If you open the STM, which you probably shouldn't, you'll find that it's just chunks of data streamed together in (essentially) MIME format. There is also going to be some XML data since that's how OWA clients submit and save modified messages, but it's not the core storage mechanism if I remember correctly. The STM is somewhat readable since it is just the raw data coming from the various protocols (except MAPI). You'll note that attachments are still base64 encoded in the STM file as well meaning they take up 30-40% more space than an attachment in the EDB file.
If you open the EDB, which you absolutely shouldn't, you'll find that it's unreadable in very large part. The EDB file is a large pseudo-b-tree database of 4k pages. Message data is stored in folder tables, attachment tables, and large-value tables. Most properties are no longer in plain text (dates are in internal time format, addresses are mostly entryID's pointing to the GAL, bodies are compressed RTF) though you'll occasionally encounter a string you recognize. Attachments are stored in their raw binary format (not base64 or uu encoded). In a normal database, little will be contiguous given the way a btree grows naturally and the way the online defrag handles the partial page cleanups. There's also quite a bit more stored in the EDB file in the way of indexes and "views" on the data. And now with E2K, there are places that just store reference pointers to some offset and length in the STM file. That you may see data in the STM which originated from an OutlookXP MAPI client is normal. That data was likely copied to the STM at some point based on client use or message routing. The original data is most likely still in the EDB file as well. -----Original Message----- From: Felicity Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Posted At: Thursday, May 30, 2002 7:23 AM Posted To: Microsoft Exchange Conversation: STM Question Subject: RE: STM Question I also believe the Q article is incorrect. If you open the stm and the edb, it looks like messages are stored as XML. I have looked at messages that are coming from OutlookXP which should be arriving as MAPI. Thanks alot for all of your input guys and gals. --Felicity _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
