Some help advise clearing exchange transactional logs

[mjgreen81]

Hi all,

So I have just noticed that the transactional logs on our Exchange 2003 server have nearly taken up the entire drive space. I would imagine that I have a couple of days left at most.

I understand that these should be automatically cleared by an exchange aware backup.

I have just looked at our veeam exchange job (created by a colleague who is currently on vacation) and noticed that under 'Guest Processing' there is an option to 'Enable application-aware image processing' and part of this seems to be to clear the transactional logs. This is currently unchecked.

1. If I check this, should this clear the logs when the backup runs tonight?
2. We are running reverse incremental backups (not sure if this matters)?
3. Should I do a separate full veeam back up with 'Enable application-aware image processing'?
4. What impact would doing this during working hours have?

Thanks all, i would ideally like to get this nailed before I go home today so I dont have to worry about it over the weekend.

[veremin]

First of all, Application Aware Image Processing is a Veeam’s proprietary technology responsible for creating a transactionally consistent backup of a VM running VSS-aware applications (such as Active Directory, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint, etc) without shutting them down. It also ensures successful VM recovery, as well as proper recovery of all applications installed on the VM without any data loss.

Additionally, truncation log is the option that can be selected while backing up or replicating systems, like Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SQL, that use transaction logs, so that, the storage space isn’t overflown by them.

If I check this, should this clear the logs when the backup runs tonight?

It depends on. You can select to truncate transaction logs after every backup job, every successful backup or not to truncate logs at all

Should I do a separate full veeam back up with 'Enable application-aware image processing'?

No, you shouldn’t. Just enable this option in the setting of the existing job.

What impact would doing this during working hours have?

Having both of the options enabled is considered to be the “best Exchange backup practise” and it won’t cause any additional impact on your production environment.

We are running reverse incremental backups (not sure if this matters)?

For more information regarding reversed incremental please see corresponding sticky FAQ.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[mjgreen81]

That's helpful thank you.

Ok, I have ticked 'Enable application-aware image processing' in my exchange job (it actually backs up 2x exchange 2003 servers).

I have then gone to advance and for both servers selected 'Require successful application processing' and 'Truncate logs on successful backup only'.

Should that do the job and clear the logs?

Is there any reason this wont work? Like I say, I am cautious that if for any reason this does not work tonight, the logs are going to fill the drive before the end of the weekend.

When I said "What impact would doing this during working hours have?" - I meant what impact would running the backup during working hours have? Would it hammer the server/network and slow it right down?

[veremin]

Should that do the job and clear the logs?

It should, without any issues.

Of course, there would be some impact, due to the snapshot presence and the fact that you’re trying to backing up Exchange server which is notoriously known for producing high IOP and so on and so forth. The most crucial part would be snapshot committing process.

However, the impact would depend solely on your production environment - on resources, type of devices that are being used, and on variety of other factors. In fact, the impact scale couldn't be estimated that easily, especially, through the forum correspondence.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[mjgreen81]

Fair enough, makes sense, probably asking a bit much there to estimate the impact - I just like to be cautious with these things.

Ok, think I will just let it run tonight and hope it clears the logs. I will then log on tomorrow from home to check the situation.

Thanks for your help.

[mjgreen81]

Thought I would get back and say thanks, the logs successfully cleared over the weekend!

Phew!

[veremin]

Glad to hear.

Should any other questions arise, don’t hesitate to let us know. Thanks!

[mjgreen81]

Hi all,

I just wanted to bring alive this old topic, as I have another possibly related issue.

I have noticed that the following log folder is filling up as well:

C:\Program Files\Exchsvr\MYEMAILSERVER.log

The logs look very similar to the transactional logs contained within C:\Program Files\Exchsvr\MDBDATA (which are still being deleted - thank you )

Does anyone know how I should deal with these logs and what exactly are they? (I am presuming they are for message tracking)

Is it possible to get Veeam to deal with them automatically?

Thanks all

[veremin]

As far as I’m concerned, these files are logs produced by Message Tracking. In fact, you can just turn this feature off in the setting of Exchange server or specify there a time interval after which the logs files should be deleted (by default, 30 days).

Thanks.

[mjgreen81]

Brilliant, thanks for your help. Ours was set at 99days and that matches the date of the last log.

As long as I know the logs are deleting, I shouldn't have a problem.

Thanks again

[veremin]

Yep, let the Exchange server handle the process of deleting Message Tracking log files; and if the corresponding files start to overfill a given location, consider selecting different place to store them or specifying shorter retention period.

Thanks.

[pdingler]

Hey guys, thanks for the help here. I'm running into the same issue with Exchange 2010 transaction logs. I can't get VSS to work properly yet. In the meantime will the backup job truncate the log files without VSS?

Thanks,

Phillip