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Unable to read the log file header. Cause can be a mismatched log file signature or a corrupted log file or log header

 

Applies to: Operations Manager Management Pack for Exchange 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2012-02-27

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager monitors the Windows Application log on computers running Exchange 2010 and generates this alert when the events specified in the following Details table are logged.

To learn more about this alert, in Operations Manager, do one or more of the following:

  • From the Operations Console, double-click this alert, and then click the General tab. Review the description of the alert that includes the variables specific to your environment.

  • From the Operations Console, double-click this alert, and then click the Alert Context tab. Review the logged events that meet the criteria of this Operations Manager alert.

Details

Product Name

Exchange

Product Version

14.0 (Exchange 2010)

Event ID

412

Event Source

ESE

Category

KHI

Alert Type

Error

Rule Path

Microsoft Exchange Server/Exchange 2010/Common Components/Extensible Storage Engine

Rule Name

Unable to read the log file header. Cause can be a mismatched log file signature or a corrupted log file or log header.

Explanation

This Warning event indicates that the database engine cannot read the log file header that’s specified in the event description. This problem may be caused by a mismatched log signature, a corrupted log file, or a corrupted log header.

The cause of this problem depends on the ESE error code in the “Description” section of the event. The most common causes are the following:

  • Error -530 = Jet_errBadLogSignature = Bad signature for a log file: A signature for log files is used only to make sure that we replay the "correct" set of files. For example, if Log 45 from another storage group is put into the set of log files of another storage group, ESE detects a signature mismatch, and the engine does not replay this log file. A part of each database header includes the signature of the current log file generation. If the signatures don’t match, an error is generated to indicate a mismatch.

  • Error -501 = Jet_errLog fileCorrupt = Log file corrupt: In a log file, the -1022 error indicates corruption of the log file header. The -501 error indicates that other areas of the log file have become corrupted.

  • Error -1022 = Jet_errDiskIO = disk I/O error: The -1022 error is a generic error that appears whenever a disk I/O problem prevents Exchange Management Shell Exchange Server from gaining access to a transaction log or to a requested page in the database. The most common cause of a -1022 error is a database file that was severely damaged or truncated. If this problem occurs, Exchange requests a page number that is larger than the number of pages in the database file, and a -1022 error is generated. This problem can be caused by issues in the file system or because of incorrect transaction log replay. In a log file, the -1022 error is returned after corruption of the log file the header.

User Action

To resolve this problem, use one of the following methods:

  • Restore data from an online backup.

  • If no valid backup exists, repair the database by running the Eseutil /p command, and then running the isinteg -fix command on the affected store repeatedly until you receive 0 fixes or the same result for fixes two times. After you repair the database by using the Eseutil /p and isinteg –fix commands, the database may become unstable and unreliable. Because the repair process deletes database pages, data loss is likely. If you have to run a hard repair on your production database, we recommend that you move the data out of the repaired database to a new database, or that you rebuild the database by using the Move Mailbox command.

For information about ESE error codes other than those described in this topic, see the following Exchange Management Shell Knowledge Base articles:

For more information about ESE error 1022, see the following Exchange Management Shell Knowledge Base article:

For More Information

If you are not already doing so, consider running the Exchange tools, which have been created to help you analyze and troubleshoot your Exchange environment. These tools can help make sure that your configuration aligns with Microsoft best practices. They can also help you identify and resolve performance issues and improve mail flow. To run these tools, go to the Toolbox node of the Exchange Management Console. To learn more about these tools, see Managing Tools in the Toolbox.