XADM: Improving Performance with Public Folder Views

When you use the Microsoft Exchange client to change the view of a Public Folder that has a very large number of items, it may be a long time before the required information is displayed.

When you select a Public Folder view, if the view has not been used before, underlying indices and possibly new tables are created. This process will take a longer time to complete than it does when the view already exists.

To speed up the process of viewing the Public Folder, use one of the following three resolutions:

• Upgrade the Microsoft Exchange Server to Service Pack 2. This service pack resolves a problem that caused the server to take longer to switch views. The problem is not present Microsoft Exchange version 4.0a (that is, SP2).
• If the public folder contains a large number of items, use a filtered view. This not only improves response times, but also helps reduce the number of items displayed to a manageable size.
• Change the Aging Interval. By default, the Information Store will remove any views that have not been used, by any user, for eight days. This helps reduce the size of the Information Store by purging out unused views. However, this may cause the view to be re-created the next time a user switches to that view, after it has been aged out. Since the view has to be re-created, the time required to switch to the view will be much greater than if the view already existed.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

The default aging time that the Information Store uses can be changed by modifying the registry as follows:

Public Information Store:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following subkey:

        System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersPublic
   						

3. Create a value named "Aging Keep Time" of type REG_DWORD.
4. The default value of the Aging Interval, without this registry entry, is 691200000 (8 days in milliseconds - 1000*60*60*24*8).
   
   Set the value to the new Aging Interval in milliseconds.
5. Quit Registry Editor.

Private Information Store:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following subkey:

        System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersPrivate
   						

3. Create a value named "Aging Keep Time" of type REG_DWORD.
4. The default value the Aging Interval, if this registry entry is missing, is 691200000 (8 days in milliseconds - 1000*60*60*24*8).
   
   Set the value to the new Aging Interval in milliseconds.

NOTE: Changing the Aging Interval can increase the size of the Private and/or Public Information Store databases, because unused views will not be removed from the databases. Hence even rarely used views will not be purged from the database.

The benefit of changing the Aging Interval will only be noticed in the case of views that are not commonly used. If views are regularly used by a user, it is not necessary to modify the Aging Interval.