We are up and running and not getting the 1018s. We believe it was related to SAN upgrades we performed over the weekend. We let the ESEUTIL option run on a server in the background and against PSS advice went back to older good backups of Exchange. Since being online we have run 4 online backups which have been successful. We believe the SAN glitch took the databases away and corrupted the database and logs. We can still read the Snapshot of the original database in Powercontrols but without running ESEUTIL /P we have can not mount it.
Now we have the option of how to get the messages that were delivered to the corrupt databases. We are thinking that we will use Powercontrols to move the missing e-mail from the old database in to the running Exchange Server for about 20 VIPS, then use powercontrols to restore the entire database to a new purpose built empty Exchange server and EXMERGE the remainder with no duplicates and time stamps to the production exchange server. I'd be interested if anyone else has other ideas on this recovery. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chyka Robert Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 7:22 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore here.... http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314917 isinteg needs to be run after 1018..it is a page level error most likely. it could be caused by hardware but the only time ive ever got one is just in restoring and getting the database back being consistent with the system. this is a good article that will describe it all. it could be from hardware, but over 20 times for myself, it was never faulty hardware.. -----Original Message----- From: Chris Scharff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:15 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore Interesting. Every Microsoft article I've ever read[0] indicates that -1018 errors indicate a corrupt database and point to hardware issues as the most likely cause. Hard repairs might resolve the errors after a couple of runs[1], but the resultant data loss isn't something I'd want to subject my users to personally.[2] [0] Like this one... http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/55/support/1018.ms px [1] By removing corrupt pages along with the associated mailbox data. [2] I won't even run on a database that has had -1018 erros. I'll move the users off if possible and delete it completely and create a new blank store.[3] [3] After resolving the hardware error that caused the -1018 error of course. -----Original Message----- From: Chyka Robert [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted At: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 9:06 AM Posted To: swynk Conversation: PSS say eseutil over restore Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore whenever ive had to restore from a "file copy" databse for companies, the 1018 error was the light at the end of the tunnel. there were 2 more eseutil runs left to get the database and logs 'consistent' with each other. it might be a hardware issue but it never has been for me since version 5.0 of exchange. -----Original Message----- From: Missy Koslosky [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 9:57 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: Re: PSS say eseutil over restore I would love to know how you know it definitely isn't a hardware problem. Every single time I've seen a -1018, it's been hardware - and the one time I did what you're suggesting, it bit me in the butt a week later when the problem happened again. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chyka Robert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Exchange Discussions" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 8:44 AM Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore -1018 definately isnt a hardware issue. use eseutil to put the database and log files back in sync with each other. i forgot the exact switches but i will dig them up and send them over. this is actually a good error after a restore because you are 2 steps away from getting everything back to normal.. Bob C. -----Original Message----- From: Chris Scharff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 9:32 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore You're into day 2? I'd seriously consider moving to an empty db and taking the restore effort to an offline server. You can then swap the databases at some point and exmerge out the smaller into the larger. I will say that I've never seen a -1018 error that wasn't hardware related. I'm not sure how PSS came to the conclusion that hardware wasn't an issue here, but I'd seriously consider running any and all low level hardware diagnostics you've got as well. -----Original Message----- From: Boyd, Nathan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted At: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 6:33 AM Posted To: swynk Conversation: PSS say eseutil over restore Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore The information store will not start with the original database. We went back to Fridays good backup, which worked but we then tried to load the logs back in and it killed the server again. Going back to the old restore with just the Friday logs now kills at the Directory Service, so PSS are going to be on the phone again. In the background we were running the ESEUTIl on the original database and it just will not go further than the start. Not that we were interested in going that route. If we can not get this database back on the original server we will re-build it to another server we built in anticipation of having to move the mailboxes, if all else fails we can access the corrupt database through powercontrols and could restore that information to a completely blank Exchange Server. Not pretty but still better than the ESEUTIL option, IMHO. Any ideas that we have not thought of would be appreciated. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Missy Koslosky Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 5:09 PM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: Re: PSS say eseutil over restore So the database won't mount at all? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Boyd, Nathan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Exchange Discussions" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 8:09 PM Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore > The reason PSS came to this conclusion is we had done: > > A snapshot (SAN) of the database when we brought it down, and tried > re-mounting it after a bit of poking around by Microsoft. We received a dr. > Watson and the logs showed it was failing while checking the tables. > A Full Restore from last backup with all the logs being pushed after. We > received another Dr. Watson and again showed another error while populating > the tables. > > They got two different errors each time, but the PSS person is 100% certain > that the problem is a corruption in the tables and not hardware related. He > claims that in order to push the logs the database has to be more thorough > and check line by line and if any corruption exists it will not allow the > process to continue. > > When I said that using ESEUTIL was a total disaster he argued that we > basically don't know when the database was corrupt. What is strange to me > is that I though BACKUP Exec checked each 4k table and we would not get > successful backups if it was corrupt > > We have about 1000 users on this server that is currently down and the > database is over 50GB in size. > > We are currently following three scenarios to try and get this back, but if > we follow Microsoft's recommendation we will be down for 24-72 hours > running: > > Eseutil /p > Eseutil /d > ISINTEG PRI - FIX - TEST > INTINTEG Pub - FIX - TEST > And Exmerge > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mick > Putley > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 4:37 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: RE: PSS say eseutil over restore > > In my opinion this is bad advice, eseutil may well fix your database but in > the process it may discard pages that are damaged. It is very difficult to > know what has been thrown away in the process. Until in 3 months time your > CEO comes to and tell you that vital spreadsheet he has been storing in his > mailbox is missing. At least with a backup you can tell people what they > have lost. > > Mick > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Boyd, > Nathan > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 5:08 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: PSS say eseutil over restore > > Our group have just been working with PSS since yesterday afternoon and all > through the night to try and get our Exchange 5.5 server back online. The > server was experiencing 1018s and blue screened Saturday night. PSS this > morning told us they doubt it is hardware related and use Eseutil /p on a > Exchange server with good Backup Exec backups up until this Saturday. > > Any else think this is a good idea? > > Nathan _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&text_mode=&; lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. 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