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Move the Database Path

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

You can move the mailbox database path on a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. To set a new path to the location of a database, and to move the related files to that location, you can use the EMC or the Exchange Management Shell.

Looking for other management tasks related to mailbox databases? Check out Managing Mailbox Databases.

Prerequisites

To perform the move operation, you must temporarily dismount the database. This makes the database inaccessible to all users. If the database is currently dismounted, it isn't remounted upon completion.

What Do You Want to Do?

  • Use the EMC to move the mailbox database path

  • Use the Shell to move the mailbox database path

Use the EMC to move the mailbox database path

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox database" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Organization Configuration > Mailbox.

  2. In the result pane, on the Database Management tab, select the database you want to configure.

  3. In the work pane, click Move Database Path.

  4. In the Move Database Path wizard, under Database paths, click Move to move the database path to the default location. You can change the location for the database file path by editing the Database file path field. You can change the location for the log folder path by editing the Log folder path text field.

  5. View the status of the move operation. The wizard moves the database file path and the log folder path to the new location. Click Back to make configuration changes.

  6. On the Completion page, confirm whether the move process completed successfully. A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully. A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

  7. Click Finish to complete the Move Database Path wizard.

Note

After the database is moved, the Indexing service maintains a lock on the Catalog files. Before you can delete these files from the old location, you must restart the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service.

Use the Shell to move the mailbox database path

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Database permissions" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example uses the Move-DatabasePath command to set a new path for the mailbox database specified by the GUID.

Move-DatabasePath -Identity a0ec9f03-12a9-4e40-9310-43f9105fd4d2 -EdbFilePath C:\NewFolder\MyDatabase.edb

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Move-DatabasePath.

Note

After the database is moved, the Indexing service maintains a lock on the Catalog files. Before you can delete these files from the old location, you must restart the Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer service.

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