving in that
way...nothing else in the application log that might point to the issue?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
There are a number of stores on this server, but here is the event id 1221
The database "EXCH General Storage Group\EXCH General Store" has 6215
megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.
There is about 240 mailboxes and I would consider the users medium to low.
Post by Susan
how much whitespace is in the store? how much email traffic do you really
have in a day? a re you seeing event 1221 in your event log?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
HI Susan,
The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem to be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like
Exchange
is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't think the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is your online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need
for
an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on
Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a
question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been
tough
and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that
we
archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox.
Retention
policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period
mailboxes
are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535).
Our
online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes
takes
two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space.
We've
probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit.
IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€şÂ¢m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was
under
the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown?
Is
an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
decipher
2009-02-06 20:44:01 UTC
Permalink
I dont see anything out of the ordinary in the logs. There are some corrupt
meeting appt. and the like, but nothing out of the ordinary. I found a
script that will query AD and report the whitespace of all stores. Ill watch
it for the week and if there isny any improvement I'll plan an offline defrag.
Post by Susan
and that is the same store that is growing by 100 MB per day? something
must be wrong, there...I've never heard of a store behaving in that
way...nothing else in the application log that might point to the issue?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
There are a number of stores on this server, but here is the event id 1221
The database "EXCH General Storage Group\EXCH General Store" has 6215
megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.
There is about 240 mailboxes and I would consider the users medium to low.
Post by Susan
how much whitespace is in the store? how much email traffic do you really
have in a day? a re you seeing event 1221 in your event log?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
HI Susan,
The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem to be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like
Exchange
is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't think the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is your online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not using the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the
whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need
for
an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster running on
Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a
question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been
tough
and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that
we
archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox.
Retention
policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period
mailboxes
are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535).
Our
online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes
takes
two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the
online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store
nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the next day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space.
We've
probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit.
I’m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was
under
the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown?
Is
an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags
because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
Susan
2009-02-06 22:00:23 UTC
Permalink
OK, but if you've got 6 gigs of whitespace, and your databases are still
growing by 100 MB, per day, you might have something more serious going
on...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
I dont see anything out of the ordinary in the logs. There are some corrupt
meeting appt. and the like, but nothing out of the ordinary. I found a
script that will query AD and report the whitespace of all stores. Ill watch
it for the week and if there isny any improvement I'll plan an offline defrag.
Post by Susan
and that is the same store that is growing by 100 MB per day? something
must be wrong, there...I've never heard of a store behaving in that
way...nothing else in the application log that might point to the issue?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
There are a number of stores on this server, but here is the event id 1221
The database "EXCH General Storage Group\EXCH General Store" has 6215
megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.
There is about 240 mailboxes and I would consider the users medium to low.
Post by Susan
how much whitespace is in the store? how much email traffic do you really
have in a day? a re you seeing event 1221 in your event log?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
HI Susan,
The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem
to
be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like
Exchange
is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't
think
the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is
your
online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not
using
the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the
whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need
for
an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster
running
on
Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a
question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been
tough
and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that
we
archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox.
Retention
policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period
mailboxes
are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535).
Our
online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes
takes
two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the
online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store
nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the
next
day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space.
We've
probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit.
IÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€şÂ¢m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was
under
the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown?
Is
an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags
because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
oz.Casey Dedeal
2009-04-02 18:03:17 UTC
Permalink
Check these to see if you can pin point anything , I have seen AV software
contributing fast growth in the past, message looping, possible store
related issues, spam etc


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996191(EXCHG.65).aspx
http://exchangeserverinfo.com/2007/06/23/fast-growing-databases--transaction-logs-on-exchange-2000--2003.aspx

oz casey Dedeal
Post by decipher
I dont see anything out of the ordinary in the logs. There are some corrupt
meeting appt. and the like, but nothing out of the ordinary. I found a
script that will query AD and report the whitespace of all stores. Ill watch
it for the week and if there isny any improvement I'll plan an offline defrag.
Post by Susan
and that is the same store that is growing by 100 MB per day? something
must be wrong, there...I've never heard of a store behaving in that
way...nothing else in the application log that might point to the issue?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
There are a number of stores on this server, but here is the event id 1221
The database "EXCH General Storage Group\EXCH General Store" has 6215
megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated.
There is about 240 mailboxes and I would consider the users medium to low.
Post by Susan
how much whitespace is in the store? how much email traffic do you really
have in a day? a re you seeing event 1221 in your event log?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
HI Susan,
The store is growing by 100MB per day. The whitespace doesnt seem
to
be
growing. The online maintanence is completing. its almost like
Exchange
is
not using up the whitespace.
Post by Susan
you mean the store files are growing by 100 MB per day? I don't
think
the
store files AND the whitespace can grow, at the same time...is
your
online
maintenance completing?
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Thanks for the reply. Why does its seem that Exchagne is not
using
the
whitespace? Everyday the info stores eat up approx 100MB, and the
whitespace
seems to grow.
Post by Susan
Exchange knows how to reuse that whitespace efficiently...no need
for
an
offline defrag...
--
Susan Conkey [MVP]
Post by decipher
Hello,
We have an Exchange 2000 Enterprise active/active cluster
running
on
Windows
2000 sp4. All up to date patches and Exchange updates. I have a
question
about reclaiming free space/disk space. Recently times have been
tough
and
unfortunately we have had many layoffs. Our policy states that
we
archive
the email with exmerge and delete the account and mailbox.
Retention
policy
for deleted mailboxes is 30 days. After the 30 day period
mailboxes
are
successfully being removed from the stores (I see event 9535).
Our
online
maintenance is completing (event id 1221), although it sometimes
takes
two
days before the store is actually defragged. What I mean is, the
online
maintenance will run but will not completely finish each store
nightly,
usually it continues where it left off and will finish the
next
day.
On
average in my stores Im seeing about 6-10GB of white space.
We've
probably
deleted 10-15 mailboxes from each store ~ 350MB limit.
I’m
finding that
each
day about 100MB of disk is being used on the data drive. I was
under
the
impression that white space is used before the info store is grown?
Is
an
offline defrag needed? I usually stray away from offline defrags
because
typically online maint. does the trick.
Thanks
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