XADM: JET Will Now Retry 16 Times on -1018 Error

ID: Q192333

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5

SYMPTOMS

The JET error -1018 (JET_errReadVerifyFailure) appears in the Windows NT Event Viewer application log during normal operation of the information store or directory service. Also, the error -1018 is returned during the online backup procedure of the information store or directory service.

CAUSE

A -1018 error occurs when the Exchange Server database engine makes a request to the operating system or hardware to return page X from the database on disk but the operating system or hardware returns page Y. This can result from many things such as faulty hardware, SCSI timing problems, and so on. For a detailed explanation of -1018 errors, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q151789 XADM: Error -1018 (JET_errReadVerifyFailure)

STATUS

Microsoft recognizes the need for the Exchange Server database engine to retry when -1018 errors are encountered. Exchange Server version 5.5 Service Pack 2 and later versions and service packs are modified so that the Exchange Server database engine retries a maximum of 16 times if a -1018 error is encountered, and then logs an event in the application event log for each retry. The following events were created for this purpose:

Event ID: 200
Source: ESE97
Description: MSExchangeIS ((538) ) A read of the database file e:\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\PRIV.EDB between offsets 0x00000000001F0000 and 0x00000000001FFFFF failed after 16 failed read attempts with error -1018. There is a software or hardware problem affecting the database drive that must be corrected to preserve database integrity. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services.

For more information, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://msdn.microsoft.com/support using the Event Source and the event ID number.

Event ID: 201
Source: ESE97
Description: MSExchangeIS ((538) ) A read of the database file e:\exchsrvr\MDBDATA\PRIV.EDB between offsets 0x00000000001F0000 and 0x00000000001FFFFF succeeded after 4 failed read attempts. The error seen during the failed attempts was -1018. There is a transient software or hardware problem affecting the database drive that must be corrected to preserve database integrity. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services.

For more information, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://msdn.microsoft.com/support using the Event Source and the event ID number.

NOTE: Event ID 200 is logged if a -1018 is encountered after 16 retry attempts. Event ID 201 is logged to show how many retries were attempted before a successful read occurred. Depending on the number of retries attempted (before returning Event ID 201), you may want to contact your hardware vendor and run diagnostics to check for hardware problems. To obtain this feature, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the Latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack

This feature was first included in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 2.

Additional query words: page bad

Keywords : exc55sp2fix exc55
Version : winnt:5.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb