Message Tracking Log Path

Here is a problem I faced today: when trying to move all the tracking logs for 3 CAS boxes from the C to the D drive I used the command:

Get-TransportServer Set-TransportServer -MessageTrackingLogPath D:\LogFiles\MessageTracking

At the time, I didn’t know that if the folder doesn’t exist Exchange will automatically create it. So, I manually created them, copied all the logs to the new location (because existing logs will remain in their previous location and new ones will be created in the new location) and immediately ran the command. After a couple of minutes I checked the Date Modified for the last log on the new folder and that showed me that Exchange was using the new folder. Ok, it’s done! :)
Not exactly...

When I went to the Application Log on the Event Viewer, I saw a few of these errors there:


Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchange Common
Event Category: Logging
Event ID: 6004
Date: 16/04/2009
Time: 09:20:32
User: N/A
Computer: DS-EXCAS3
Description: MessageTrackingLogs: Failed to write logs because of the error: Access to the path 'MSGTRK20090317-1.LOG' is denied..


What?! That’s from one month ago!
Ok, let’s look at my current configuration:

MessageTrackingLogEnabled : True
MessageTrackingLogMaxAge : 30.00:00:00
MessageTrackingLogMaxDirectorySize : 2GB
MessageTrackingLogMaxFileSize : 20MB
MessageTrackingLogPath : D:\LogFiles\MessageTracking
MessageTrackingLogSubjectLoggingEnabled : True


Here’s the problem: as you can see, I have it so that Exchange only keeps 30 days of tracking logs. Since I manually created the new folders, I didn’t set up the correct permissions on them. So, Exchange couldn’t delete that log from one month ago! It was creating new ones and logging everything, but just couldn’t delete that one...

If you create the target folder for the logs automatically when running the command, Exchange will assign the correct permissions to the folder. But If you manually create it, make sure you give the following permissions to it:

NETWORK SERVICE: Modify, Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read and Write (also give it the Delete Subfolders and Files permission!)


Just out of curiosity, this is the command I used to configure the Message Tracking Logs for my CAS boxes:

Get-TransportServer Set-TransportServer -MessageTrackingLogEnabled $True -MessageTrackingLogPath “D:\LogFiles\MessageTracking” -MessageTrackingLogMaxAge “30.00:00:00” -MessageTrackingLogMaxDirectorySize 2GB -MessageTrackingLogMaxFileSize 20MB -MessageTrackingLogSubjectLoggingEnabled $True


Hope this helps!