How To: Use the Eseutil Utility to Detect File Header Damage in Exchange 2003

This article describes how to use the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Eseutil tool (Eseutil.exe) with the /K switch to detect file header damage. File header damage may occur in databases, log files, patch files, or checkpoint files.

Note The Eseutil tool replaces the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Esefile support tool.

How To Use The Eseutil Tool With The /K Switch To Detect Damage To File Headers

Exchange 2003 uses a checksum procedure to confirm the data integrity of pages that are in the database. The Eseutil tool in Exchange 2003 includes a /K switch that you can use to verify the page-level integrity of the information store databases.

Note The integrity check does not run a database recovery. If a database is inconsistent or is in a "dirty shutdown" state, Microsoft recommends that you perform a recovery operation to make sure that the database operations are completed correctly. After you perform the recovery operation, you can use the Eseutil tool to perform the integrity check.

To detect damage to file headers, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. Switch to the C:\Program Files\ExchSrvr\Bin folder, type one of the following commands (as appropriate to your situation), and then press ENTER:
   • To check the integrity of the public information store database, type:
     eseutil /k "c:\program files\exchsrvr\mdbdata\pub1.edb"
   • To check the integrity of the private information store database, type:
     eseutil /k "c:\program files\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb"
     The following information is a sample output file that appears after you run the previous command:

     C:\exchsrvr\BIN>eseutil /k c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb
      
     Microsoft(R) Exchange Server Database Utilities
     Version 6.5
     Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All Rights Reserved.
      
     Initiating CHECKSUM mode...
             Database: c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb
       Streaming File: c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.STM
       Temp. Database: TEMPCHKSUM2024.EDB
      
     File: c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.edb
      
                                  Checksum Status (% complete)
      
               0    10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90  100
               |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
               ...................................................
      
     1282 pages seen
     0 bad checksums
     310 uninitialized pages
     0 wrong page numbers
      
     81 reads performed
     5 MB read
     1 seconds taken
     5 MB/second
     47738 milliseconds used
     589 milliseconds per read
     641 milliseconds for the slowest read
     530 milliseconds for the fastest read
      
     File: c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\priv1.STM
      
                          Checksum Status (% complete)
      
               0    10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90  100
               |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
               ...................................................
      
     1024 pages seen
     0 bad checksums
     622 uninitialized pages 
      
     Operation completed successfully in 5.97 seconds.
     

     Additionally, you can use the eseutil /k command to verify the checksum integrity of the transaction logs when all the databases in the storage group are dismounted. The following command is an example:
     c:\Exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /k c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\e00.log
     The following information is a sample output file that appears after you run the previous command to verify the checksum integrity of the transaction logs:

     c:\Exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /k c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\e00.log 
     
     Microsoft(R) Exchange Server Database Utilities Version 6.5 
     Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 
     
     Initiating CHECKSUM mode... 
     	Log File: c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\e00.log 
     
     Integrity check passed for log file: c:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\e00.log 
     
     Operation completed successfully in 2.163 seconds.
     

For more information about Exchange 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about the Esefile tool in Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: