Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2007-01-16

Hard disks drives are a critical component of your Exchange organization. Without sufficient free disk volume, neither the operating system nor the Exchange databases can function correctly. You must monitor the Exchange store statistics daily to make sure that you do not run out of disk space and to prepare to add storage resources as required. When the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service runs out of hard drive space, it logs Event ID 1113 in the application event log to indicate the problem. For more information about managing Windows Server 2003 disks and data, see the Windows Server 2003 documentation.

Checking Disk Space

Exchange Server needs hard disk space to store its databases and transaction logs. You can check free disk space by using the following methods:

  • Windows Explorer   Use Windows Explorer to check for disk space on volumes that store Exchange logs and databases. You should monitor the disk space regularly to make sure that the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service will not be negatively affected because of insufficient storage resources. Comparing and maintaining statistical information about available disk space on each Exchange volume and expected growth of the databases and transaction log files, helps you with capacity planning and adding storage when the storage resources are required. To accommodate troubleshooting and disaster recovery situations, it is recommended that available free volume space be equal or greater than 110% of the size of database.

  • Running a script   Monitor disk space by running a script that will send you an alert message if the hard disk space falls below 100 MB. You can find a sample script on the TechNet Script Center Web site.

  • Use Microsoft Operations Manager   Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) can be used to alert administrators when volume space is constrained. For more information, see Exchange 2007 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SP1.

For More Information

For information about other important daily operations tasks, see Daily Tasks.