Deleted mailboxes don't free up space is edb

I delted several mailboxes and purged them.  However, the edb file size did 
not change.  Am I missing something?

You need to do offline defrag with eseutil and have free diskspace for it. Before doing it check how 
much white space you have in database by checking 1221 event in application log.

Hello;

The fact of deleting mailboxes doesn't reduce the size of the EDB file. You 
may have to perform offline defragmentation by using the "Eseutil /D" to 
defragment  Exchange database. First unmount the mailbox database you need to 
reduce size.

BR
-- 
Yves Kimenyi
Infrastructure Engineer
MTN Rwanda

Hi there,

It will not reduce the size of the database, but rather (once online 
maintenance completes) create whitespace.

Whitespace will then be used for new objects in the database rather than 
expanding the size of the database. It will use the available whitespace 
within itself. Does that make sense?

Do you need to reclaim space back? First off, check for EventID 1221 in your 
Application log to see how much whitespace you have available. This will 
tell you how much you will reclaim by performing an offline defrag as others 
have mentioned. Note: It only tells you the whitespace in the edb, not any 
space that may be reclaimable in the stm file.

However an offline defrag isn't the best option, unless you have Exchange 
Server 2000/2003 Standard, and you have no other Exchange Servers to move 
mailboxes too.

It is far easier to move mailboxes to another Exchange Server, or another 
database on the same Exchange Server, than it is to perform an offline 
defrag. The reason being an offline defrag requires the store to be offline, 
giving total outage to all users on it. Whilst the move mailbox process will 
only move upto 4 mailboxes at a time and for only the duration of the move.

Note (you don't mention what version of Exchange you have): Exchange 2007 
Standard allows upto 5 databases to be created.

Please advise what options you have available and we can recommend the best 
course of action. It may very well end up having to be an offline defrag - 
but this advice should not be out willy nilly give out just because it's a 
solution to the problem.

Oliver 

On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:29:01 -0800, Jason Wulf




Is it causing you problems? 

On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:03:54 -0000, "Oliver Moazzezi [MVP]"






And actually, that's the minimum amount that will be reclaimed. The
actual amount can be determined with eseutil and the /ms switch.

Thanks for the responses.  It is an Exchange 2003 Standard Edition.
Jason

If I had a user or user delete say 2 GB worth of mail, would I see that 
reductuion in the EDB file?  Or does it just show up as white space?  So if 
there is white space the mail goes there before expanding the edb file?  I'm 
concerned with my database maxing out.

Thanks, Jason.

No problems yet, but I quickly coming up on the 70gb max.  It still is 70gb 
right?
Thanks!
Jason

75GB with SP2.

You have standard so you may very well have to do an offline defrag if you 
don't have another Exchange Server to move mailboxes too (sounds like you 
don't)

Oliver 

>If I had a user or user delete say 2 GB worth of mail, would I see that


It would be whitespace after online maintenance.

Oliver 

On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:22:01 -0800, Jason Wulf




75GB. Do you have send and receive limits in place?