Dealing With Exchange's 16-GB Limit
Remember to include the domain name when troubleshooting common login problems.
by Ben Schorr and Jim McBee

Posted March 24, 2004

Q: Our Exchange 2000 server recently hit the maximum database size. This surprised us because the PRIV1.EDB file was only 10 GB; we thought the maximum was 16 GB. Through some screw-ups of our own, we lost the database entirely and started over with an empty database. What should we have done?

-Mark, Boston

Ben: Ouch! That had to hurt! Actually, this is not the first time I have heard of this happening. First, if this happens, you should see Knowledge Base article 813051: "How to Temporarily Increase the Exchange 2000 16-Gigabyte Database Size Limit" for a temporary fix that will allow you to remount your stores.

Jim: There is a lot of confusion regarding the 16-GB limit on Exchange's standard edition. For Exchange 2000 and 2003, it is the total database size, including the EDB and the STM file, not just the EDB file.

Ben: Once you get the database remounted, you have two options. The first option is to set your Deleted Item Retention time to 0, then have your users go on a deleting frenzy. Don't forget that they should empty their Deleted Items folder. After online maintenance runs that night, you should have a lot more white space in your database file and you can run an ESEUTIL /D and compact the database.

Jim: The other option is to purchase Exchange Server 2000 Enterprise, run the setup program, choose Reinstall, and then reapply all service packs and fixes you had previously applied.

Q:
We just installed Service Pack 3 for Outlook 2000 for our clients, but now anytime our users use their sales application, they get a message saying that another application is trying to use the address book. What is that message?

-Peter, Portland, Ore.

A:
Ben: Microsoft released the Outlook Security Update for Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000. Included in this update is the "feature" you are seeing, which is sometimes referred to by Outlook developers as the "Hell Prompt." This prevents an external application from using Outlook to send e-mail. This feature is included automatically with Outlook 2002 and later.

Jim: I had a client who experienced the same thing. To read more about this update, I recommend visiting the Slipstick Systems page at www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup.htm. Unfortunately, there are no secret registry settings that allow you to undo these settings.

Ben: Instead, you need to install the Outlook Administrative Options from the Office Resource Kit. This will allow you to centrally configure which users have settings to allow this application to send e-mail automatically. Another option would be to upgrade to Outlook 2003. Microsoft has listened to the complaints of developers and done some good things to assist legitimate developers in not triggering the prompts while retaining much of the security that the prompts provide.

Jim: There's still no guarantee that your sales application has been properly written to conform to those new techniques, of course, but that's something you can talk to your sales application vendor about.

Q:
My company is using the Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging service. My boss wants me to start keeping a log of all IM traffic to make sure people aren't abusing it. We are using Messenger 5.0; is this possible?

-Janine, Louisville, Ky.

A:
Jim: Well, for starters, neither the IM service in Exchange nor that version of Messenger allows for any sort of central monitoring or logging. Akonix sells software called Rouge Aware that can provide you more auditing information in IM usage.

Ben: If you are looking toward Exchange 2003 in the future, then you need to be aware that the Instant Messaging service is no longer included with Exchange 2003. The product has been replaced by the Microsoft Office Live Communication Server.

Jim: And, the Live Communication Server product will do monitoring and centralizing logging to a SQL database!

Ben: It won't help you figure out what "L8R QT" means, though.

Q:
I have a user who is trying to connect to Outlook Web Access from a remote site. It asks for a username and password but after typing that in the user gets an error message stating that the page can't be found. It works fine for me; what is the user doing wrong?

-Jesse, Chicago

A:
Jim: Well, there are always the obvious things, such as typing in the username and password improperly. It's certainly not unheard of for a user to mistype (or forget) his or her password. Assuming you've already cleared that hurdle, there are a couple of other possibilities to check. One has to do with how the user entered the username and the other with the status of that account.

Ben: That's right. When users try to connect from a remote Windows 2000 client, Outlook will only ask them for their username and pass phrase, but it really wants to know what their domain is too, so they'll need to preface their username with their domain name (for an example see Figure 1).

Jim: Windows XP clients don't have that problem because it prompts for a username, password, and domain name separately. The other possible problem has to do with the status of the user's account. If you're sure the user is typing his or her username, domain, and password properly, check to see if the account is somehow locked out.

Q:
I have an Exchange 2003 server that hosts a large public Contacts folder. I've enabled the Full Text Indexing on the server, but the search performance is disappointing. In addition, successive searches don't seem to get any faster. Shouldn't the search results be cached and thus be faster after the first one? Any guidance would be a relief.

-Mason, Redding, Calif.

A:
Ben: Well, I don't know how relieved you'll be but we can offer some guidance. Let me take your last question first, since it's the easiest. When you have full text indexing enabled on the Exchange 2003 server, the successive searches aren't going to be faster because they're not cached. That's because when full text indexing is enabled the searches aren't conducted by Exchange Server but by the Microsoft Search process.

Jim: I guess that leaves me with the harder question. Without any further information, I don't know how specific I can be, but I suspect that you're searching your folder on properties that are not being indexed by the full text index. Hence, Exchange has to issue a separate query for those properties beyond what the full text indexing is. It's way beyond what we can cover in 1,500 words, so I advise you to contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) (http://support.Microsoft.com), which can help you customize your full text index.

Q:
If I enable RPC over HTTP so that my remote Outlook users can connect without a VPN what kind of security provisions does it have? Is it encrypted?

-Tasia, Houston

A:
Jim: Good news for you, Tasia. RPC over HTTP actually requires an HTTPS connection to the RPC Proxy Server on your network. You get the security advantages of SSL without any extra muss or fuss.

Ben: If you have more stringent security requirements than SSL, you might want to stick with the VPN solution even though it might be less convenient. Security is always a balance with convenience.

About the Authors
Ben M. Schorr is the director of information services for Demon Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu. He's a contributing author on Managing Microsoft Exchange Server (O'Reilly & Associates, 1999) and a Microsoft Outlook MVP. He succumbed to the blogosphere and tends to ramble at http://schorrtech.blogspot.com.

Jim McBee is an MCT and MCSE specializing in Exchange Server. He is the author of Exchange 5.5 24seven (Sybex, 1999) and Exchange 2000 Server 24seven (Sybex, 2001). He lives in Honolulu; he drove through Area 51 recently and saw an item too fantastic to describe.