priv.edb; what is stored in it? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Redlemon · 11-22-2004, 08:00 AM

I run our small office network, because I'm "the guy who understands this stuff". It isn't the main part of my job, so I don't have any training in it.

Due to a fuckup, I had to restore our Exchange Server priv.edb file from a backup, and lost one day of whatever ended up in priv.edb. I thought that that meant that all the emails in my inbox and sent box from the "lost day" would be gone; however, they are still all there. I guess those things were in pub.edb.

So, what the heck was in priv.edb, and what did I just lose?

dksuddeth · 11-22-2004, 08:49 AM

The Priv.edb is the private information store. You are correct in that it contains information for all the private mailboxes on that particular exchange server. The Pub.edb is the public folder storage database. If you have all of your email, consider yourself lucky. You might want to see what the time stamp on the backup file was.

Redlemon · 11-22-2004, 08:57 AM

The damage to priv.edb was caused on Friday evening (poor decisionmaking regarding eseutil), and the backup was from Thursday evening. The backup tape was off-site, so I only got it today and did the restore. (We kept the Exchange stuff offline so that no new emails got lost.) Is there some backup log files where these changes might have been in the meantime?

dksuddeth · 11-22-2004, 11:08 AM

I'm only familiar with exch 5.5, but the server keeps transaction logs that are about 5 kb in size. You can end up with thousands of these. When you do a restore, it SHOULD try to tie all these together. Sometimes you need to run the patch utility to do this. It sounds like you're restore went alot smoother than any of mine have ever gone.

Redlemon · 11-22-2004, 11:47 AM

I am in Exchange 5.5, I probably should have mentioned that.

Thanks for the information.

Boy, I wish I had some time for training...

11-22-2004, 08:00 AM	#1 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	priv.edb; what is stored in it? I run our small office network, because I'm "the guy who understands this stuff". It isn't the main part of my job, so I don't have any training in it. Due to a fuckup, I had to restore our Exchange Server priv.edb file from a backup, and lost one day of whatever ended up in priv.edb. I thought that that meant that all the emails in my inbox and sent box from the "lost day" would be gone; however, they are still all there. I guess those things were in pub.edb. So, what the heck was in priv.edb, and what did I just lose?

11-22-2004, 08:49 AM	#2 (permalink)
dksuddeth Junkie Location: bedford, tx	The Priv.edb is the private information store. You are correct in that it contains information for all the private mailboxes on that particular exchange server. The Pub.edb is the public folder storage database. If you have all of your email, consider yourself lucky. You might want to see what the time stamp on the backup file was.

11-22-2004, 08:57 AM	#3 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	The damage to priv.edb was caused on Friday evening (poor decisionmaking regarding eseutil), and the backup was from Thursday evening. The backup tape was off-site, so I only got it today and did the restore. (We kept the Exchange stuff offline so that no new emails got lost.) Is there some backup log files where these changes might have been in the meantime?

11-22-2004, 11:08 AM	#4 (permalink)
dksuddeth Junkie Location: bedford, tx	I'm only familiar with exch 5.5, but the server keeps transaction logs that are about 5 kb in size. You can end up with thousands of these. When you do a restore, it SHOULD try to tie all these together. Sometimes you need to run the patch utility to do this. It sounds like you're restore went alot smoother than any of mine have ever gone.

11-22-2004, 11:47 AM	#5 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	I am in Exchange 5.5, I probably should have mentioned that. Thanks for the information. Boy, I wish I had some time for training...