Microsoft Exchange Server: Emails Fails to be Delivered

If Exchange Server fails to deliver any email message to the target recipient, it generates a Non-Delivery Report. The causes include expired or inactive accounts, SMTP issues, non-existent accounts, firewall interoperability concerns, email address misspelling and more. However, the most scaring one is when it generates NDRs because of corruption in Information Store databases. If Eseutil fails to repair the database in such cases, you might need to restore it from the backup or use a third-party Exchange Server Recovery software that could repair the database effectively.

 

For an instance, consider that a user connected to Exchange Server sends an email message. The email fails to be delivered and the sender receives an NDR, similar to below:

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

‘UserName’ on Date and Time
The e-mail system was unable to deliver the message, but did not report a specific reason. Check the address and try again. If it still fails, contact your system administrator.
ServerName.Domain.com #5.0.0

Additionally, you might receive events 1706 or 327 recorded in Application log in Event Viewer after increasing the MSExchangeTransport diagnostic level in Exchange System Manager. Converting error 1017 and 1310 of error 327 through Error.exe results errors:

JET_errInvalidTableId”

and


“JET_errRecordDeleted”

Cause

The issue could occur due to the below possible reasons:

  1. Exchnage Installable File System or /Exchsrvr folder and its subfolders have been scanned by an anti-virus software

  2. Exchange Server information store databases are corrupted or damaged

Such error cause difficulties while reading or writing data to the information store databases and hence the above errors result.

Solution

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:

  1. Dismount the mailbox store while making sure that Exchange Server Information Store service is running

  2. Try to defragment the database using eseutil /d utility

  3. Check and correct information store databases integrity using Isinteg.exe utility

  4. Mount the database and check if the problem persists

  5. If it still continues, use a backup to restore the damaged databases

  6. If no clean backup is available, use a Exchange Recovery Software to repair the database. Exchange Server Recovery software are powerful tools built with advanced and safe algorithms to repair a damaged Exchange database and extract the user mailboxes.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is a high-end tool to safely extract all the mailboxes from damaged databases created with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a non-destructive Microsoft Exchange Recovery product that can restore all objects including emails, email properties, tasks, drafts and more.

What are the Limitations of Eseutil Utility in MS Exchange Server?

Microsoft Exchange Server is a widely used and reliable method of creating a messaging collaborative environment. But in some cases, the Exchange Server Database (EDB) file may get damaged and you come across critical data loss situations. To handle the corruption situations, Exchange Server provides an inbuilt utility- Eseutil /p. It handles majority of EDB corruption situations and let you easily perform Exchange Server Recovery in quick way.

The Eseutil /p is repair method for Microsoft Exchange Server. This procedure corrects most of the EDB corruption like issues and thus allows you to access your data. This utility works on ESE (Extensive Storage Engine) and the page level, not on the application level. Repair process goes through database and examines damaged pages and critical structures of database. After you perform application level repair, using Isinteg tool is required.

Though, it is useful and effective tool, but the utility has a number of limitations that restrict its use in some situations. Some common situations are as underwritten:

  1. The biggest disadvantage of this utility is that it removes the damaged pages that it can not repair. In this case, you may lose your critical emails, calendar entries, appointments, contacts and other data from the EDB file.

  2. This tool needs clean shutdown of your system to process. In case of dirty system shutdown, it does not work and can not repair the damaged database.

  3. Incorrect procedures performed while using this tool may lead to severe corruption and make all of your critical files difficult to repair.

Limitations of this this tool shows that its applications would not carry out successful Exchange Recovery, if you try it in critical situations of corruption. If the database is not repaired completely, it could be disastrous to use it.

In such situations, it is required to use any alternative method to repair damaged EDB file. The alternative method comes in the form of Exchange Server Recovery applications that repairs entire damaged file without altering original data from it.

The tools use high-end scanning techniques to methodically scan entire EDB file and extract all of the damaged objects like emails, notes, contacts, tasks, attachments etc. from it. The Exchange Recovery software are built-with simple and interactive graphical user interface and thus do not alter original data of the Exchange Server database.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is the best ever made EDB Recovery solution to repair damaged EDB files. It works well with Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It repairs and restores all of the EDB file objects in most of the EDB corruption situations.

