Distributed File System or DFS is typically a set of services deployed in a client-server architecture to store and access the files. A DFS link is particularly a share placed on network, which can be used to redirect to the shared folder. Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 Feature Pack stores the names of these DFS links in registry, along with other configuration information. The link names are used by Exchange to access its databases and log files while writing to log files. When you apply a configuration update, this might lead to inconsistencies among Exchange storage group databases and its log files. For any reason, if a valid backup is unavailable, it is suggested to use EDB Recovery software to repair and recover the databases. If you use Eseutil utility, this could cause data loss by deleting the corrupted pages.

To illustrate such scenarios, suppose you use a configuration update that could restore various names of DFS link from Windows registry. After this, when you try to mount Exchange Server store, the operation fails.

Cause

As discussed, this behavior occurs because of inconsistencies of Exchange Server log files and databases. DFS links’ names are generated on use of configuration update. Now if there are various registry entries storing DFS links that have been deleted, the configuration update might use different names of DFS links instead of successfully repairing them. This causes a mismatch between original DFS links’ names and those created while update and also, the log files contain indifferent information from within the databases. As a result, Exchange databases and log files become inconsistent.

Solution

To solve the problem, described above, you should apply these measures:

  • Dismount all the Exchange databases and run eseutil /mh command for each database to verify for clean shutdown state

  • You should run eseutil repair utility for databases that show dirty shutdown state or restore them from backup

  • If all remote databases are consistent, dismount all the databases on virtual server

  • Run the update for each database and remount them

However, if no database recovery is feasible using backup and/or eseutil fails, you should opt for safe Recover EDB solutions. EDB Recovery Tool is powerful and feature-rich product that use high-end scanning algorithms to repair and restore damaged Exchange databases.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is an advanced utility that uses effective scanning algorithms to recover corrupt EDB file from MS Exchange Server. It supports Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003 and restores individual mailboxes in PST files. It is a secure EDB Recovery Software with quality features