In this article I am going to walk you through the process of moving your Exchange 2000 databases to a different location.
For more information about the components of the Exchange 2000 Information Store I would recommend you read Will Schmied’s article The Exchange 2000 Database Structure.
When you install Exchange 2000 the default location for your databases and transaction log files will be exchsrvr\MDBDATA. One of the main problems with this is the fact that the log files and databases are located on the same physical drive. For disaster recovery purposes it is strongly recommended that the databases be placed on a completely separate physical drive from the transaction log files.
Moving the Transaction Log Files and System Files to a different location.
IMPORTANT: I would strongly recommend you perform a FULL backup of your Information Store before attempting to alter the location of the transaction logs or databases. When altering the location of these files, the Store(s) will be dismounted making them inaccessible to your users. The move process can also take a considerable amount of time so you may what to schedule this during non-business hours.
The Microsoft Exchange 2000 transaction Log files and System Path are per Storage Group, so it is important to remember that altering the location of these files will dismount all the Stores in that Storage Group during the move process. Once the move is completed, the Stores will be remounted.
In the Exchange System Manager, locate the Storage Group that you would like to modify – in my example (below) the server has only one Storage Group, this is the “First Storage Group”.
Right click over the Storage Group and select “Properties”. The Properties dialogue box will now be displayed.
On the General tab you will notice that you have the ability to specify a new location for the “Transaction Logs” and “System Path”. It is recommended that when you alter the location for these, you ensure that they are both pointing to the same location to keep them together but this is not necessary. I am going to change the location of my transaction log files and the system path to point to e:\exchlogs.
Altering the Location of the EDB and STM Files
Each Store within your Exchange 2000 server has an EDB file and an STM file; we can alter the location of these files on a Store by Store basis.
In Exchange System Manager locate the Store whose files you would like to move.
Right click over the Store and select “Properties”.
The Properties dialogue box for the Store will now be displayed.
Select the “Database” tab. You will now notice that we have the ability to alter the location for the “Exchange Database” which is the EDB file, and the “Exchange Streaming Database” which is the STM file. I would recommend that when you move these, you move both of them to the same location for the same reason recommended above. For this example I will move both of my databases to h:\exchDB.
Once again it is important to remember that during the move process the Store will be dismounted and users who have mailboxes in that Store will be unable to access their email until the Store has been remounted.
