The Msftefd.exe process that is used by an Exchange 2007 mailbox server consumes a large amount of memory

A Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 mailbox server may intermittently encounter performance issues. Specifically, the Msftefd.exe process consumes a large amount of memory. This behavior may affect client access and message delivery.

Note You can check the Private Bytes counter and the Virtual Bytes counter for the Msftefd.exe process object in the Performance Monitor tool. The Msftefd.exe process may consume about 2 gigabytes (GB) of memory.

The Msftefd.exe process is a component of SQL Server 2005. The Exchange Server 2007 mailbox server uses this component for index purpose. However, certain attachments cause the Msftefd.exe process to consume a large amount of memory.

To resolve this problem, install Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Visit the following Microsoft Web site to obtain Exchange 2007 SP2:

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