Exchange online and offline defrag

With Exchange 2003 Enterprise, Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 there is no need to run an offline defrag of the Exchange database. All of these versions will allow the creation of another mailbox store. Once you have another mailbox store you can simply move the mailboxes from the fragmented store to the new one. This will provide you with a fully defragmented and error free mail store with the added bonus of no down time.

In Exchange 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 there is a soft database limit that can be set up to 75GB. Many believe that simply running an offline defrag of their data store will help them to stay below the limit. This is simply not true.

The 75GB limit in Exchange 2003 is a soft limit and it is based on the LOGICAL size of the database not the PHYSICAL size. The logical size of the database can be loosely calculated by taking the combined size of the EDB and STM files minus the free space reported in Event 1221 in the Application Event Log. Guidance on finding the true size of the stores can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996139(EXCHG.65).aspx

By default, Exchange 2003 will run online maintenance every day, normally at around 5am. Part of this maintenance is to run an online defrag of the database. Details of what other tasks are run as part of the online maintenance can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324358

Once the online maintenance has been completed there will be an event 1221 generated in the Application event log. There will be one for each store. The description will say “The database "\ ()" has megabytes of free space after online defragmentation has terminated” this event shows how much free space is in the EDB file (it does not include the STM file).


Creating “white space”

The free space that is reported by Event 1221 is often referred to as “white space”. This free space will be used by Exchange before expanding the physical size of the database. If your database has reached the 75GB limit then you will need to create free space to bring the logical size of the database below the limit.

The easiest way to do this is to delete any unwanted mailboxes and ask your users to archive some mail or delete mail that is no longer required.

Depending on your deleted item retention period, this may take a long time to be seen as free space. If you are trying to alleviate an immediate problem, then you can speed this process up by setting the deleted item retention periods to 0. This will make any items that are deleted, permanently deleted rather than sent to the dumpster, where you can recover them with the tools, Recover Deleted Items option in the Deleted Items folder within Outlook.

This will then hopefully bring you below the logical limit of your database.

Only if PHYSICAL storage on your server is a problem should you perform an offline defrag of the database to recover the free space reported by Event 1221. If there is no free space reported by Event 1221 then an offline defrag is a complete waste of time.


Offline Defrag

If you have read all of the above and you are still convinced you need to perform an offline defrag of the Exchange database then I would recommend you follow these guidelines:


•To run ESEUTIL you need to open a command prompt and change the folder to "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin". This is the same for all the commands listed below
•Perform a FULL backup of the Exchange Information store using either Windows Backup or a 3rd Party Backup product. It must be an Exchange aware backup and it must be a FULL backup of the store not a brick level backup. This will ensure all the transaction logs are flushed.
•Dismount the store and make a copy of the STM and EDB Files to another drive. Consideration needs to be taken for the fact that the defragmentation process needs a minimum of 110% of the size of the store in free space. So if your store is 75GB you need an extra 83GB of free space. If the drive that the store is on does not have enough space then move it do a different volume and perform the defrag there. Alternatively you can direct the temporary database to a different volume using the following command: ESEUTIL /d "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\Priv1.edb" /tD:\Priv1Temp.edb
•Run the ESEUTIL /d “C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\Priv1.edb” command to start the defragmentation.
Please note that depending on the specification of the server and any other additional tasks that it may be performing, you should expect a defragmentation of a database to run at a rate of between 4 and 7 GB per hour. So if you have an 80GB file it could take up to (and probably longer) 20 hours to perform a full defrag. During this time the Exchange Server will be unavailable to users.

How to install or upgrade the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1

How to install or upgrade the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1
Article ID: KB15779

Type: Support Content

Last Modified: 01-31-2011

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Product(s) Affected:

BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express for Microsoft® Exchange
BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Microsoft® Exchange
BlackBerry® Professional Software

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Overview

To update a previous MAPI client to Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and CDO version 1.2.1

To update to the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and CDO version 1.2.1 from a MAPI client pack or Microsoft Exchange System Manager, complete the following steps:

Download ExchangeMapiCdo.EXE from www.microsoft.com.
Stop all BlackBerry Enterprise Server services.
Set all of the Automatic BlackBerry Enterprise Server services to Disabled.
Do not change the manual BlackBerry services (BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.x only).
Remove the Microsoft Exchange System Manager or the Messaging API and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1 installed on the computer using the Add or Remove Programs tool in Control Panel.
To remove Microsoft Exchange System Manager, you will need to be logged in as an Exchange Administrator user and have the Microsoft Exchange 2003 CD.
Windows Server® 2008 uses the Programs and Features tool in Control Panel.
Locate the following files and rename them with the file extension .old if they exist. Please make sure you are searching the hidden and system folders:
EMSMDB32.DLL
EMSABP32.DLL
CDO.DLL

