Exchange DB Defrag

Why you need to perform defrag on Exchange DB?

Basically, you have reached 16GB DB size for Exchange 5.5 Std Exchange 2000 Std and Exchange 2003 Std pre SP2. Before doing such, something you will need to know:

You will need over double the size of the database to do an offline defrag. This size needs to be in on one drive.

Is there risk? You are working on a database file, so yes there is a risk.

If your DB grow till near 16GB before you perform such action, please visit MSFT website, temporary increase the store to 17gb: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=828070

Although Exchange 2003 standard now support 75GB, upgrading to Enterprise Edition is the primary solution. This is what you need to aim for long term. In addition, Exchange Enterprise will give you more features, like supporting cluster, support multiple storage groups and stores, up to 4 storage groups with 20 databases.

Just an advice for shorter term, limits on the size of the mailbox is probably something that you need to look at. Try to encourage users to get rid of some email, archiving or deleting what isn't required. Some users can just store non office stuff in the email, eg: movies, MP3 ++

How to perform defrag? Short answer is eseutil /d. Please visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254132/ before performing such action.

Lastly, we always encourage to offline backup the DB in two locations.