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How to Run Eseutil /P (Repair)

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic provides instructions and syntax for running the Exchange Server Database Utilities (Eseutil.exe) repair on your mailbox, public folder, or transport server queue database. In addition, this topic also provides post-repair recommendations. The Eseutil repair mode corrects corrupted or damaged databases at the page and table levels, but not at the application level. A repair may complete successfully, leaving all database tables consistent, but with the database so severely damaged that it cannot be mounted. For more information about the Eseutil repair mode, see Eseutil /P Repair Mode.

Before You Begin

Before running the Eseutil repair mode on your mailbox or public folder database, do the following:

  • Check for sufficient disk space on the local logical drive for the temporary repair database. Keeping 20 percent of the size of the database files being repaired is suggested, although the size of the temporary file will vary widely depending on the nature of the repairs made. If sufficient space is unavailable, you may redirect temporary files to a different drive, as described later in this topic.

  • Check that you have full permissions for the folders you want to perform the repair on.

  • Make sure you log on by using an account that is delegated membership in the local Administrators group for that computer.

  • Dismount the database.

  • Make a copy of the database files that you want to repair.

Before running Eseutil repair mode on a transport server queue database on a Hub or Edge Transport server role, do the following:

  • Stop the Microsoft Exchange Transport service.

  • Make a backup of the queue folder on your Exchange server.

  • Check that you have full permissions for the folders you want to perform the repair on.

  • Make sure you log on by using an account that is a member of the local Administrators group on that computer.

    Important

    To keep mail flow uninterrupted, the existing queue folder can be renamed and a new folder and queue database are created when the Microsoft Exchange Transport service is restarted. For more information about doing this, see Working with the Queue Database on Transport Servers.

Procedure

To run Eseutil /P on a mailbox, public folder, or transport server queue database

  • The basic command-line syntax for repairing a database with Eseutil is:

    ESEUTIL /P databasefilename.edb

    Note

    By default, the transport queue database is named mail.que.

Post-Repair Considerations for Mailbox or Public Folder Databases

Remember the following points after you have run Eseutil /P to repair your mailbox or public folder database:

  • Perform a full backup of the database as soon as possible after a repair. Repair invalidates previous backups. This does not mean that previous backups cannot be restored or are without value. It means that the repair makes it impossible to completely roll the database forward from a previous backup. If you restore a previous backup, transaction log file replay will end at the point at which the repair was done. Any changes to the database subsequent to the repair cannot be put back into a restored database. Therefore, it is critical that you perform a full backup of the database as soon as possible after a repair.

  • Remember that you must run Eseutil defragmentation mode (Eseutil /D) and the Information Store Integrity Checker (Isinteg.exe) with the -fix option to finish the repair. Only if you intend to use the repaired database for salvage and then discard it can you skip these extra steps. Skipping these steps means that you may salvage less data than if you completed them, but it can also mean saving several hours of recovery time.

    Important

    Before running a repair, you should make a copy of the database by backing up the database files, in case the repaired database is in a worse condition compared to the backed-up version.

For More Information

You can see the complete command-line reference and syntax for Eseutil /P by typing eseutil /? at a command prompt and then by selecting P for repair.

Note

In the command-line Help for Eseutil /P, you may notice that switches applicable to streaming (.stm) files, the /createstm switch and the /s switch, are displayed. However, the switches do not work for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 databases because streaming files are not supported by the Eseutil tool.

For more information about Eseutil, see the following topics: