Topic Last Modified: 2005-11-18

The Microsoft® Exchange Server Analyzer Tool queries the Active Directory® directory service to count the number of StorageGroup objects and MailboxGroup objects on a server running Exchange Server 2003. If the Exchange Server Analyzer determines that the total number of StorageGroup objects is less than four and the total number of MailboxStore objects is more than four, an error is displayed.

If you are using Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, each Exchange Server computer can have one storage group, which supports one mailbox store and one public folder store. If you are using Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, each server can have as many as four storage groups, each of which supports as many as five databases (either mailbox stores or public folder stores).

The recommended best practice for configuring storage groups for computers that are running Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition is to add an additional storage group for each new database until the maximum number of storage groups has been created. You can spread the load of mailboxes in your Exchange Server storage topology across as many storage groups as possible. Such a topology has the following advantages:

If you have less than four storage groups and more than four mailbox stores on a server running Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, take the following steps to spread your mailboxes across the most storage groups possible.

To resolve this error
  1. In Exchange System Manager, select the server that reported this error. Make a note of the number of storage groups and mailbox stores located on that server. Make a note of the storage groups that contain more than one mailbox store.

  2. Create any additional storage groups until you have four storage groups on the computer running Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. For information about how to create a new storage group, see "Adding a Storage Group" in the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47617).

  3. Create a new mailbox store in each new storage group you have created. For information about how to create a new mailbox store, see "Adding a Mailbox Store" in the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47617).

  4. Move mailboxes from one of the mailbox stores on the storage group that contains multiple mailbox stores to the mailbox store located in a newly-created storage group. Use the Move Mailbox Wizard to move mailboxes. For detailed information about how to use the Move Mailbox Wizard, see " Using Exchange Task Wizard to Move Mailboxes" in "Migrating from Exchange Server 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003" chapter of the Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47569).

For more information about how to configure storage groups in Exchange Server 2003, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 890699, "How to configure storage groups in Exchange Server 2003" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3052&kbid=890699).

For information about how to configure storage groups, see the storage group configuration section in "Planning a Reliable Back-End Storage Solution" in the Exchange Server 2003 High Availability Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=47571).

For overall recommendations to help you maximize availability, fault tolerance, and performance, see Optimizing Storage for Exchange Server 2003 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=49324).