Error 0xfffff05b Post Applying Exchange Server 2000 SP3 or Later

A compressed NTFS partition can cause several problems, if is made to store Information Store databases. Some of them are high CPU usage, delays when enumerating large NTFS directories and performance issues with many files. It can even corrupt the Information Store and prevent it from starting when it reaches to about 4 GB in size. Also, Exchange Server 2000 SP3 and Exchange Server 2003 do not support compressed Information Store. So, if you upgrade to any of these versions and store Information Store databases are stored on compressed NTFS partition, odds are that they might fail to mount. However, if the database are corrupted due to compression, you will need to restore them from backup or apply soft recovery commands. At times, when it doesn’t work, you need a powerful Exchange Server Recovery solution to repair the corrupted databases.

Consider you upgrade Exchange Server 2000 SP2 or earlier to Exchange Server 2000 SP3 or later. After you install the upgrade, when you try to mount the Information Store databases, the operation fails. When you view the application log of Event Viewer, it shows error 0xfffff05b with Event IDs 505 o r 9519.

Cause

As discussed, this issue occurs when you apply Exchange Server SP3 or any later version to a compressed NTFS partition containing Information Store databases. These versions automatically decompress database files, which are equal to or smaller than 128 MB in size, but prevent them from starting if are of greater size.

Exchange Server database files require sector independence to achieve log-based recovery after any disaster. But if you compress these files, the condition is invalidated, which can corrupt them.

Solution

To solve the existing issue, following steps are recommended:

  1. You should dismount all the Exchange databases

  2. You need to decompress the root folder of Exchange databases and log files

  3. You should defragment the databases and remount them

However, if the databases are corrupted because of NTFS compression, you need to restore them from backup or run Eseutil /r to perform soft recovery. Also, there are various Exchange Recovery products that can work for correcting database corruption. Microsoft Exchange Recovery are high technology based tools that incorporate safe scanning algorithms to repair a damaged Exchange database.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is a fully-featured and secure tool to perform systematic repair of damaged Exchange databases created with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a comprehensive Exchange Recovery tool that extracts all user mailboxes by converting them into individual Outlook usable .pst files. The tool can recover all email messages, notes, journals, tasks and other objects.

Resolving “The private store could not be update” Error in Exchange Server

In Exchange Server 5.5 and all of the earlier versions of Microsoft Exchange Server, it is necessary to run Isinteg -patch command line utility after restoring the Exchange Server Database (EDB file) from offline backup. This is not required in Exchange Server 2003 and 2000. For this operation to be completed successfully, the EDB file must be set to enable overwriting by the restore procedure. But in some cases, the Isinteg -patch operation can not complete successfully and you come across some error message. In these circumstances, the EDB file becomes inaccessible and you come across data loss situations. In order to retrieve data and EDB file objects, Exchange Server Recovery is required.

In a practical scenario, when you run the Isinteg -patch utility on Microsoft Exchange Server that is running on Microsoft Cluster Server, the process may fail halfway and you might come across the below given error message:

The private store could not be updated
Reason: JET_errKeyDuplicate”

In these cases, the restore operation can not be completed until the Isinteg -patch command runs successfully. Thus, the EDB file become inaccessible and results into critical data loss situations. At this point, you are required to go for Exchange Server Repair by resolving it.

Cause

This problem occurs on a database, which is forklifted from any standalone Exchange Server computer to the clustered MS Exchange Server computer. This behavior is known to take place if _CLUSTER_NETWORK_NAME_ environment variable contains a wrong value. This situation generally takes place due to typographical error.

Resolution

Before running Isinteg -patch command on Microsoft Exchange Server computer, which runs on Microsoft Cluster Server, then you must set environment variable _CLUSTER_NETWORK_NAME_ to Exchange Resource Group network name.

When this method can not resolve the problem, Exchange Server database restoration from the offline backup remains incomplete and thus the database remain damaged. In these circumstances, it becomes essential to repair and restore damaged database and retrieve all of its objects using Exchange Server Repair applications.

These are powerful third party applications, which employ high end scanning methods to thoroughly scan the damaged database and retrieve all of its objects. The Exchange Server Recovery software are completely easy to use as they come equipped with interactive and simple graphical user interface. With read only and non destructive conduct, these tools are completely safe to use.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is most effective tool to handle all sorts of EDB corruption situations. It supports recovery from EDB files of Exchange Server 2003, 2000 and 5.5. This software is designed for Microsoft Windows 2003, XP and 2000.

