How to manually move the database file location in Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003

This article describes how to manually move your database files in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

In earlier versions of Exchange, the Exchange database paths are stored in the Windows registry of the local Exchange computer. In Exchange 2000 and in Exchange 2003, this information is stored in the Microsoft Active Directory directory service and is replicated to all the domain controllers. Typically, you use Exchange System Manager to view the database paths. However, there may be some cases where you cannot move the Exchange database files and transaction log files by using Exchange System Manager. In this scenario, you must manually move these files. To do this, follow the steps in this article.

Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

1. Install the ADSI Edit snap if it is not already installed.
   
   ADSI Edit is included with the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Support Tools. To install the Windows 2000 Server Support Tools, run Setup.exe from the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM.
2. Open a command prompt, type net stop msexchangeis, and then press ENTER to stop the Information Store service.
3. Copy the Exchange database to the new destination folder.
   
   Note Each Exchange database is made up of an .edb file and a .stm file. For example, a private database named priv1 has a priv1.edb file and a priv1.stm file.
4. Click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK to start ADSI Edit.
5. If you want to connect to a different domain controller, click Connect to on the Action menu, click Select or type a domain or server, type the fully qualified domain name of the domain controller, and then click OK.
6. Expand Configuration Container [servername.example.com] (where servername is the name of your domain controller and example.com is the name of your domain).
7. Expand CN=Configuration,DC=example,DC=com, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, and then expand CN=OrganizationName (where OrganizationName is the name of your Exchange organization).
8. Expand Administrative Groups (if administrative groups are enabled), expand your administrative group (for example, expand CN=First Administrative Group), expand CN=Servers, expand CN=ExchangeServerName (where ExchangeServerName is the name of your Exchange server), expand CN=InformationStore, and then click CN=StorageGroupName (where StorageGroupName is the name of the storage group that hosts the database that you want to move.
9. In the right pane, right-click the private store or the public store that corresponds to the database file that you want to move, and then click Properties.
10. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both.
11. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchEDBFile.
    
    Note The msExchEDBFile property corresponds to the .edb file that you copied to the new location in step 3.
12. In the Edit Attribute box, type the new path of the .edb file. For example, type e:\newfolder\priv1.edb.
13. Click Set, and then click Apply.
14. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchSLVFile.
    
    Note The msExchSLVFile property corresponds to the .stm file that you copied to the new location in step 3.
15. In the Edit Attribute box, type the new path of the .stm file. For example, type e:\newfolder\priv1.stm.
16. Click Set, click Apply, and then click OK.
17. If you also moved the transaction log files to a new location, follow these steps:
    1. In the left pane under CN=InformationStore, right-click CN=StorageGroupName, and then click Properties.
    2. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both.
    3. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchESEParamLogFilePath.
       
       Note The msExchESEParamLogFilePath property corresponds to the Exchange transaction log files.
    4. In the Edit Attribute box, type the new path of the folder where you moved the transaction log files to. For example, type f:\newlogfolder.
    5. Click Set, and then click Apply.
    6. In the Select a property to view list, click msExchESEParamSystemPath.
       
       Note The msExchESEParamSystemPath property corresponds to the Exchange system log file location.
    7. In the Edit Attribute box, type the path of the new folder that you moved the system log files to. For example, type f:\newlogfolder.
    8. Click Set, click Apply, and then click OK.
18. Quit ADSI Edit, wait for the Active Directory changes to propagate to all the domain controllers, and then restart the Information Store service. To restart the Information Store service, open a command prompt, type net start msexchangeis, and then press ENTER.