Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1
Topic Last Modified: 2009-05-20

This topic explains how to use performance counters and events to track and analyze online maintenance database scanning activity in Exchange 2007 SP1 and SP2. You may want to perform this procedure for the following purposes:

For more information, see Online Maintenance Database Scanning in Exchange 2007 SP1 and SP2.

Before You Begin

To monitor online maintenance database scanning, the account you use must be delegated the following:

  • Exchange Organization Administrators role

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange Server 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Before you can use the performance counters discussed in this topic, you must first enable them in the registry. For information about how to enable extended ESE performance counters, see How to Enable Extended ESE Performance Counters.

Procedure

You can use these performance counters to monitor online maintenance database scanning in Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2003) or Reliability and Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2008).

To determine the rate at which database pages are read from all of the databases in the entire Exchange store during an online maintenance database scan

  1. Enable extended ESE performance counters. For information about how to enable extended ESE performance counters, see How to Enable Extended ESE Performance Counters.

  2. To start Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2003) or Reliability and Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2008), click Start, click Run, and then type PerfMon.

  3. Create a counter log that logs the MSExchangeDatabase\Online Maintenance (DB Scan) Pages Read/sec counter for the storage group that you want to monitor. For information about how to log counters, see one of the following Windows Server Help topics:

    • Windows Server 2008: "Creating Data Collector Sets" in Reliability and Performance Monitor Help.

    • Windows Server 2003: Create a Counter Log in Performance Monitor Help.

  4. Schedule the counter log to run during the online maintenance window and to sample data at 60-second intervals. You can use the Exchange Management Shell to get the online maintenance window for a database. For example, type GetMailboxDatabase -Identity <database> | FL to get information about a mailbox database, or right-click the database in the Exchange Management Console, and then click Properties.

  5. Review the log and determine the average values of the counters during the online maintenance period.

To determine the rate at which database pages are read for individual instances (such as for a single storage group) during an online maintenance database scan

  1. Enable extended ESE performance counters. For information about how to enable extended ESE performance counters, see How to Enable Extended ESE Performance Counters.

  2. To start Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2003) or Reliability and Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2008), click Start, click Run, and then type PerfMon.

  3. Create a counter log that logs the MSExchangeDatabase==>Instances\Online Maintenance (DB Scan) Pages Read/sec counter for the storage group that you want to monitor. For information about how to log counters, see one of the following Windows Server Help topics:

    • Windows Server 2008: "Creating Data Collector Sets" in Reliability and Performance Monitor Help.

    • Windows Server 2003: Create a Counter Log in Performance Monitor Help.

  4. Schedule the counter log to run during the online maintenance window and to sample data at 60-second intervals. You can use the Exchange Management Shell to get the online maintenance window for a database. For example, type GetMailboxDatabase -Identity <database> | FL to get information about a mailbox database, or right-click the database in the Exchange Management Console, and then click Properties.

  5. Review the log and determine the average values of the counters during the online maintenance period.

To determine the rate at which database pages are zeroed for all of the databases in the entire Exchange store during an online maintenance database scan

  1. Enable extended ESE performance counters. For information about how to enable extended ESE performance counters, see How to Enable Extended ESE Performance Counters.

  2. To start Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2003) or Reliability and Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2008), click Start, click Run, and then type PerfMon.

  3. Create a counter log that logs the MSExchangeDatabase\Online Maintenance (DB Scan) Pages Zeroed/sec counter for the storage group that you want to monitor. For information about how to log counters, see one of the following Windows Server Help topics:

    • Windows Server 2008: "Creating Data Collector Sets" in Reliability and Performance Monitor Help.

    • Windows Server 2003: Create a Counter Log in Performance Monitor Help.

  4. Schedule the counter log to run during the online maintenance window and to sample data at 60-second intervals. You can use the Exchange Management Shell to get the online maintenance window for a database. For example, type GetMailboxDatabase -Identity <database> | FL to get information about a mailbox database, or right-click the database in the Exchange Management Console, and then click Properties.

  5. Review the log and determine the average values of the counters during the online maintenance period.

To determine the rate at which database pages are zeroed for individual instances (such as for a single storage group) during an online maintenance database scan

  1. Enable extended ESE performance counters. For information about how to enable extended ESE performance counters, see How to Enable Extended ESE Performance Counters.

  2. To start Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2003) or Reliability and Performance Monitor (Windows Server 2008), click Start, click Run, and then type PerfMon.

  3. Create a counter log that logs the MSExchangeDatabase\Database==>Instances\ Online Maintenance (DB Scan) Pages Zeroed/sec counter for the storage group that you want to monitor. For information about how to log counters, see one of the following Windows Server Help topics:

    • Windows Server 2008: "Creating Data Collector Sets" in Reliability and Performance Monitor Help.

    • Windows Server 2003: Create a Counter Log in Performance Monitor Help.

  4. Schedule the counter log to run during the online maintenance window and to sample data at 60-second intervals. You can use the Exchange Management Shell to get the online maintenance window for a database. For example, type GetMailboxDatabase -Identity <database> | FL to get information about a mailbox database, or right-click the database in the Exchange Management Console, and then click Properties.

  5. Review the log and determine the average values of the counters during the online maintenance period.

For more information about using the online maintenance database scanning performance counters, see Online Maintenance Database Scanning in Exchange 2007 SP1 and SP2.

Events for Monitoring Online Maintenance Database Scanning

You can use events to monitor online maintenance database scanning in Event Viewer.

For more information about the online maintenance database scanning events, including a list of the relevant events, see Online Maintenance Database Scanning in Exchange 2007 SP1 and SP2.

To use Event Viewer in Windows Server 2003 to monitor online maintenance database scanning

  1. Start Event Viewer (Click Start, click Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.)

  2. In Event Viewer, in the console tree, click Application to view the Application log.

  3. To filter for particular events, on the menu bar click View, then click the Filter tab in the Application Properties dialog box. In the Event ID box, type the event numbers, and then click OK.

  4. To view an event description, right-click the event, and then click Properties.

To use Event Viewer in Windows Server 2008 to monitor online maintenance database scanning

  1. Start Event Viewer. (Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.)

  2. In Event Viewer, in the console tree, expand Windows Logs, and then click Application to view the Application log.

  3. To filter for particular events, in the action pane, click Filter Current Log. The Filter Current Log dialog box appears.

  4. In Filter Current Log, on the Filter tab, in the Includes/Excludes Event IDs box, type the event numbers, and then click OK.

  5. To view the event description, right-click the event, and then click Event Properties.

For more information about using Event Viewer, see Checking the Event Viewer.

For More Information

For more information about online maintenance database scanning, see Online Maintenance Database Scanning in Exchange 2007 SP1 and SP2.