XADM: JET Will Now Retry 16 Times on -1018 Error

The JET error -1018 (JET_errReadVerifyFailure) appears in the Windows NT Event Viewer application log during normal operation of the information store or directory service. Also, the error -1018 is returned during the online backup procedure of the information store or directory service.

A -1018 error occurs when the Exchange Server database engine makes a request to the operating system or hardware to return page X from the database on disk but the operating system or hardware returns page Y. This can result from many things such as faulty hardware, SCSI timing problems, and so on. For a detailed explanation of -1018 errors, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft recognizes the need for the Exchange Server database engine to retry when -1018 errors are encountered. Exchange Server version 5.5 Service Pack 2 and later versions and service packs are modified so that the Exchange Server database engine retries a maximum of 16 times if a -1018 error is encountered, and then logs an event in the application event log for each retry. The following events were created for this purpose: For more information, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://msdn.microsoft.com/support (http://msdn.microsoft.com/support) using the Event Source and the event ID number. For more information, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://msdn.microsoft.com/support (http://msdn.microsoft.com/support) using the Event Source and the event ID number.

NOTE: Event ID 200 is logged if a -1018 is encountered after 16 retry attempts. Event ID 201 is logged to show how many retries were attempted before a successful read occurred. Depending on the number of retries attempted (before returning Event ID 201), you may want to contact your hardware vendor and run diagnostics to check for hardware problems.

To obtain this feature, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: This feature was first included in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 2.