Exchange: Rebulding the Full Text Index catalog

Start the Exchange Management Shell.
I choose to remove the index directories that are associated with specified mailbox databases and were showing up in the event log:

ResetSearchIndex.ps1 [-force] [DBNAME]

You can also remove all the index directories that are associated with all mailbox databases:

ResetSearchIndex.ps1 [-force] -all

This seems to use quite a bit of processor on the mail role server(s) so it might be best to do this after hours or with a light load. The CPU intensive process is msftefd.exe. The Database will go into a “Crawling” Status for hours. When completed it should return to a healthy status.

Update:
Also be aware that the exchange console will show the DB’s as healthy.

To view status using ps:
Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server servername

To see only failed status:
Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -server SRV02 | ?{$_.ContentIndexState -eq “Failed”}

Different ways of repairing:

If server gets stuck in a crawling state try stopping and starting the MSExchangeSearch Service or finally drop the windows reboot fix.

Ex. Rebuilt index per database

Running Exchange Management Powershell
Get the database associated with the index catalog
.\GetDatabaseForSearchIndex.ps1 "D:\ExchangeLuns\DBLUN6\STORES8\CatalogData-e3738a7d-02da-461f-94d1-a8bc97da2b90-6381a1d5-a68b-4c2e-bc5f-310a40ebf7b0"

Index Directory: D:\ExchangeLuns\DBLUN6\STORES8\CatalogData-e3738a7d-02da-461f-94d1-a8bc97da2b90-6381a1d5-a68b-4c2e-bc5f-310a40ebf7b0
Database Name  : STORES8

Then use the DB name:

.\ResetSearchIndex.ps1 -force "STORES8"
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
WARNING: Waiting for service 'Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer (MSExchangeSearch)' to finish stopping...
MSExchangeSearch service stopped
Deleting catalog for EXMBX02\STORES8\STORES8

removing: D:\ExchangeLuns\DBLUN6\STORES8\CatalogData-e3738a7d-02da-461f-94d1-a8bc97da2b90-6381a1d5-a68b-4c2e-bc5f-310a40ebf7b0


MSExchangeSearch service Started