We have spoken to many clients that have repetitively run a simple ESEutil /d on their databases to alleviate defragmentation; unfortunately their database performance over time has degraded and in some cases failed all together.

The problem is that ESEutil /d will defragment your database, but it doesn't check or address issues that may exist within the mail data itself and it won't fix the links between tables of an ESE database. ESEutil's job is to examine the individual pages, check them for correctness by comparing a computed check-sum against a check-sum stored in the page header, and verify that each page's data is consistent.

If you are currently running ESEutil /d on its own we highly recommend that you do one of two things.

  • Research and gain in depth understanding of the Microsoft Exchange tools and then test, test, test your process before ever running it against a production database, or
  • Purchase Purchase GOexchange automated Exchange database maintenance software. We have done this hundreds if not thousands of times to create a consistent reliable expert maintenance tool. GOexchange runs a complete maintenance process against each database not just a defragmentation. In addition, GOexchange evaluates other critical items within the Exchange system and makes adjustments if necessary to ensure its in optimal operating condition.