How to Create a Mailbox Database in Exchange Server

In this article, we are going to see how to create a mailbox database in Exchange server, which holds all the user mailboxes in it.

Introduction:

In our last few articles in this series, we are keep learning about user mailboxes. Now you have understood how it is getting stored in the database. In Exchange 2010 there are two versions. Standard and Enterprise editions. There are quite few differences between each editions, however the primary will be the number of databases that is allowed in each. Standard edition support maximum up to 5 user mailbox databases. Enterprise edition supports 50 databases. Both editions can have maximum 1 Public folder database. It is always advisable to maintain multiple database in order to avoid maximum downtime if there are any disaster happens. If you have Outlook configured with cached mode option for the users, there is an easy and quick method to recover the data using OST To PST method. If you are not sure which edition you have currently, then you can easily find it with Exchange Management Shell with the following command.

Using Exchange Management Console (EMC):

I have Standard Edition which can have 5 user mailbox databases and 1 public folder database. While installing Exchange 2010 server, default database will be created. It is not advisable to delete it. Instead you can create a new one and use it as per your requirement. To open EMC, please click “Start” –> “All Programs” –> “Microsoft Exchange Server 2010” –> “Exchange Management Console” and then Click on “Mailbox” under “Organization Configuration”. You can see all your existing database which is available across your organization irrespective of any Exchange servers. To create a new database click on “New Mailbox Database” under Action menu at the right hand top.

In the new mailbox database window, type your database name that you want and select in which server it should be created. If you click on “Browse” button then you can see all installed Mailbox servers across your organization. Select the server and click next.

In the next window you will have an option to select the path of the database and log files. By default it will select the drive and folder where Exchange was installed. It is always recommended to select a separate drive for database and logs to avoid any performance issues. Please select “Mount this Database” option to mount it automatically after the creation.

In the next windows, please make sure everything is correctly entered under “Configuration Summary” and then click “New”. You can see the newly created database listed under the Mailbox section.

Using Exchange Management Shell (EMS):

Like I said before in my articles, using EMS is very easy. Just open EMS which is available under the same location where you opened EMC before, and type the following command to create a new database.

To mount this database which was not done automatically, please use the following command.

You can also confirm its status in Exchange management Console

Conclusion:

You have learned two methods to create a user mailbox database. It is always advisable to take a backup of your database. You need to draw your own strategy for the backup plan. We will cover about the back up in this series later. Until then stay tuned.

Author Introduction:

Sophia Mao is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including outlook recovery and word recovery software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com