Get Rid of Exchange 2010 Storage Groups

Instead of Exchange 2010 having one huge mail store, divide it up so you to better rule your Exchange Organization. Management really is the keyword. Creating multiple stores will greatly improve your control over the Exchange 2010 server mailboxes.

Benefits of Exchange's Multiple Stores

1. Exchange 2010 Standard Edition supports up to five databases.
   While Exchange 2010 Enterprise Edition supports 100 databases.
2. Smaller stores mean that backup completes faster, and that restores are easier to manage.
3. Fewer users will be affected should you need to take one store offline.
4. Each store can have its own policy for mailbox limits.
5. Instead of having lots of small Exchange 2010 servers, buy one powerful machine and configure multiple Stores.

Exchange database (.edb)
This file type holds the actual mailbox data. They're accessed by the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) directly and have a B-tree structure designed for quick access.  Access is claimed to be up to 4 times quicker than Exchange Server 2007.

Transaction log (.log)
These files record database operations such as creating a message. Committed operations are later written to the.edb database itself.  Each database has its own set of transaction logs.

Checkpoint (.chk)
As the name suggests, these file record when an operation is successfully saved to the database on the hard disk. The benefit is that Exchange 2010 can use .chk to automatically replay log files into an inconsistent database when recovering from a service interruption, starting with the next unwritten operation. The .chk files are placed in the same log location as the .log files.

Exchange 2010 Storage Groups Removed

The big news for Exchange 2010 storage groups is that they have been decomissioned, mainly because of difficulties in restoring a single store in a disaster recovery emergency.

Guy Thomas is a computer consultant and writer with attitude and a great sense of humor.