Note: When upgrading from Exchange System Management (ESM) 2003 tools to Mapi and CDO 1.2.1 the mapi32.dll file will need to be renamed also. This will only need to be performed on Windows Server 2003. Please see Additional information for Windows Server 2008.
Reboot the server.
Login with the BESAdmin service account.
Double-click ExchangeMapiCdo.EXE to extract the ExchangeMapiCdo.MSI file.
Double-click ExchangeMapiCdo.MSI and follow the prompts to install the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and CDO version 1.2.1.
Set all the Disabled BlackBerry services to Automatic (but do not start the BlackBerry services).
Do not change the manual BlackBerry services (BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.x only).
Recreate the MAPI Profile

Verify that all the BlackBerry services are stopped.
Open regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWSNT\CURRENT VERSION\WINDOWS MESSAGING SUBSYSTEM\PROFILES.
Right-click Profiles and select Export.
Save the profile with MAPI and today’s date (i.e. mapi09212010.reg).
Right-click Profiles and select Delete.
Click on Start - Programs - BlackBerry Enterprise Server and select BlackBerry Server Configuration.
Click the BlackBerry Server tab.
Click Edit Mapi.
Type in your Microsoft Exchange Server.
It should default to the BESAdmin service account for the mailbox.
Click Check Name.
The Microsoft Exchange Server and mailbox should underline if they are resolved.
Click OK.
Start all of the automatic BlackBerry services, starting with BlackBerry Router, BlackBerry Dispatcher, BlackBerry Controller, and then all the others.
Services that should be set to manual for start up are BlackBerry Mailstore, Synchronization, and Policy. The remaining services should be set to automatic start up.

Important: Restarting certain BlackBerry Enterprise Server services will delay email message delivery to BlackBerry smartphones. For more information, see KB04789.

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Environment

BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 4.1 SP4 to 5.0 SP2 for Microsoft® Exchange
BlackBerry® Professional Software 4.1 SP4 for Microsoft® Exchange
BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express 5.0 SP1 to 5.0 SP2
Windows®
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Additional Information

To verify the successful installation of the Microsoft Exchange Server MAPI Client and CDO 1.2.1, complete the following steps:

Verify that the ExchangeMAPI folder was created in the Program Files folder. The ExchangeMAPI folder contains a selection of .DLL files.
In the BlackBerry Messaging Agent (MAGT) logs, verify the following ENV] environment variables are reported:

[ENV] MAPI32.DLL: C:\Windows\System32\MAPI32.DLL, Version: 1.0.2536.0
[ENV] CDO.DLL: C:\Program Files\ExchangeMAPI\ Version: CDO.DLL, 6.5.8190.0
[ENV] EMSMDB32.DLL: C:\Program Files\ExchangeMAPI\EMSMDB32.DLL, Version: 6.5.8190.0
Note: The file directories listed in the logs contain the version of the files, and the currently available version might be newer than the versions in the preceding list. For Windows Server 2008 64-bit, use c:\Program Files (x86) instead of c:\Program Files.


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This article contains information previously documented in KB12701 and KB20774.


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Windows Server 2008 - How to rename the mapi32.dll in the c:\windows\system32 folder:

For Windows 2008 the c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll file does not need to be renamed. If it must be removed, follow the directions below.

You must take ownership and full control of the file:

Open a command prompt as Administrator.
Right-click the Command Prompt in the Start > Programs > Accessories.
Select Run as administrator.
Change directories to c:\windows\system32.
cd\windows\system32
Type the following two commands:
Takeown /f c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll
Icacls c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll /grant besadmin:F (If you service account name is not besadmin then replace besadmin with the appropriate service account name)
Rename the mapi32.dll - Example: ren mapi32.dll mapi32.old.
Right click fixmapi.exe and select Run As Administrator.
Note: If this does not work, reboot the computer into Safe Mode, and then try to rename the mapi32.dll file.

Flush and clear a jammed print job Queue

You have 4 options !

1) Reboot.

This solves the problem and most usually do this.


2) Manually flush the print queue.

Type services.msc in Windows start menu search bar and hit enter to open Services. Navigate down to Print Spooler. Rt click on this services and 'Stop' this service.


Next navigate to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS folder and delete all the CONTENTS of this folder.

Now rt click again on the Print Spooler service and restart it.

Refresh the print queue. Your problem should have been solved.


3) Copy-paste the following in Notepad and save it as a .bat file:
@echo off
echo Stopping print spooler.
echo.
net stop spooler
echo Erasing Temporary Junk Printer Documents
echo.
del /Q /F /S “%systemroot%\System32\Spool\Printers\*.*
echo Starting print spooler.
echo.
net start spooler
Run the bat file when the need arises. Alternatively, you may also download this ready-made bat file : fixprintq.