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2GB Config.mdb file...

 
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2GB Config.mdb file... - 25.Aug.2008 7:53:10 PM   
SoCal_HEMIHead

 

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Our config.mdb file exceeded 2GB over the weekend and corrupted.  We had to reinstall GFI this morning.  I'm new here, but now they tell me this happens every few months :)

We have a very large whitelist due to the nature of our business.  We add all of our customers to the whitelist to ensure we receive emails from them.  Yes, we do have many *@domainname on our whitelist.  In addition, we process over 700,000 emails every day of which 99% (over 650,000) are spam.

I've read that compacting the database should be done regularly, but my question is what causes the config.mdb file to grow?  It seems that it grows in size automatically.  After the reinstall and importing our config back, it is already over 230MB in size.

Thanks,
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RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 26.Aug.2008 9:18:10 AM   
John Letourneau

 

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SoCal_HEMIHead,

Do you have any antivirus or backup software running against this server?  If so please make sure ..\Program Files\GFI and ..\Program Files\Common Files\GFI are excluded from these scans.  This can cause that config.mdb to grow rather large quickly.

_____________________________

Regards,
John Letourneau - Technical Support Team Lead
GFI Software - www.gfi.com

(in reply to SoCal_HEMIHead)
Post #: 2
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 26.Aug.2008 10:40:19 AM   
SoCal_HEMIHead

 

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I just checked our anti-virus and we already have both of those folder paths excluded.  As for backups on this server, we do a weekly image (using Acronis) of the C: drive which includes all files and folders.


(in reply to John Letourneau)
Post #: 3
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 27.Aug.2008 3:49:46 PM   
SoCal_HEMIHead

 

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I noticed that if I open the whitelist, change the view to show addresses automatically entered and then cancel without making any changes to the list, my config.mdb file grows by approx. 15 MB each time.

What's up with that?

(in reply to SoCal_HEMIHead)
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RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 22.Jun.2009 2:34:19 PM   
len

 

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Was there ever any resolution to this issue?

Regards,

Len Agoado

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Post #: 5
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 22.Jun.2009 3:00:15 PM   
SoCal_HEMIHead

 

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Yes, you have to repair and compact the database on a regular basis.

1. on the server, open a command prompt and type: net stop smtpsvc
2. once the service is stopped, open the services.msc and stop the GFI services
3. open MS Access and open the config.mdb database file
4. on the tools menu, select Compact and Repair
5. Once complete, close Access, start the GFI services and then start SMTP in the command window by typing: net start smtpsvc

That's it.

(in reply to len)
Post #: 6
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 22.Jun.2009 5:58:40 PM   
len

 

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Hi SoCal_HEMIHead,

Thanks for the reply.

The frequent compact/repair is what I wanted to avoid. This is what I am doing now, and consider it to be a work-around rather than a solution to the underlying problem of database table expansion.

As an added note, it is not necessary to have Access to compact or repair the mdb. It can also be done with the ODBC Access drivers supplied with your OS, the downloadable MS Jet Compact utility, or a .NET call to the ADO utilities.

Regards,

Len Agoado

(in reply to SoCal_HEMIHead)
Post #: 7
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 22.Jun.2009 6:34:18 PM   
SoCal_HEMIHead

 

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I completely agree with you.  It's a Monday morning ritual for us now :)

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RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 23.Jun.2009 12:53:13 PM   
len

 

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SoCal_HEMIHead,

Do you know if you had imported or entered any addresses that include XML reserved characters such as an ampersand?

Regards,

Len Agoado

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Post #: 9
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 23.Jun.2009 1:05:17 PM   
SoCal_HEMIHead

 

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No, I have not.  I import a weekly XML list that contains hundreds and sometimes thousands of emails, but I normally open it in Excel first to fix any "bad" email addresses.  I cannot recall ever encountering the amperand.

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Post #: 10
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 23.Jun.2009 1:50:15 PM   
len

 

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SoCal_HEMIHead,

I do the same in an Excel routine, but an ampersand is a valid SMTP address character per RFC and is also a reserved XML character. I have seen some improper syntax in exported XML whitelists where an ampersand is not formatted with an exclusion string throwing subsequent XML rendering into an error state. I can't help but wonder if something like that is going on inside the ME string parsing engine that is causing the table to fill with blank space following an XML reserved character until the maximum namespace or field length has been reached.

Also I have another motive, which is to keep this, and the other related posts, active so they stay near the top of the queue long enough to draw some attention to this problem. It seems ridiculous to me that of the hundreds of tables and millions of records I administer, one non-core mdb table of 6000 records should require such an inordinate amount of maintainance.

Regards,

Len Agoado

(in reply to SoCal_HEMIHead)
Post #: 11
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 1.Jul.2009 5:04:35 PM   
gpinson

 

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From: Denver, CO
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You figure, as long as they have been doing this this way, that they would have come up with a better way by now, how about storing everything in MS SQL Server database (or express), then at least we wouldn't have to take the bloody service offline to run cleanup on it.


Gene

(in reply to len)
Post #: 12
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 1.Jul.2009 10:13:54 PM   
Ytsejamer1

 

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We used to keep the local db going...it was really stupid eating up all that space.  So we started sending the ME reports to SQL without an issue.  We've been doing it for the last year and change.  Unfortunately there's no database grooming built in, so our DB admin goes in every six months and purges anything older.  I think that feature to dump to SQL has been there for quite some time now.  We started using it in 11/07, now that I look back.

Just go into Mail Essentials, expand email management, and go into the properties for the Reporting.  Just point it to the SQL box you want and off you go.

As for the 2gb file you speak of...ours would always cut itself off at 1.7gb and then start a new one...never had GFI just crash when it filled up the file to the 1.7gb.

(in reply to gpinson)
Post #: 13
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 2.Jul.2009 11:40:06 AM   
gpinson

 

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Ytsejamer1,
I am currently utilizing SQL as my reporting database already, I am more concerned about things like the userlist.mdb, config.mdb, whitelist.mdb which I would rather see in SQL.

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Post #: 14
RE: 2GB Config.mdb file... - 7.Jul.2009 11:50:43 AM   
Ytsejamer1

 

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ah...understood.  Yeah, I haven't done any maintenance on those mdbs...I probably should.  Agreed though...it'd be nice if it was in a GFI Config SQL database.

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Post #: 15
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