Error 1216 Logs when One or More Database Files are Inconsistent

Exchange Server database files are the most important recovery elements, required to be rebuilt after information store crash. If you can successfully restore them from the last backup and all required transaction log files are available, you should replay them to get the database to the state that existed before the crash occurred. In case of any issues, eseutil repair utility can help, but can cause data loss. For safe database repair, use of Exchange Server Recovery software is recommended. These tools can diagnose and repair all database contents using advanced procedures.

For instance, you might observe that Exchange Server storage group stops unexpectedly. If this leaves few database files unavailable for the server, you encounter the below error marked in the Application event log:

Information Store (4312) Database recovery failed with error -1216 because it encountered references to a database, ‘D:\exchsrvr\mdbdata\PRIV2.edb’, which is no longer present. The database was not brought to a consistent state before it was removed (or possibly moved or renamed). The database engine will not permit recovery to complete for this instance until the missing database is re-instated. If the database is truly no longer available and no longer required, please contact PSS for further instructions regarding the steps required in order to allow recovery to proceed without this database.”

The corresponding event is logged with Event ID ‘0′.

Cause

All or few database files of storage group are inconsistent.

Solution

You can check the database file consistency by running Eseutil /mh command. If you find any database inconsistent, you should apply these methods to recover:

  • Restore from backup. You can determine the logs required by executing eseutil /mh database_name | find /i “log required command. Play the log files, if available

  • Perform hard repair using eseutil /p command, followed by eseutil /d and isinteg -fix commands

  • If the database contains no important information, you can simply delete it and create a new one

  • Corrupted database files can be safely repaired using Exchange Recovery products. Exchange Server Recovery applications are powerful tools that employ high-end scanning algorithms to repair damaged Exchange databases and provide you interactive interface to work with.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is a fully-features Exchange Recovery tool to safely extract all the mailboxes from damaged databases created with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a non-destructive Exchange Server Recovery product that can restore all objects including emails, email properties, tasks, drafts and more.

E00.log is Missing and Database Doesn’t Mount with Event 9518 and 455

Transaction log files is the disaster recovery method used by Exchange Server to bring its databases to a consistent state post crash. The current transaction log data for a database is stored in E##.log file, which is further renamed to E#######.log when reaches to 5MB in size. The ‘##’ is basically the storage group identifier. Thus, for first storage group, the file is E00.log. The file may go missing or get corrupt It generally occurs because of antivirus scanning and can render the databases unmountable as a consequence. At this point, you should remove all the transaction log files from the root folder and try to mount the database. If the problem continues, Exchange database corruption might be the reason. So, you need to use Exchange Recovery solutions to repair and restore the files.

For instance, when you try to mount a mailbox or public store of Exchange Server 2000 or 2003, the operation might fail. When you view the application event log, you may come across events 9518 and 455.

Cause

E00.log file is missing or corrupt. This could occur if an anti-virus program is scanning or if anti-virus quarantine option is enabled for Exchange files.

Microsoft suggests excluding Exchange databases, temporary files, logs, the IIS system files and the IFS drive from antivirus scanning on computer running Exchange Server. Also, it is recommended to avoid the scanning of folders that contain these files. By default, the folder containing temporary data is \Exchsrvr\MDBData. If your anti-virus software is scanning this folder, it might take the ‘E00.log’ as a virus or a file containing the virus. As a result, it will quarantine the ‘E00.log’ file and cause Exchange Server to crash.

Solution

  1. Stop all the Exchange services and exclude its files from antivirus scanning

  2. Move all the log files from \Exchsrvr\MDBData to a temporary folder, except E00.chk, Res1.log and Res2.log

  3. Start all the Exchange services and try to mount the databases

  4. If you still cannot mount the databases, the problem lies is databases. They might be corrupt. Run eseutil /p to perform soft recovery, restore from backup or use a third-party Exchange Recovery product. Exchange Server Recovery utilities incorporate high-end scanning algorithms that can safely repair a damaged Exchange database and extract data from.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is a powerful and safe utility to provide systematic repair for corrupted Exchange databases. It supports Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. The tool can perform comprehensive Exchange Recovery for all database objects and extracts user mailboxes in individual PST files.

