1) Even though the window is small, deleting files from under the SMTP service while it's running can be A Bad Thing (tm). (Primarily event log entries because the SMTP service may look for a file after it has been deleted, or your batch file may abort because it tries to delete a file that the SMTP service has locked.) 2) It renames the BadMail directory - when the SMTP service starts, and the BadMail directory doesn't exist, a new one is automatically created (this is documented and supported behavior). 3) It immediately restarts the SMTP service (to minimize the downtime - if you wait until you've deleted all the files, your SMTP service could be down for a long time. ________________________________ From: John Tolmachoff (Lists) [mailto:johnlist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 10:12 AM To: [ExchangeList] Subject: [exchangelist] Re: Some badmail info http://www.MSExchange.org/ Michael, why would you need to stop any service to delete files in the badmail folder, as those are effectively dead files? John Tolmachoff Engineer/Consultant/Owner eServices For You -----Original Message----- From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:michael@xxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 5:18 AM To: [ExchangeList] Subject: [exchangelist] Re: Some badmail info http://www.MSExchange.org/ Here is something somewhat improved. This will minimize your downtime: net stop smtpsvc cd "\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1" rename BadMail Badmail-save net start smtpsvc cd Badmail-save del /Q *.* cd .. rmdir Badmail-save And if the server is at least Exchange 2000 sp 3 or above, Microsoft's tool is: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=782aaf0f-6239-4 0ad-adda-97863d852ff7&DisplayLang=en And this was a good idea, so I wrote a blog entry about it: http://blogs.brnets.com/michael/archive/2004/09/08/203.aspx ________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------ List Archives: http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist Exchange Newsletters: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/newsletter.asp Exchange FAQ: http://www.msexchange.org/pages/larticle.asp?type=FAQ ------------------------------------------------------ Other Internet Software Marketing Sites: World of Windows Networking: http://www.windowsnetworking.com Leading Network Software Directory: http://www.serverfiles.com No.1 ISA Server Resource Site: http://www.isaserver.org Windows Security Resource Site: http://www.windowsecurity.com/ Network Security Library: http://www.secinf.net/ Windows 2000/NT Fax Solutions: http://www.ntfaxfaq.com ------------------------------------------------------ You are currently subscribed to this MSEXchange.org Discussion List as: michael@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe visit http://www.webelists.com/cgi/lyris.pl?enter=exchangelist Report abuse to listadmin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx