Article ID: 829166
Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Standard Edition
SYMPTOMS
The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service on your Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 computer may stop running. When you try to restart the Information Store service, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:
If you use the eseutil /mh command to obtain information about the databases, the Eseutil utility reports that the databases are in an inconsistent state. Additionally, if you run the eseutil /r command, you receive an error that is similar to the following:
CAUSE
This issue may occur if the Exchange 5.5 computer is shut down suddenly. For example, this issue might occur if the computer is shut down suddenly because of a power outage.
When data is saved to the Information Store database, the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) writes transactions to the database files in three steps. If the Exchange 5.5 computer is shut down suddenly during the three-step process, links to the data that is stored in the memory buffers may be lost. If the links are lost, the buffer dependencies may be corrupted. When you try to restart the Information Store service, you receive the following ESE decimal error:
This decimal error is the same as the following ESE error message:
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, use one of the following two procedures.
Restore the Information Store from a backup
For additional information about how to restore the Information Store from a backup, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
296229 XADM: How to recover a whole Exchange Server 5.5 computer using an online backup
Important It is always best to restore from a backup whenever possible.
Repair the database
You can use the Eseutil utility to repair the private information store (Priv.edb) and the public information store (Pub.edb).
Note Only use the eseutil /p command that is listed in step 3 as a last resort. This utility parameter forces a hard repair on the database. For more information about how to use the Eseutil utility to repair the database, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
259851 Ramifications of running the eseutil /p or edbutil /d /r command in Exchange
To repair the database, follow these steps:
- Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK.
- Type each of the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command:
cd c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\
eseutil /r /ispriv
eseutil /r /ispub - If the eseutil /r /ispriv command and the eseutil /r /ispub command do not complete successfully, and you receive the errors that are described in the "Symptoms" section, you can use the eseutil /p priv.edb command and the eseutil /p pub.edb command.
Note To run the eseutil command with the /p parameter, you must have free space on your hard disk that is at minimum 25 percent the size of the database. Typically, this procedure runs at the rate of three to six gigabytes of data per hour. - When both databases are repaired, type the following two commands, and then press ENTER after each command to run an offline defragmentation of the database:
eseutil /d priv.edb
eseutil /d pub.edb
Note To run an offline defragmentation, you must have free space that is at minimum 110 percent the size of the database on the same hard disk that contains the database.
For additional information about what you can do if you do not have sufficient free space on the hard disk that contains the database, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:255035 XADM: How to recover hard disk space from Exchange Server databases
- When the offline defragmentation is complete, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command to correct any logical schema errors that may exist:
cd\exchsrvr\bin
isinteg -pri -fix -test alltests
isinteg -pub -fix -test alltests
MORE INFORMATION
For additional information about the database architecture and database engine for Microsoft Exchange Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
271987 XADM: Overview of Exchange Server database architecture and database engine
For additional information about the Eseutil utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
182903 XADM: ESEUTIL command line parameters
Additional query words: hex 0xffffff01
Keywords: kbprb KB829166
