[itdiscuss] Exhange Defrag

[Michael Sainz]

I actually use Sysinternals contig.exe to defrag my exchange databases. Yes you need to dismount them first and really if they're on their own drive you don't have much fragmentation. It uses NTFS's API's to move the sectors around cleanly so if for some reason there is a problem it doesn't corrupt any data.

michael|sainz
information technology coordinator | sunset presbyterian church<http://www.sunsetpres.org/>
michaelsainz at sunsetpres.org<mailto:michaelsainz at sunsetpres.org> | twitter.com/michaelsainz<http://twitter.com/michaelsainz> | My Blog<http://www.iamdigerati.com/>

"We listen to worship music, while the rest of the world listens to hip hop and pop. We talk about history, while the rest of the world talks about reality. We use bulletins, while the rest of the world is on Facebook." -Tony Morgan

From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of Bobby Stewart
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:06 PM
To: IT Discussion Forum
Subject: Re: [itdiscuss] Exhange Defrag

I found this insightful, "Exchange databases run a defragmentation process once a day by default..." The rest of the article, How can I defragment Exchange 2000/2003 Server databases? can be found at:
http://www.petri.co.il/defragment_exchange_2000_2003_server_databases.htm

The article goes on to describe the process of ESEUTIL offline defragmentation. It seems to me that one would want to follow this procedure with a disk defrag while the store is still offline after the database defrag.

Bobby Stewart
Network Analyst
Brentwood Baptist Church
Brentwood, TN
(615) 324-6149 office
(615) 830-0012 cell

From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Brunson
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 2:03 PM
To: 'IT Discussion Forum'
Subject: Re: [itdiscuss] Exhange Defrag

I agree that running a disk defrag on a running Exchange store is not the best idea.  However, I think I need to clarify something.  Disk defrag and eseutil are serving two different purposes.  Eseutil moves data around inside the database file to make sure it is all contiguous IN the file, and disk defrag makes sure that the sectors containing the files are all contiguous ON the disk.  As an Exchange database file grows, it can get spread all over the disk just like any other file.  Running eseutil for a database on a fairly full disk actually has the potential to make the database files significantly more fragmented, even if the data inside those files is made more contiguous.  Windows has to find a place to put those files when it makes them or expands them, and that may mean filling gaps on the hard drive.  If the drive is dedicated to Exchange databases you are less likely to find fragmented DBs, since the only thing on there will be DBs, but it is still possible.
A disk defrag will almost certainly not be able to defrag the Exchange DB files while the DB is mounted, and if it could that could result in a damaged DB.  So if you want to run a disk defrag, I would suggest you dismount the DB or stop the services.

Kevin Brunson

From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of Jason Hand
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:14 PM
To: 'IT Discussion Forum'
Subject: Re: [itdiscuss] Exhange Defrag

I would not try a defrag on a volume with the exchange store on it while in production.  The store is just a couple of large database files and are not defragmentable except for what you mentioned, eseutil.  As for the other files, surely they are not causing performance problems for Exchange.

JKDefrag works well and I have used it on file servers and workstations with success.  Since it runs as a command-line utility it works very well and is easy to schedule via the Task Scheduler.

Defragmenting can help in situations where the drive is being used to do lots of read/write access to the files stored on it like a File server but since Exchange is like any other database system it houses it's files in 'containers' and therefore doesn't really benefit from the rest of the drive being defragmented.

-Jason

________________________________
From: discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at itdiscuss.org] On Behalf Of Stephen W. Klose
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:57 PM
To: discuss at itdiscuss.org
Subject: [itdiscuss] Exhange Defrag
Are there any issues with running a file level defrag on drive that also has the Exchange Server Stor?

I know there is eseutil, but at the same time, there are other files on the drive that are fragmented and affecting performance.

Here are some links that indicate it is okay, but I have seen warnings on the subject as well:
Microsoft Help Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328804
Article with user comments: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/10/25/247342.aspx

Also: Does anyone know of any issues with jkdefrag? (open source alternative to the windows defrag)

Thanks,

Steve Klose
Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church
Cell: 205.427.5420
Home: 205.987.7545
Pager: pager at klose.cc<mailto:pager at klose.cc>


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