What are the case of MS Exchange Database corruption and what are the possible resolutions to fix the corruption?

Database Corruption in MS Exchange Server

There are primarily two types of corruption encountered in MS Exchange Server; Physical and Logical.

1. Physical Corruption:

This type of corruption generally occurs due to a hardware failure. This is the lowest level of data corruption.                    

• Fixing Physical Database Corruption: Physical corruption or damage of the Exchange database requires service of data recovery experts, especially Server/Database repair specialists. Stellar specializes in data recovery services for such damaged/inaccessible mail server databases.

2. Logical Corruption:

Logical corruption can occur at various levels. At the database level, you can either have invalid index entries or cross-object chain linkage due to database engine failure. At the application level, you may face corruption in the database file header or some incorrect access control levels. 

• Fixing Logical Database Corruption: Logical corruption is unforeseeable and can occur any time due to software bugs, application malfunction, unexpected database shutdown and other reasons. It is difficult to determine the cause, which makes it an arduous task for the user to completely prevent any such occurrence. 

Mentioned below are some of the common method to prevent logical corruption of the exchange server database.

Preventing Logical Corruption:

To avoid any risk of logical database corruption, you can take the following precautions

1. You should have the latest service pack for MS Exchange Server installed on your computer. They are capable of fixing the most common issues encountered while using Exchange Server. 
2. Keep your Exchange Server computer safe from virus and Malware attack and ensure that the configuration does not change. 

Repairing Logical Corruption in Exchange Server database: 

Logical corruption can originate from within the Information Store or the database engine. MS Exchange Server has various built-in utilities that help you check for problems in these primary database components.
 

The Isinteg Utility: 

The Information Store Integrity Checker (Isinteg) works on the public and private information store databases to rectify the errors that cause problems while logging to the Exchange Server databases and receiving, opening, or deleting particular emails. The utility usually benefits users in disaster recovery situations like system crash and writes all information about the recovery process in the application log in Event Viewer.

The Eseutil Utility: 

The Eseutil utility can be used to verify the structure of the database tables and records. It also resolves various integrity issues related to the Information Store and the directory.

If these utilities fail to fix problems concerning logical corruption, you can choose to opt for a third-party EDB recovery tool as the last resort. Stellar Repair for Exchange is a reliable tool that has been tested and verified by industry professionals to meet the required standards for security and performance.

The software can efficiently repair damaged EDB databases to restore precious user mailbox items, such as e-mails, mail folders, attachments, tasks, calendar items, contacts, appointments etc. It provides a preview of all items before recovery and saves user mailboxes as individual PST files that can be easily imported into MS Outlook. The software supports MS Exchange Server 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000, and 5.5.