How to Recover the Information Store on Exchange Server 2000 or 2003?

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Corruption in Exchange Server 2000 and Exchange Server 2003 significantly affects the Information Store, which indirectly impacts the functioning of the server. Information store comprises of Priv1.edb, Priv1.stm, Pub1.edb, and Pub1.stm files.

• Priv1.edb contains database of files that are in process and stores non-STMP messages.
• Priv1.stm file contains Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail messages, i.e., those emails are in-process and those stored on the server.
• Pub1.edb database files comprise of public folder store for non-SMTP formatted data
• Pub1.stm consists of public folder that store SMTP formatted information.

Priv1.edb contains database of files which are in-process and stores non-STMP messages. The Priv1.stm file contains Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail messages, i.e. those emails are in-process and those stored on the server. Pub1.edb database files comprise of public folder store for non-SMTP formatted data and Pub1.stm consists of public folder that store SMTP formatted information.

In most cases, either the Priv1.edb file or the Pub1.edb file (both located in Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder) is corrupted and sometimes both .edb files are damaged.

What Causes Errors in the Information Store on Exchange Server?

• Limits on database size: Exchange Server versions (2000 and early 2003 Standard editions) had strict limits on the database size. If the databases surpass this limit, the database gets automatically dismounted.
• Missing log files: Microsoft’s Information Store heavily depends upon the log files for entering data into the database. However, if due to any circumstances, these files go missing or are deleted, Exchange Server won’t mount again.
• Abrupt shutdown or system failures: When the workstation goes under sudden power outages or server crashes, the serve experience Dirty Shutdown state. This can make the database inconsistent, which corrupts the Information Store.
• Faulty hardware: Issues in hard drives, RAM, or UPS systems can be a major reason for page corruption. This could result in Exchange database failure, resulting in dismounted Information Store.

What are the Symptoms for Inaccessible Information Store?

When the Information Store gets corrupt, users might come across symptoms mentioned below:

• MS Exchange Information Store won’t start.
• You can’t stop the Information Store service and dependent services such as Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4rev1 (IMAP4).
• The Information Store stops responding and the CPU usage level remains at 100 percent.
• Clients cannot retrieve or send emails even if they stop and restart the Information Store service.
• As you try restoring the Exchange Server 2000 and Exchange Server 2003 databases from an offline backup, run Information Store Integrity Checker utility (Isinteg.exe) patch, you may receive the following error:
  Error 4294966746: JET_errDatabaseInconsistent
• When you try mounting mailbox store in Exchange System Manager, you receive error message given below:
  Unable to Mount the Mailbox Store with error c104173c “The Information Store is Busy”
• When you try using Exchange System Manager to try mounting the database, you may receive the following error message:

An internal processing error has occurred. Try restarting the Exchange System Manager or the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, or both.

Description: The MAPI call openmsgstore failed with the following error – network problems or the MSE server computer is down for maintenance.

How to Recover Information Store in Exchange Server?

To fix the corruption and restore the Information Store services, we will use the Eseutil tool. It’s a free command line tool that comes built-in with the Exchange and is used to repair EDB files. Let’s start the solution:

1. Make sure that Information Store service is not running before you execute the Eseutil.exe program.
2. Check the consistency of the public and private databases with the following commands.
   C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\BIN>eseutil /mh
   “drive:\Program Files\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb”
   C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\BIN>eseutil /mh
   “drive:\Program Files\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\pub1.edb”

   Note:In case an upgrade is done, the database files may be located in the C:\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder. If the databases have been optimized, database may be located on another drive.

3. If the database is inconsistent and the eseutil/ r command does not return it in consistent state, then try the following process:
   Run the following commands:
   To bring the Priv1.edb file back into a consistent state:
   C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\MDBDATA>”C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\BIN\eseutil” /p priv1.edb

   To bring Pub1.edb file back into a consistent state:

   C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\MDBDATA>”C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\BIN\eseutil” /p pub1.edb

   Click Yes to run the repair when the utility shows Scanning status of database integrity. When the process completes, the program displays the following message:
   Integrity check successful

4. Delete all .log files in the Mdbdata folder, chk file and then delete the Temp.edb file (if it exists).
5. Mount the database once and then immediately dismount them so that users cannot access them during this procedure.
6. Halt the Information Store service and run a de-fragmentation of the private and public store databases. Moreover, you must run this step if you are low on disk space. To do so, run the following commands
   1. To defragment Priv1.edb:
      • C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\BIN>eseutil /d
      • C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb
   2. To defragment Pub1.edb:
      • C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\BIN>eseutil /d
      • C:\Program Files\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\pub1.edb
7. Use Isinteg.exe to fix the Pub1.edb database and Priv1.edb database. Isinteg.exe utility runs test on all areas of each of the databases and reports the results. Isinteg.exe tries to fix issues that are encountered. Execute the following command to repair priv.edb file:
   Drive: \exchsrvr\bin>isinteg -pri -fix -test alltests

   Execute the following command to repair pub.edb file:

   Drive: \exchsrvr\bin>isinteg -pub -fix -test alltests

   On executing the preceding commands, you receive a report, which displays total number of warnings, errors, and fixes. Repeat the 8^th step until there is no warning, error, or fixes.

8. Start the information store and if it starts successfully go to the next step otherwise restore the priv.edb and pub.edb by executing the following command:
   Drive: \exchsrvr\bin>isinteg patch
9. Restart the information store.

However, if executing the steps mentioned above does not bring back your data into a consistent state and information starts successfully, then you need to repair the priv.edb and pub.edb files using Kernel for Exchange Server software. It’s an efficient and result-oriented Exchange Recovery tool which is designed to repair .edb files and recover multiple mailboxes from them.

Conclusion

Using the solution explained above, you can restore the Information Store on Exchange Server 2000 or 2003. However, if the manual solution seems too complicated or does not help you bring the database back to a consistent state, repair the priv.edb and pub.edb files using the Exchange recovery tool like Kernel for Exchange Server software. Designed to repair corruption in Exchange .edb files and easily recover multiple mailboxes, the tool also helps as an EDB to PST converter to save mailboxes to PST.

Frequently Asked Questions