Exchange Performance Tip - Increase Log Buffers for increased memory buffer

“The msExchESEParamLogBuffers storage group attribute governs the number of Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) log buffers that are used by the Exchange information store. ESE uses a set of log buffers to hold information in RAM before it writes to the transaction logs. Using these buffers improves transaction logging performance. For large servers, the default value of 84 is too low. This can cause excessive disk I/O operations to the transaction log drive and, therefore, significant performance degradation if the server is under load or if users are sending large messages. Increasing the number of ESE Log Buffers improves performance, although it also causes more virtual memory usage.” - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/guides/Ex2k3DepGuide/8081823f-aec6-4f5a-a043-b4b196b89b84.mspx?mfr=true


1. Start ADSI Edit
2. Double-click the configuration container, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, and then expand CN=Exchange Organization Name
3. Expand CN=Administrative Groups, expand CN=Administrative Group Name, and then expand CN=Servers
4. Expand CN=Exchange Server Name, expand CN=Information Store, right click CN=Storage Group Name, and then click Properties.
5. In the Select a property to view box, click msExchESEParamLogBuffers
6. In the Edit Attribute box, type the appropriate value (based on your version of Exchange) for msExchESEParamLogBuffers, and then click Set.
7. For Servers that are running the original release version of Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2003 SP1 or SP2, set this value to 9000.
8. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Enjoy.