Create a Mailbox Database

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[This is pre-release documentation and subject to change in future releases. This topic's current status is: Writing.]

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell to create a new mailbox database. A mailbox database manages the data in mailboxes, tracks deleted messages and mailbox sizes, and assists in message transfers. A mailbox database is stored as an Exchange database (.edb) file.

Before You Begin

To perform the following procedures, the account you use must be delegated the following:

  • Exchange Server Administrator role and local Administrators group for the target server

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, see Important: Update for Permissions in Exchange 2010.

Also, before you perform these procedures, be aware of the following:

  • Only one database can be added to a storage group on which local continuous replication (LCR) is enabled. For more information, see Local Continuous Replication.
  • For reliability, and in some cases for performance reasons, the database should be placed on disks that do not contain transaction logs.
  • Page zeroing is a process that is performed at the end of a streaming backup in which the data within the database is overwritten with characters that you have selected for that purpose. This makes the data unrecoverable by conventional means. As a best practice, if you want to enable page zeroing on a database, you should do so when you create the database. If you do not configure page zeroing when you create the database, the first time page zeroing is run against the database, it will significantly impact server performance. For more information, see Online Maintenance Database Scanning in Exchange 2007 SP1.

Procedure

To use the Exchange Management Console to create a new mailbox database

  1. Start the Exchange Management Console.

  2. In the console tree, expand Organization Configuration, and then click Mailbox.

  3. In the work pane, click on the Database Management tab.

  4. In the action pane, click New Mailbox Database. The New Mailbox Database wizard appears.

  5. On the Introduction page, complete the following fields:

    • Mailbox database name   Use this box to type the name of the new mailbox database. The name can be up to 64 characters in length and cannot use the following characters: \ / " = , ;
    • Server name   Click browse to locate the server on which you will create the database, and then click OK.

  6. Click Next.

  7. On the Set Paths page, complete the following fields:

    • Database file path   This box shows where the new mailbox database will be created. To change the location of the Exchange database (.edb) file for the new mailbox database, click Browse, and then select a new location.
    • Log folder path   This box shows where the new mailbox database log files will be created. To change the location of the log files for the new mailbox database, click Browse, and then select a new location.
    • Enable local continuous replication   Check this box to enable the local continuous replication (LCR) of this database. LCR is a single-server solution that uses asynchronous log shipping technology to create and maintain a copy of the database on a second set of disks that are connected to the same server as the production database.
      When you select this check box, the Local continuous replication file copy path and the Local continuous replication copy log folder path fields will be enabled.
    • Local continuous replication file copy path   Click Browse to specify where you want to store the LCR database files.
    • Local continuous replication copy log folder path   Click Browse to specify where you want to store the LCR log files.
    • Mount this database   Select this check box to mount the mailbox database immediately after it is created. Mounting a database puts it online, thereby making its data available to users.

  8. Click Next.

  9. On the New Mailbox Database page, click New to create the mailbox database.

  10. On the Completion page, confirm whether the new mailbox database was created successfully. A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully. A status of Failed indicates that the task was not completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

  11. Click Finish to complete the New Mailbox Database wizard. The new mailbox database appears under its storage group in the work pane of the Exchange Management Console. 

To use the Exchange Management Shell to create a new mailbox database

  1. Run the following command.

    New-MailboxDatabase -Name <Database_Name> -Server <Server_Name> -Recovery

  2. To mount the new database, run the following command.

    Mount-Database -Identity <Database_Name>

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see the New-MailboxDatabase reference topic.

For More Information

To learn more about mailbox databases, see Understanding the Exchange 2010 Store.

For more information about managing databases, see Managing Storage Groups and Databases_E12 Carry Over.