When you back up a large database in Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server, the backup operation fails

When you use NTBackup to back up a Microsoft Exchange store database in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server, the backup operation fails. This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:

• You have enabled ESE Zeroing on the database.
• The database is large. For example, the database is about 100 GB.

For more information about how to enable ESE Zeroing on an information store database, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

You must install Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) and the August 2004 Exchange 2000 Server post-Service Pack 3 update rollup before you install the hotfix.

For more information about how to obtain these software updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply the hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Even though Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server supports databases that are larger than 100 GB, we recommend that you limit database sizes to 50 GB.

If you run mailbox stores that are larger than 50 GB, make sure that you perform online maintenance in the correct manner. Additionally, make sure that your hardware is appropriately matched with the service level agreement so that large databases are restored in the expected period of time. Otherwise, we recommend that you distribute mailboxes across multiple mailbox stores so that no single mailbox store is over 50 GB. For more information about limiting database sizes, visit the following Microsoft Web site: