Top support issues for the Exchange information store

This article discusses the top support issues for the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server information stores and the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 information stores.

This article lists references to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that describe the issues that may occur when you use the Microsoft Exchange information stores. Additionally, this article lists references to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that discuss how to troubleshoot issues that you may experience.

Note This article does not provide a complete list of all the support issues for the Exchange information stores.

Third-party antivirus or backup software contention

When antivirus software scans Exchange information store files, the results may vary. The following is a list of some of the results that may occur when antivirus software scans Exchange information store files:

• The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may unexpectedly quit.
• The Exchange information store database files may become corrupted.
• The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service may stop responding at startup.
• Mailbox data may be lost.

For more information about the issues that may occur with the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to resolve the previously mentioned issues, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Exchange information store database reaches 16 GB limit

Microsoft Exchange standard versions have a 16 gigabyte (GB) limit on the Exchange information store databases. An Exchange information store database that has reached this limit cannot mount. The size of the Exchange information store database is calculated by adding the size of its respective .edb and .stm files.

For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Exchange information store transaction log files are missing or are corrupted

When transaction log files are missing or are corrupted, the Exchange information store database may not mount.

This issue is described in the following Knowledge Base article.

Hardware problems cause Exchange information store file damage

Hardware problems may cause corrupted Exchange information store database files.

For more information about how to diagnose this kind of issue, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Exchange information store performance issues

Performance can also decrease when the Exchange Information Store checks discretionary access control list (DACL) on public folders.

For more information about store performance when you check public folder DACLs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restoring or repairing damaged Exchange information store database files

Exchange information store database files corruption may be caused by hardware problems.

For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: This issue is described in the following Knowledge Base articles:

Exchange information store database transaction log drive full

Exchange Information store database transaction log files are written to the hard disk drive. Backed up files are typically removed automatically during online backups. If the one of the following conditions is true, the transaction log files will increase in number until the hard disk drive space is exhausted:

• The backup is failing to remove the transaction log files.
• The backup program has stopped running.
• The transaction log files are not purged by using some other method.

Expired evaluation or trial versions of Microsoft Exchange Server

For more information about expired evaluation versions of Exchange Server, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: