XADM: Isinteg Has Been Modified to Dump the Mailbox Table

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5

SYMPTOMS

In a disaster recovery situation, when the only backup available is a few days old, there is no mechanism for determining whether the best procedure is to restore the old backup, or to try running the utilities (Eseutil and Isinteg) to repair the database. The problem is that the utilities can end up removing information (pages) from the database, and there no way of telling which actual users (mailboxes) have been affected. Determining which users are affected by the repair may be useful in making the decision to try and repair the database, as opposed to restoring the old backup.

This modification is no substitute for a correctly implemented disaster recovery strategy. Restoring from a recent backup should always be the preferred method for coping with a disaster recovery scenario.

CAUSE

Isinteg has been modified to additionally dump the Mailbox table of the database. Previously the Isinteg -dump option would dump the Index Age and Folder tables, but now it also dumps the Mailbox table.

This additional information can be used in the following manner to manually determine which users have lost information from a database repair.

• After running Eseutil to repair the database, that is, eseutil /p database name /v /x, check the display and Repair.txt file in the same directory. If you see lines in the file such as:

  Inserting page 62 into BadPages table
  Creating new FDP with 3 pages starting at 246
  Table Msg (14). new pgnoFDP is 246

  It indicates that bad pages have been found in the database and moved to a different table for deletion.



• When running Isinteg to check the integrity of the database, that is isinteg -pri -fix -detailed -verbose -test alltests, check the Isinteg.pri file in the same directory. If you see lines such as:

  Fix: MsgFolder 1 (FID=0001-000000000144, MID=0001-000000000167, INID=0001-0000000010E9): Deleting this MsgFolder row

  It indicates from which folder (indicated by the FID) has been repaired.



• Now run Isinteg in dump mode, that is, isinteg -pri -dump, and check the Isinteg.pri file in the same directory. Look up the FID in the dump of the Folder table and obtain the Root FID of the folder:

  [36] Folder FID=0001-000000000144
  Parent FID=0001-000000000141
  Root FID=0001-000000000140
  ACL ID=0000-000000000000
  Folder Type=1
  Msg Count=0
  Msgs Unread=0
  Msgs Submitted=0
  Rcv Count=4
  Subfolders=0
  Name=Inbox
  Comment=
  Restriction=
  Search FIDs=0001-000000000401
  Recursive FIDs=
  Search Backlinks=0001-000000000401
  Categ FIDs=

  Look up the Root FID in the dump of the Mailbox table and obtain the details of a user who has lost information as a result of the database repair, for example:

  [3] RootFID=0001-000000000140
  Owner DN=???
  GUID=5BC414D6 1BFED211 B9C20080 C7C0C499
  Display Name=Mailbox - John Doe
  Comment=
  Sentmail FID=542D-6530362B5136
  Subtree=0001-000000000141
  Inbox=0001-000000000142
  Outbox=0001-000000000143
  Sentmail=0001-000000000144
  Finder=0001-000000000146
  DAF=0001-000000000147
  Spooler Q=0001-000000000148
  Size=(ec:ecNotFound-MAPI_E_NOT_FOUND)
  Localized=TRUE
  Locale=0x409

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3.

Additional query words:

Keywords : exc55 EXC55SP3Fix
Version : winnt:5.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug