Who knows what will happen in the future, but keep this in mind:
As of Exchange 2003 (and all prior releases) Exchange reads and writes a MAXIMUM of 1 segment at a time. Usually it's 1 page, where a page is 4 KB in Exchange 2003 and 8 KB in Exchange 2007. (If you want more information about this, search on "Lazy Writer Process" and "EDB Page Coalescing" on technet.) Defragmentation will help you if you are reading or writing sequentially. Exchange almost never does that. When is the "almost never"? Only in recovery operations - which includes everything eseutil does. But not isinteg. Now, am I sitting here telling you that it's "unsafe" to defrag your Exchange drive? Nope. Neither did Nino and I can't think of anyone who has said that. I'm just telling you that, in my experience, it doesn't buy you anything. I don't plan my production server operations around recovery operation performance. If I did that, my mailbox servers would have to be 3-4 times more powerful to support cache thaws after reboot! Regards, Michael B. Smith MCITP:SA,EMA/MCSE/Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Malcolm Reitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:20 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Defrag servers No you shouldn't. Here's a good look at the topic. http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/10/25/247342.aspx Malcolm From: David Mazzaccaro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 30 July, 2008 14:30 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Defrag servers so should I not be concerned that Windows Defrag shows my drive at 45% fragmentation? _____ From: Tim Vander Kooi [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:39 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Defrag servers I've never defragged an Exchange server (been running it since 4.0) and have never heard of a good argument for trying it. Since Exchange is, in essence, a database (or multiple databases) the benefits of doing a defrag would be minimal IMHO. Although MBS would be better able to tell you than anyone. TVK From: David Mazzaccaro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:09 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Defrag servers oh yeah? Can anyone else comment on the +/- effects of defragging Exchange disks? thx _____ From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:22 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Defrag servers To answer your first question: JKDefrag. To answer the question you didn't ask: if you are going to defrag your Exchange volume, stop Exchange first. I doubt it'll provide you any benefit though. (Some people claim it does, what do I know?) Regards, Michael B. Smith MCITP:SA,EMA/MCSE/Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: David Mazzaccaro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:07 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Defrag servers What do you guys use to defrag your server's hard drives? I have RAID 1 and RAID 5 arrays and have used Windows Defrag utility, but I am sure there is something better (and that can be scheduled to run after hours) I have an Exchange 2003 server that is showing 45% fragmented on D: (RAID 5 - also where the store is). Thanks. _____ This e-mail, including any attached files, may contain confidential and privileged information for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, use, distribution, or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient (or authorized to receive information for the intended recipient), please contact the sender by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this message. ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
