3.8 ESEUTIL

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ESEUTIL is a utility that is included with Exchange. It is a powerful—and dangerous—utility. It can be used to troubleshoot and to solve many types of problems, but it can also destroy your Exchange databases if used improperly. It should not be used for regular maintenance because improper use can prove disastrous and because ESEUTIL requires that the database be dismounted. Generally, it should be used only after consulting Microsoft Product Support Services.

ESEUTIL examines the structure of the information store database tables and records and has the following uses:

• Database defragmentation. The Exchange online information store maintenance will not reclaim disk space. The only way to reclaim disk space is to perform offline compaction. Defragmentation makes used storage contiguous, eliminates unused storage, compacts the database, and reduces its size. During the defragmentation process, ESEUTIL copies all database records to a new database. Once the defragmentation process is complete, ESEUTIL deletes the original database and renames the new version using the name of the original database. Because of the manner in which ESEUTIL performs defragmentation, you must have disk space equal to twice the size of the database being defragmented.

• Recovery. Performing recovery brings all databases to a consistent state.

• Checking database integrity. The integrity-checking option searches the database for damaged or unreadable records and displays the results. It verifies the integrity of the database, but it does not repair any errors that it finds.

• File dump. File dump generates formatted output of various database file types and repairs a corrupted database. The repair option evaluates the information in the database and then reassembles the database tables using only the uncorrupted information.

• Restore. This function restores information and completion.

ESEUTIL is located in the \Exchsrvr\ BIN directory and can be launched from the Windows Run window on the Start menu. ESEUTIL requires command line switches. Consultation with Microsoft Technical Support will provide you with the appropriate command line switches to use.

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