8. Managing Disconnected Mailboxes
Exchange
Server 2003 introduced an exciting concept in mailbox
administration—the Mailbox Recovery Center. Utilizing this feature,
administrators could identify disconnected mailboxes (those no longer
associated with a user account) and perform a variety of
actions—including recovering the mailbox by connecting it to a new or
existing user.
In Exchange 2007, this
process has been greatly simplified by the addition of a Disconnected
Mailbox node located in the console tree of the Exchange Management
Console.
With this utility, you can
quickly and easily recover a mailbox that has been disassociated from a
corresponding user mailbox. To reconnect a disconnected mailbox,
perform the following procedure:
1. | Start the Exchange Management Console.
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2. | In the console tree, select Disconnected Mailbox.
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3. | In
the action pane, click Connect to Server, and then click Browse. Select
the Exchange server where the mailbox resides, click OK, and then click
Connect.
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4. | In
the results pane, select the disconnected mailbox that you want to
reconnect; then, in the action pane, click Connect. This starts the
Connect Mailbox Wizard.
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5. | On
the Introduction page, select the type of mailbox you are reconnecting.
By default, User Mailbox is selected, regardless of the mailbox type of
the original mailbox. Click Next to continue.
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6. | On the Mailbox Settings page, fill out the following fields:
- Matching User—
If the Exchange server was able to locate a matching user object in
Active Directory, this field will be prepopulated. There are times that
a matching user exists, but Exchange does not locate it—in those
instances, you can click Browse and, if found, you can insert the user
by selecting it and clicking OK.
- Existing User—
If you want to connect the mailbox to another existing user (but not a
“matching” user), select this option button. Click Browse and select
the user from those shown. After selecting the option, click OK to
continue.
- Alias— The Alias is automatically filled in based on the alias of the account you have selected previously.
- Managed Folder Mailbox Policy and Exchange ActiveSync Mailbox Policy—
Select the associated check boxes for these items if you want to
associate the mailbox with an existing policy. The policy can be
selected by clicking the Browse button.
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7. | Click Next to continue.
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8. | View
the Configuration Summary and ensure all is correct. If you need to
make any changes, use the Back button. After all of the information is
correct, click Connect.
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9. | From
the Completion page, review the Completion Summary and ensure the
reconnection was successful. Click Finish to close the wizard.
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9. Moving Mailboxes
Starting
with Exchange Server 2003, the utility used to move user mailboxes was
removed from Active Directory Users and Computers and was relocated to
the Exchange System Manager. This allowed administrators to move user
mailboxes more easily and effectively because they could move multiple
mailboxes simultaneously.
Administrators
might want to move an individual mailbox from the database, storage
group, or server on which it currently resides. The desire to
accomplish this might result from a variety of situations, such as a
user being transferred to a different department or location or
receiving a promotion (or demotion), and the mailbox needing to be
stored with others in that position.
In
addition, the ability to move several mailboxes from their existing
location can be helpful when performing load balancing across multiple
Exchange servers (moving mailboxes from an overutilized location to an
underutilized one).
Mailbox moves can also
be extremely useful when implanting new Exchange hardware. The new
server can be built in the existing environment, mailboxes can be moved
to the new location, and the old server hardware can be decommissioned,
all with minimal impact on the user community.
One
other situation when the ability to move multiple mailboxes is helpful
is during an upgrade to a newer version of Exchange, for example, when
migrating your organization from an older version of Exchange to a new
Exchange 2007 environment. You are able to install your new Exchange
Server 2007 servers, move all user mailboxes from your old environment
to your new one, and then decommission your older Exchange servers when
they are no longer needed.
In Exchange
2007, the Move Mailbox feature is located in the Exchange Management
Console, and it is more functional than ever before. Administrators now
have the option to perform a mailbox move immediately or to schedule
the move at a future time and date when the mailbox will be unused, or
when the mailbox moves will have less impact on the Exchange
infrastructure.
Preparing for Mailbox Moves
Before
moving mailboxes, some standard tasks need to be completed in advance
to minimize the potential for data loss and to streamline the process.
