Run out of local disk space on on-premises Exchange server

Iron Contributor

Hi,

 

We have Office 365 hybrid configuration with Exchange 2016. I noticed the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Mailbox\Mailbox Database 1872985310 is growing very big on the on-premises Exchange server.

 

 What is this folder for? Can I clean up this folder to reduce the folder size?

 

I also have 10 GB logging in folder V15.  how to clean up this folder as well?

 

Need help!

 

Thanks,

11 Replies

Hi @Grace Yin, make a full backup of the server to clear the transaction log of the database, you can use the Windows Backup or third party that you can have. (Never clean the log's manually) you can corrupt your database.

Hi Nuno,

 

Thank you for your reply. I have made full backup of the server by Windows Backup, but the disk space is still low. The used disk size did not reduce.

 

Please advise!

 

Many thanks!

Hi @Grace Yin

 

The Backup only clear your transaction logs files, you will need to know what files or folders are consuming more space to figure out the root cause.

 

For example, if your database is very big you need to see what mailboxes are inside and their size.

Hi Nuno,

 

Folder "Mailbox Database 1872985310" in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Mailbox\ is very big. What is this folder for? How to clean up to free space? Folder "log" is also big.

 

Please advise!

 

Thanks!

Hi Nuno,

 

I just checked the server. The biggest file is Mailbox Database 1872985310.edb (25 GB) in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Mailbox\Mailbox Database 1872985310. Besides this file, there are almost 40K items of 1 MB text files. They all together is 40 GB. Please see the image below. 

 

Email.JPG

 

Also the logging folder is 10 GB. See the image below.

mail.JPG

 

Please advise how to reduce the size.

 

Thanks in advance!

Just want to correct the wrong information. We do not have hybrid environment. We have directory sync. 

The logging folder doesn't surprise me, that folder can get fairly large.

 

Do you have circular logging enabled on your database? Those logs are not being purged it seems.

 

I don't have a link, but there is a way to manually purge the log files, but you have to take the database offline to do so.

 

Here is the info for circular logging. It's for 2013, but I think it works the same or similar for 2016.

 

Exchange circular logging

 

Also, if you are using a backup program, you may want to check to see if it needs circular logging enabled or not.

Oh, and the easiest way to see what is connected to that database is to log into the ecp, add a column to show you what is attached to which database in the recipients menu, and then sort. If any mailboxes are attached to it, you will see there.

Hi Lynn,

 

Thank you for your reply. We didn't enable circular log.

 

I figured out how to reduce the log size. I will need to select Custom Backup in Windows backup and select VSS full backup.

 

log.jpg

 

 

Yay! Glad you figured it out!

Hi @Grace Yin ,

 

Yes, regarding @Lynn Towle you need to do the full backup to clear the transaction logs.

 

Is not advised to use circular log. Only in labs, never in production.