Using Storage Groups

Since storage groups are basically containers that hold stores, they are fairly simple to create, and there is not much to manage about them other than a few simple details. This section describes the creation, configuration, and management of storage groups.

Creating a Storage Group

By default, a single storage group is created on each server and is named First Storage Group. Since every storage group is created on and associated with a single server, you will always find storage group containers inside a server container in the System Manager snap-in, as shown in Figure 9.2.

Figure 9.2: Storage groups always belong to a specific server.

Exercise 9.1 outlines the steps for creating a new storage group.

EXERCISE 9.1: Creating a New Storage Group

1. Click Start > Programs > Microsoft Exchange, and then select System Manager.

2. Expand the organization object, the Administrative Groups folder, the specific administrative group, and the server on which you want to add a storage group.

3. Right-click the server object and select the New Storage Group command from the context menu. This opens the property pages for the new storage group.

4. Type a name for the new storage group in the Name field and click OK. This creates the storage group using the default properties suggested by System Manager.

 

Configuring Storage Group Properties

There is only one property page that has useful configuration options on it for a storage group ‚ the General page, shown in Figure 9.3. You are given the chance to configure it when you first create the storage group, and you can change the properties later by right-clicking the storage group object and choosing Properties from the context menu.

Figure 9.3: Configuring properties for a storage group

On the General page for a storage group, you can configure the following parameters:

• You can name the storage group during its creation. If the organization is running in native mode, you can change the name of the storage group at any time. If the organization is running in mixed mode, you cannot change the name after creation.

• The transaction log location is the directory in which the transaction log file for the storage group resides. By default, a location is created for the log file based on the name you give the storage group. You can change this location during creation of the storage group or any time after creation.

• The system path location is where any temporary database files (named TMP.EDB) and checkpoint files (named EDB.CHK) are stored. You can change this location during or after creation.

• The log file prefix is chosen by the system and cannot be altered . It designates the prefix attached to the log file for the group.

• The Zero Out Deleted Database Pages option is used to remove all 4-KB pages of data for items when they are deleted from a database. This option automatically writes zeros to these pages within all stores of the storage group. This process occurs after an online backup is performed. This means that the database pages on the backup are not zeroed until the next backup. Be careful using this option, though, because it can significantly reduce your server performance.

As mentioned earlier, circular logging enables Exchange to conserve disk space by maintaining a fixed number of transaction logs and overwriting those logs as needed. Without circular logging, Exchange creates new log files when old ones fill up. Circular logging is disabled by default, and it is generally recommended that you leave it disabled except possibly for storage groups that contain only public stores with noncritical data, such as Internet newsgroups.