XADM: Service Specific Error 4294966767 Appears, Information Store Stops with Low Disk Space (246272)

SYMPTOMS

When you run Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 on a computer that has limited hard disk space, the Information Store (IS) service may stop unexpectedly, and you may receive the following error message:

The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service terminated with service-specific error 4294966767.

The following entry may appear in the application log:

Event ID: 1113
Source: MSExchangeIS
Type: Error
Category: None
Description: The log disk is full. Attempting to stop the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.

Also, the following entry may appear in the system log:

Event ID: 7024
Source: Service Control Manager
Type: Error
Description: The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service terminated with service-specific error 4294966767.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur when the hard disk drive on which transaction log files are stored lacks adequate space for creation of another log file. (The Mdbdata folder in X:\Exchsrvr holds these files.)

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, run Microsoft Exchange Performance Optimizer to move the log files to a different hard disk drive. This drive must have enough space to hold all the existing logs and still allow the Information Store service to start up.

To work around this issue if you do not have another suitable hard disk drive, enable circular logging, or add another hard disk drive and then run Performance Optimizer.

NOTE: When you enable circular logging, you cannot do incremental or differential backups. Circular logging automatically writes over transaction log files after the data they contain is committed to the database.

MORE INFORMATION

When the JET database engine detects an 'out of disk space' condition on the hard disk drive that contains the log file, the following events take place:

The JET database engine refuses to take any more transactions from the Information Store service or the Directory service.
The information store rolls back all uncommitted transactions (this is done through use of the reserved log files Res1.log and Res2.log).
The information store shuts down, and the JET database engine flushes all uncommitted transactions in the log files into the database and leaves the databases in a consistent state.

For more information on circular logging, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

147523 XADM: Enabling or Disabling Circular Logging

147524 XADM: How Circular Logging Affects the Use of Transaction Logs