Knowledge Base

XADM: How to Defrag an EDB File on a Non-Exchange Server

Article ID: 163627

Article Last Modified on 10/28/2006

Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q163627

SUMMARY

In certain cases it may be necessary to defragment a Microsoft Exchange Server database file offline. If there is not enough disk space on the server running Microsoft Exchange Server to do this, but there is enough disk space on another Windows NT Server that does not have Microsoft Exchange Server running on it, you can perform the defragmentation without having to install Microsoft Exchange Server. This article will explain how to do this.

MORE INFORMATION

To perform a defrag on a Windows NT Server that does not have Microsoft Exchange Server running on it, follow these steps:

Verify that there is enough hard disk space on the server where you want to perform the defrag. There must be at least twice the amount of free hard disk space as the the size of the database file. If the database file is 10G, there must be at least 20G of free hard disk space.

Create a blank directory on the non-Exchange server and copy the following files to that directory:

      Edb.dll                       - located in the exchsrvr\bin
                                      directory
      Edbutil.exe                   - also in the exchsrvr\bin directory
      Priv.edb, Pub.edb, or Dir.edb - the database file needing
                                      defragmentation

From the new directory on the non-Exchange server, run the following command:
```
      EDBUTIL /D <path to the database file>
						
```
For example, if the directory where these files are located is C:\Defrag, and you want to defrag the Priv.edb, use the following command:
```
      EDBUTIL /D C:\DEFRAG\PRIV.EDB
						
```

Keywords: kbhowto KB163627