Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2006-08-18

Although the Exchange Server Database Utilities (Eseutil.exe) file dump mode is often overlooked by administrators, it is a valuable troubleshooting and diagnostic tool. This mode does not repair or make other changes to files. Its purpose is to provide you with information about the state of the database files. For example, you can run the following file dump command to dump the header of an Exchange mailbox database to determine if your database has been repaired using the Eseutil /P command:

ESEUTIL /mh C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Mailbox\First Storage Group\Mailbox Database.edb |more

If a repair has occurred, the output of the file dump has information similar to the following:

     Repair Count: 2

     Repair Date: 08/10/2006 09:19:57

In file dump mode, you can:

• View header information for database, checkpoint, and transaction log files.
  
  
• View header information for individual database pages.
  
  
• Validate that a series of transaction log files forms a matched set, and that all files are undamaged.
  
  
• View space allocation inside the database.
  
  
• View metadata for all tables or for a specific table in the database file.
  
  

For more information about syntax and about running Eseutil /M with different switches, see How to Run Eseutil /M (File Dump).

The header for checkpoint, transaction log, and database files is the first physical page of each file. Some files have a shadow header, which is a copy of the header on the second page of the file. The file header contains important state and diagnostic information about the file. By correlating header information from various files, you can determine whether the files belong together or are mismatched.

There are separate switches for viewing different kinds of file headers. Be sure that you use the correct switch with the correct file type, or the output will be invalid.

Table 1 shows you switches that you can use to view headers of different types of database files.

Table 1   Switches and related headers of database files

You can use the	To
Eseutil /mh switch	View the header information of Exchange database files (.edb) for any ESE database including the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Hub Transport and Edge Transport server role Queue databases.
Eseutil /ml switch	Validate the integrity and sequence of transaction log files for any Exchange 2007 ESE database.
Eseutil /mk switch	View the header information for Exchange database checkpoint files.

For More Information

To ensure that you are reading the most up-to-date information and to find additional Exchange Server 2007 documentation, visit the Exchange Server TechCenter.

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