These two primary tasks are as follows:
Backing Up Exchange Mailboxes—
Before performing any major work on a messaging system, it is a good
practice to back up the message store. In the event of serious
problems, you can always recover to your last known good backup.
Performing Mailbox Cleanup—
User mailboxes can grow rather large in size over time. Storing
important messages, especially when there are attachments included, can
take up a significant amount of disk space. Because moving larger
mailboxes takes longer than smaller ones, it is always a good idea to
have users clean up their mailboxes prior to moving them. One easy way
to accomplish this is with the Mailbox Cleanup utility in Outlook. With
this tool, users can view their current mailbox size, search for items
older than, or larger than, a specified date and size, or run the
autoarchive utility. Users can also empty their deleted items
permanently, as there is no need to waste time and bandwidth to move
unwanted messages with the mailbox. Lastly, the utility allows users to
delete all alternate versions of items in their mailbox. By cleaning up
user mailboxes prior to moving them, you can significantly decrease the
amount of time and resources needed to accomplish the task.
Performing the Mailbox Move
Microsoft
Exchange Server mailboxes are easily moved between servers that are
running the same version of Exchange and are in the same administrative
group. Mailbox databases created on one server can be renamed or copied
to a different storage group, either on the same server or on a
different server in the same administrative group.
During
a move mailbox operation, all end users are able to access their
mailboxes throughout the operation, except for the mailbox currently
being moved.
Moving a mailbox (or mailboxes) in Exchange Server 2007 is a very simple process. To move a mailbox:
1. | Start the Exchange Management Console.
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2. | In the console tree, select Recipient Configuration, and then select Mailbox.
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3. | In the results pane, locate the mailbox(es) that you want to move and select them.
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4. | In the action pane, click Move Mailbox. This starts the Move Mailbox Wizard.
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5. | On
the Introduction page, select the server, storage group, and mailbox
database where you want to move the mailboxes to, and then click Next
to continue.
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6. | On
the Move Options page, select how you want the wizard to handle
mailboxes that contain corrupted messages. You have the following
options:
- Skip the Mailbox—
By selecting this option, you are instructing the wizard to skip moving
the mailbox completely if it detects corrupted messages within.
- Skip the Corrupted Messages— By selecting this option, you instruct the wizard to skip any corrupted messages found and attempt to move the mailbox anyway.
- Maximum Number of Messages to Skip—
If you select Skip the Corrupted Messages, you have the option to
specify the maximum number of corrupted messages that can be skipped.
If this number is reached, the wizard stops trying to move the mailbox
and skips it completely.
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7. | Click Next to continue.
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8. | On the Move Schedule page, you are able to specify when you want the mailbox move to occur. You have the following options
Immediately—Use this option when you want the wizard to perform the Move Mailbox task as soon as you click the Next button. At the following time—With
this option, you can postpone the mailbox moves to a specific date and
time in the future. This option can be helpful in several instances;
for example, you can move mailboxes after the workday has completed and
the users are no longer utilizing the system, or you can schedule the
move for a future weekend or prescheduled maintenance window. Use the
drop-down boxes to select the date and time that you want the wizard to
perform the move. You can also specify
the maximum length of time that the Move Mailbox task is allowed to run
before canceling the task. To specify a maximum time, click the Cancel
Tasks That Are Still Running After check box and select how long you
want the wizard to try to move the mailbox before it cancels. By
default, when the Cancel Tasks option is selected, the timeout is set
to 8 hours.
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9. | When you have made your selections on the Move Schedule page, click Next to continue.
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10. | On
the Move Mailbox page, the summary is displayed, detailing what
mailboxes are going to be moved. After you have reviewed the summary,
click Move to continue.
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If
you elected to move the mailboxes immediately, the move begins at this
time. If you elected to move the mailboxes at a future date, the Move
Mailbox screen begins counting down the time until the mailbox move
will take place.
Note
When moving mailboxes at a future date and time, the Move Mailbox Wizard, shown in Figure 7,
continues to run until the scheduled move date and time is reached.
This means that you will not be able to close the wizard, or log off
the session, until the mailbox move has completed.