Exchange Server Store Fails with Server-Specific Error 0

Exchange Information Store Service might become unresponsive if the database store is corrupt , which prevents you from accessing the data stored in. Information Store, being the central data storing component, stores all the user mailboxes and other information. So, to restore it, you need to apply your last online backup or perform database repair using Eseutil utility. If all measures fail, Exchange Recovery Tool can help repairing and restoring them.

When using Exchange Server, you might come across these symptoms:

  1. Exchange Server and/or Information Store fail to start and work

  2. Trying to start Information Store gives the below error:

Windows could not start the Microsoft exchange information store on local computer. For information, review the system log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 0.”

  1. Attempting to start any exchange event prompts another error as below:

Could not start the microsoft exchange event service on local computer.
Error 1068:The dependency service or group failed to start.”

  1. When you view the event viewer, it displays errors with Event ID 7001 and/or 7024 suggesting that Information Store service could not be started

Cause

General reasons that fail to start Information Store service are as follows:

  1. Disk permissions issues, for example Windows Registry or file system

  2. Disk space missing for Information Store files

  3. One or more application files are missing or damaged

  4. Information Store corruption. This could also result due to damaged messages in the store

Solution

Applying following solutions can help you recovering from the situation:

  1. Ensure for correct disk permissions and proper disk space. Empty disk space if required

  2. Try reinstalling Exchange Server

  3. Run Eseutil utility to repair (/r switch) and perform offline defragmentation (/d switch) of the Information Store databases. If this fails, consider using third-party Microsoft Exchange Recovery products to repair and restore databases while valid data backup is unavailable.

Exchange Recovery Tools are specially designed utilities with self-descriptive interface and high-end database repair algorithms. The software are easy to install and implement as provide complete documentation with user-friendly interface.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is an advanced utility that employs powerful scanning algorithms to repair a damaged Exchange database. It supports Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a safe Microsoft Exchange Recovery utility with impressive features. The tool extracts user mailboxes in individual .pst file format files.

Exchange Database Doesn’t Mount After Installing SP3 or Later to Exchange 2000

Exchange Server public information store database contains all the user mailboxes, apart from the information which is required in Exchange Server environment and thus is considered most important. However, Information Store also comprises one another database called Public information store database, which manages data in public folders. Exchange database corruption requires Exchange Server Software.

In some of the cases, user may fail to mount the information store database and encounter an event in the application log of Event Viewer:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ESE
Event Category: General
Event ID: 505
Description: Information Store (2028) An attempt to open the compressed file “drive:\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb” for read / write access failed because it could not be converted to a normal file. The open file operation will fail with error -4005 (0xfffff05b). To prevent this error in the future you can manually decompress the file and change the compression state of the containing folder to uncompressed. Writing to this file when it is compressed is not supported.

Or

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: General
Event ID: 9519

Description: Error 0xfffff05b starting database “First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (EXCHANGE)” on the Microsoft Exchange Information Store. Failed to attach to Jet DB.

This problem is specifically encountered when user upgrades to Exchange Server SP3 or later. If the information store database has been compressed using NTFS file system compression.

Note: NTFS compression can corrupt Exchange database under critical situations like when the information store reaches to about 4 GB in size, in which Exchange Server Recovery is required.

Exchange Server SP3 and later versions, including Exchange Server 2003 don’t allow NTFS compressed information store to mount. These files are managed by ESE (Extensible Storage Engine) which require sector independence for log-based recovery process, which is not allowed in compressed files. Thus database corruption may result, specifically in database files, larger than 128 MB, which require Exchange Server Repair. Files, smaller than 128 MB, are automatically decompressed in Exchange Server SP3 and later.

In order to resolve the issue, we need to decompress the folders of Information store databases and logs after dismounting the database. Then, we need to carry out offline defragmentation using eseutil /d command and mount the database again. If the database comes out to be corrupt, we need to apply Exchange Server Repair or else perform the online backup of the database.

Exchange Server Recovery can be performed using Eseutil utility, but the corrupt pages will be deleted. So using commercial Exchange Server Repair software can be used which apply powerful, yet safe, scanning algorithms to repair the corrupt database.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is an excellent Exchange Sever Recovery software which is compatible with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. This Exchange Server Repair software has interactive interface and recover mailxes in PST format, usable with MS Outlook.

