Microsoft’s Exchange Server has been around for a few years and has matured greatly since its first release. Exchange Server 2016 is more stable and reliable
than its previous versions. Although many tasks are now automated, Exchange Server and the operating system beneath it need periodic and frequent maintenance to ensure the uptime of the server and to keep it running smoothly, apart from preventing disasters.
The write-up below explains how users can easily create a maintenance schedule for Exchange. As an email platform, Exchange requires a lot of maintenance to ensure communication between sender and receiver. Exchange mailbox databases are especially critical and require regular maintenance.
How to Maintance Schedule of Exchange Mailbox Database?
Exchange Server Databases require a lot of routine maintenance. It can be challenging for users to configure an Exchange maintenance schedule that will sustain in the long run. Even though it may be accessible in theory, it can be hard to execute when it comes to exchanging databases. Users need to be extra careful when planning and to schedule the maintenance task so that everything runs smoothly without disrupting the exchange database’s function. Follow the below steps to configure the maintenance schedule in Exchange.
- First of all, Launch the Exchange Management Console.
- After that, choose the Mailbox under the Organization Configuration from the left-pane.
- Now, go to the Database Management tab and choose the Database that needs maintenance and schedule the maintenance task. Later on, click on the Maintenance tab.
- If you want to perform the maintenance schedule of your Exchange database by using PowerShell, you must have to run the cmdlet Set-MailboxDatabase within the PowerShell. Also, if you need to find the database schedule, you can use the MaintenanceSchedule field as per the following command-
- In order to further improve your Exchange database’s organization, you can make use of the “eseutil” tool. This tool is already built into your Exchange server and can be configured relatively easily. However, it should be noted that your Exchange server may experience a downtime of 5 to 20 minutes for each gigabyte of information stored.
Here, select the maintenance schedule from the dropdown and check the checkbox of Enable background database maintenance (24×7 ESE scanning) and Enable circular logging.
Behind you click “Ok”, a database maintenance window will be scheduled that will permit your Exchange server to conduct essential tasks at the selected time.
{Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity “Exchange\MailboxDatabase” -MaintenanceSchedule “Sunday.5:00-Sunday.9:00”}
Tip: With the above command, your Exchange database mailbox maintenance schedule by Sunday.
However, the average user may not be aware that they need to leave enough storage space on their computer’s hard drive to accommodate the .edb files used by their Exchange server. If a user wants to make a replica of the maintenance schedule saved in Exchange, they can double-click on the information store to find its file path. For example, users can utilize a temporary directory for defragmenting their drives. The steps for defragmenting a database are easy and can be completed all at once with the following command- eseutil /d /ds /tc:E:\backup\eseutildefrag.edb /q
To keep your databases running smoothly, you’ll want to make sure that the data is healthy. This includes having plenty of space, defragmentation processes, and healthy backups. However, we also suggest our users to keep your Exchange server updated with the below ways to keep a healthy Exchange server database.
- Backup the Exchange Server database on a routine basis.
- Keep 24*7 monitoring on CPU, RAM, and Storage.
- Split the database to reduce the load.
- Also, defrag during the Maintenance Window.
- Split the load into more than one database
The Bottom Line
Before a user can set a maintenance schedule in Exchange, it’s important to consider the size of the Exchange Mailbox databases. Users can defragment and re-index databases to help ensure a smooth flow of communication. Users can maintain a schedule for their Exchange database by the above discussed steps.
Nevertheless, while attempting maintenance schedule tasks, there can be damage or corruption due to human errors. In such a case, users can move forward with the best Exchange Recovery Tool. With this efficient & reliable converter utility, one can resolve the Exchange server file issues, remove potential errors from the EDB file, and also converts into PST file format with ease and comfort.
