The transaction log sequence for a storage group is about to run out of available file names

 

Topic Last Modified: 2008-03-18

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) monitors the Windows Application log on computers that are running Exchange Server 2007 and generates this alert when the event or events specified in the following Details table are logged.

To learn more about this event, do one or more of the following:

  • Review the description of the event that includes the variables specific to your environment. From the MOM Operator Console, select this alert, and then click the Properties tab.

  • Review all events that have been logged that meet the criteria of this MOM alert. From the MOM Operator Console, click the Events tab, and then double-click the event in the list for which you want to review the event description.

Details

Product Name

Exchange

Product Version

8.0 (Exchange Server 2007)

Event ID

514

Event Source

ESE

Alert Type

Critical Error

MOM Rule Path

Microsoft Exchange Server/Exchange 2007/Common Components/Extensible Storage Engine

MOM Rule Name

The transaction log sequence for a storage group is about to run out of available file names. Storage group will not start until issue is fixed. Fix by removing existing transaction logs.

Explanation

This Error event indicates that there are approximately 131,000 log file names remaining. The maximum number of transaction log files that can be generated in a single sequence is 2,147,486,647 (0x7FFFFFFF).  Typically, it will take dozens to hundreds of years of operation before this many log files will be generated.

You can calculate how long it will take you to exhaust the remaining logs by determining how many logs are generated on a typical day and then dividing 131,000 by that number for an approximate number of days remaining. This calculation will be a very rough estimate and is only valid the first time the event occurs.

However, you should immediately schedule a maintenance window where you can resolve the problem and prevent the storage group from disconnecting on its own when the available log file names are exhausted.

The transaction log file names have the following format: E0100012345.log, E01000ABCDE.log, E01000FFF00.log. The last eight characters of each log file name is the number of the log in the sequence. If ESE were to reach the last log generation number (0x7FFFFFFF), it would not be able to create another log file, and the database would be forced to shut down in a Dirty Shutdown state. To prevent this, all databases in the storage group will stop with the error Jet_errLogSequenceEnd when log generation 0x7FFFFFEC is reached (16 logs before the maximum). Stopping this far before the end of the sequence enables more than enough additional logs for the database to be returned to a Clean Shutdown state.

User Action

To recover from this problem, you must reset the log file sequence. To do this requires removing all existing transaction logs. After you do this, a new sequence of log files, starting with 0x00000001 will be generated.

Before removing transaction logs, you must verify that all databases in the storage group are in a Clean Shutdown state.

For more information about how to reset the log file sequence, follow the steps under WORKAROUND in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 830408, Store databases are dismounted without warning or users cannot log on to their mailboxes in Exchange Server 2003 or in Exchange 2000 Server.

For More Information

To search the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles based on criteria that generated this alert, visit the Search the Support Knowledge Base (KB) Web site.

To review Exchange 2007 event message articles that may not be represented by Exchange 2007 MOM alerts, see the Events and Errors Message Center.

If you are not already doing so, consider running the tools that Microsoft Exchange offers to help administrators analyze and troubleshoot their Exchange environment. These tools can help you make sure that your configuration is in line with Microsoft best practices. They can also help you identify and resolve performance issues, improve mail flow, and better manage disaster recovery scenarios. Go to the Toolbox node of the Exchange Management Console to run these tools now. For more information about these tools, see Toolbox in the Exchange Server 2007 Help.