EDB Corruption and Access Problems in Exchange Server

Sometimes when you retrieve your data from exchange server, the process mail fail and at the same point you are getting an error message as given below:

“Access denied to database Mailbox Store (SERVER2K3).
WARNING: “\\SERVER2K3\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (SERVER2K3)” is a corrupt file.
This file cannot verify.
Database or database element is corrupt”

In this case, its mean you lost your important data. The error message may occur due to one of the following reason:

  1. You don’t have required permissions to access the database
  2. Some of important Exchange Server files such as user permissions file go missing
  3. Exchange Server database is corrupt and data can not be accessed from it

If you want to fix this problem, then you have only three options:

  1. You have appropriate permission from the administrator and then try again.
  2. You can repair your Exchange Server.
  3. Repair Exchange Server database using Eseutil.exe tool

EDB corruption is one of the most critical situations and should be repaired. Eseutil.exe is an inbuilt Exchange Server utility that can verify and then repair the .edb files. But if you want to fix the errors or edb corruption then you have to go for EDB Recovery

Exchange Recovery Software recovers corrupted or damaged edb files of Microsoft Exchange Server. Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Server can recover all your emails, notes, contacts, journal, calendar entries and many other things from the corrupted edb files.

One of the best things in this software is that it supports Exchange Server5.5, 2000, and 2003. EDB recovery software is very user friendly and easy to use. Phoenix EDB Recovery software is compatible with Windows XP, 2003 and 2000.

Exchange Database Doesn’t Mount After Installing SP3 or Later to Exchange 2000

Exchange Server public information store database contains all the user mailboxes, apart from the information which is required in Exchange Server environment and thus is considered the most important. However, Information Store also comprises one another database called Public information store database (Public.edb), which manages data in public folders. If a logical crash occurs to the Exchange Server, the database corruption may occur and it will require Exchange Server Repair.

In some of the cases, user may fail to mount the information store database and encounter an event in the application log of Event Viewer:

“Event Type: Error
Event Source: ESE
Event Category: General
Event ID: 505
Description: Information Store (2028) An attempt to open the compressed file “drive:\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb” for read / write access failed because it could not be converted to a normal file. The open file operation will fail with error -4005 (0xfffff05b). To prevent this error in the future you can manually decompress the file and change the compression state of the containing folder to uncompressed. Writing to this file when it is compressed is not supported. “

Or
“Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: General
Event ID: 9519
Description: Error 0xfffff05b starting database “First Storage Group\Mailbox Store (EXCHANGE)” on the Microsoft Exchange Information Store. Failed to attach to Jet DB.”
This problem is specifically encountered when user upgrades to Exchange Server SP3 or later. It takes place when the information store database has been compressed using NTFS file system compression (Compressed NTFS- generally used to save disk space).
Note: NTFS compression can corrupt Exchange database under critical situations like when the information store reaches to about 4 GB in size, in which Exchange Server Recovery is required.
Exchange Server SP3 and later versions, including Exchange Server 2003 don’t allow NTFS compressed information store to mount. These files are managed by ESE (Extensible Storage Engine) which require sector independence for log-based recovery process, which is not allowed in compressed files. Thus database corruption may result, specifically in database files, larger than 128 MB, which require Exchange Server Repair. Files, smaller than 128 MB, are automatically decompressed in Exchange Server SP3 and later.
In order to resolve the above issue, we need to decompress the folders of Information store databases and logs after dismounting the database. Then, we need to carry out offline defragmentation using ‘eseutil /d’ command and mount the database again. If the database comes out to be corrupt, we need to apply Exchange Server Repair or else perform the online backup of the database.
Exchange Server Recovery can be performed using eseutil utility, but the corrupt pages will be deleted. So, using commercial exchange server repair software can provide complete solutions by utilizing efficient yet safe scanning algorithms to repair the corrupt database.
Stellar Phoenix Mailbox exchange recovery is the finest Exchange Sever Recovery software. It is compatible with Exchange Server 2003, 2000 and 5.5. This Exchange Server Repair software is a user friendly application and has an interactive interface. It recovers mailboxes in PST format, usable with MS Outlook.