Issues sending to 2003 mail store


If your having problems sending mail to a particular store user but OWA still works.

You receive an immediate NDR with the following text:
There’s a problem with the recipient’s mailbox. Please try resending this message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk.

You may have a store corruption issue.

  • To resolve either move users to a new mail store
  • or
  • run isinteg –fix –test alltests on the database (this will require down time)

Another possibility (same solution is that there are too many named properties (look for 9667 events) – in this case you have to move users to another store\database.

 

How To: Exchange database Recoveryor Become an Exchange database Recovery expert!!!!!


SUMMARY

This article describes how to use the Microsoft Exchange Server Eseutil tool (Eseutil.exe)  

How to Recover a Corrupt Exchange Database

  1. Be sure there are no hardware issues and that the File System is intact (run chkdsk /r and repeat until it doesn’t return errors), restore from backup is preferable if possible.
  2. Add the Exchange bin to the “path” statement
    1. Start -> Right click my computer -> properties -> advanced Tab -> environment variables (scroll down if you have to)
    2. In the bottom pane double click “path”
    3. Go to the end of the line enter a semi-colon and enter the path to the exchange bin directory
  3. Verify that there is twice as much free space as the size of the database,
    i.e if the database is 10 gb you need to have at least 20 gb free
  4. Open command prompt
  5. Change to the directory where the database is (usually C:\program files\exchsrv\mdbdata, if you cant find the database search for *.edb)
  6. Type eseutil /mh <database name> (usually priv1.edb)
    1. Look for the shutdown state (may have to scroll up) , if its in clean shutdown then you should be able to mount the database, but chances are if your reading this its in a dirty shutdown and you need to continue on
  7. Type eseutil /k <database name> (usually priv1.edb) look for “Bad Checksums” if you have any, your repair possibility will be slim (just make a note of it)
  8. Type eseutil /ml e00 we are looking for any missing logs (if none missing go on to step 9)
    1. if there are any we have to move all subsequent logs. and the e00 log to another location, rename the last log to e00.log
    2. Example we have logs E00021-E00035 and E00033 is missing, remove E00, E00034 and E00035
  9. Re-name the .chk file to .oldchk
  10. Type eseutil /r E00
    1. Wait for that to complete, if it completes successfully move on to 11 otherwise run “P”
      1. P. eseutil /p <database name> this will force the database into a clean shutdown and will rip out any incomplete pages, this should only be done as a last resort
  11. Start information store service, verify that the store is mounted in Exchange System Manager (ESM), if its not mounted right click and mount
    1. Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Exchange -> System Manager
    2. Expand Administrative Group -> Administrative group -> Servers -> {Server name} -> {Storage Group}
    3. Right Click Mailbox store -> mount
  12. Dismount the store in ESM
  13. Go back to the command window
    1. type isinteg –s <servername> -fix –test alltests
    2. When prompted select the store that you repaired
    3. If any fixes are reported re-run until none are reported (just like chkdsk)
  14. Type eseutil /d <database name> (usually priv1.edb)
  15. Remount the database and should now be able to send receive mail

Command Description
Eseutil is a Jet database repair utility
Switch Action
/D Defragments the database
/R Soft recovery of the database
/G Integrity Check
/K Checksum
/P Hard Repair
/ML Log File dump
/MH Database file dump
/Y Copy
/C Restore

Isinteg is a integrity checker much like the windows chkdsk for NTFS

ESM Exchange System Manager is the GUI Management tool for exchange
Exchange 2007 changed the name to EMC Exchange Management Console

REFERENCES

For more information about Exchange 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123872.aspx

Use the Eseutil Utility to Detect File Header Damage in Exchange 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825088

How to defragment with the Eseutil utility (Eseutil.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192185

Description of the Isinteg utility
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/182081