In this article I want to share one such example that happened to me under a specific set of conditions.

The scenario begins with a mailbox migration project, in which I encountered a very large mailbox. The mailbox was too large to move without risking filling up the transaction log volume on the destination server. So I tracked down an owner of the mailbox to discuss options for removing some of the older items.

As it turns out they didn’t really need to keep any of the items in that mailbox that were older than about 30 days. So more than 2 years and 300,000 items in there were not required. We agreed to delete everything older than 6 months, just to be safe.

Side Note - keep an eye on your “large mailboxes” reports and you’ll often find these generic mailboxes that get set up as a place to catch copies of email “just in case” it is needed some time in the future. Often it isn’t.

So my next task was to delete the email content that was no longer needed. I considered using the Exchange 2007 Export-Mailbox cmdlet for this task, but decided to just use Outlook instead since I was already planning to use Outlook to take a look at some of the items before I deleted them.

I logged into a Citrix desktop, launched Outlook, and added the mailbox as a secondary mailbox. I had decided to use Outlook in a Citrix desktop because I expected it to hang for long periods of time as it enumerated or deleted the thousands of items I would be handling, and wanted to keep using Outlook on my laptop as normal.

So over the course of about two days in between other daily tasks I performed Outlook searches based on date ranges, and deleted the items in blocks of about 10,000 messages at a time. It is important to note at this stage that I was using Advanced Find to search the secondary mailbox.

After doing a search based on received date (ie, I started with the oldest mail and worked my way forward month by month) I would then select all the email that appeared in the results and delete them.

When you delete an email from a secondary mailbox it often gets moved to your own mailbox’s Deleted Items. However when you delete an email from a secondary mailbox via an Advanced Find dialog, it often goes into the Deleted Items of the secondary mailbox.

I say “often” because in at least one test the mail went to the Deleted Items of the primary mailbox, but in every other test it went to the secondary mailbox. It may be that Outlook behaves inconsistently in this situation, or that one test was different in some way that I can’t recall now.

As I said earlier I deleted around 2 years worth of unwanted email from the mailbox, in blocks of about 10,000 messages. When I had deleted everything up to the cut off date I’d agreed to with the mailbox owner I went ahead and simply emptied the Deleted Items of the secondary mailbox.

Job done. My plan was to wait for the deleted items to purge from the database itself overnight and then schedule a time to move what was now a much smaller mailbox.

A relevant bit of information at this point is that all of the email I deleted from the mailbox, and then emptied from the Deleted Items, was actually unread email. Nobody ever read these emails, they were there “just in case”.

That fact sprang immediately into my mind when about an hour later I was speaking with an external party who had received an email from our server that read something like this:

Subject: Not read: [subject line of original email]

From: [the large mailbox I'd been cleaning up]

Date: [right about the same time I emptied the Deleted Items]

I quickly learned that the person I was speaking to, when they originally sent their email to our server, had requested a read receipt.

The email had sat in the mailbox for several months unread, and then I came along and deleted it. The Exchange Server then honoured the receipt request, and sent the original sender the “Not read” message.

I had just deleted slightly over 150,000 email messages from that mailbox. How many of them had requested read receipts?

I ran message tracking log searches of the Hub Transport servers and got my first answer – a lot.

I dumped the log data to a file and filtered it a few different ways to discover that:

• About 24,368 “Not read” read receipts had been generated (based on unique message ID)
• They had gone out to about 1200 unique external email addresses

The horse had well and truly bolted on this one, and my team leader started calling and emailing different customer service teams to give them a heads up in case they received calls from confused people about a sudden burst of “Not read” emails. Meanwhile I started digging into the technical side of things to try and find out what had gone wrong, and more importantly how we could avoid this happening again.

After quite a bit of testing here is what I have determined so far.

Outlook 2003

When permanently deleting an unread item by emptying the Deleted Items of a secondary mailbox Outlook 2003, even if configured to prompt for sending of read receipts, will not warn or prompt the user and a “Not read” message will be generated to the original sender.

Outlook 2007

When permanently deleting an unread item by emptying the Deleted Items of a secondary mailbox Outlook 2007, if configured to prompt for sending of read receipts, will display a dialog box asking if the receipt should be sent.

If Outlook 2007 is configured to never prompt, and to always send read receipts, a receipt will be generated to the original sender as with Outlook 2003.

If Outlook 2007 is configured to never send a response, then no receipt is generated to the original sender.

Exchange Management Shell

So what about if I had gone with my original thought to use the Export-Mailbox cmdlet to do the job? It certainly would have taken less time to delete all of the email, but what about the “Not read” receipts?

As it turns out, according to my testing, the Export-Mailbox cmdlet will in fact cause a “Not read” receipt to be generated if it deletes an item that is unread and for which the original sender requested a read receipt.

So had I gone with my original thought it would have had the same outcome as the manual process I used instead.

In fact the only scenario in which the receipts would not have been generated is if I had used Outlook 2007 (our Citrix desktops still run Outlook 2003 unfortunately) and had first checked that the tracking options were set to “Never send a response”.

I’m curious whether the receipts would have been generated if I had used Export-Mailbox to export to PST first, and then simply deleted the PST file. That is something I still need to test.

I also have not tested Outlook 2010 though I suspect it will be the same as Outlook 2007.

Summary

The lessons I took away from this incident were:

• Watch for creation of these types of “just in case” mailboxes that aren’t actually required
• When they are required, make sure a maintenance routine is in place to manage their size
• If using Outlook to delete bulk unread items, check first that read receipts are turned off in the tracking options

Related posts:

• Error: Outlook Was Unable to Recover Some or All of the Items in this Folder
• Using Test-ServiceHealth for Exchange Server Health Checks
• How to Migrate a Relay Connector from Exchange Server 2007 to 2010
• How to List all Users Who Have Access to Other Exchange Mailboxes
• Exchange 2007/2010: How to Clone a Mailbox Database Configuration

This article The Case of the 24,368 Read Receipts is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

There are no available servers running the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service.

Mailbox move requests are handled by the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service which is part of the Client Access server role. In order for a move request to be successfully created at least one Client Access server within the same Active Directory site must have a running Mailbox Replication service.

Start the MRS on at least one Client Access server. If it will not start the issue may be that the Net.Tcp Port Sharing service is disabled on the Client Access server. If that is the case then run the following command on the Client Access server in a PowerShell window.

PS C:\> Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

Restart the Client Access server, or manually start the MRS, and then retry the move request again.

Related posts:

• How to Export Mailboxes with Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: How Do I Cluster Exchange Server 2010?
• Error Message “The ‘IIS 6 WMI Compatibility’ component is required” During Exchange 2010 SP2 Upgrade
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: How to Minimise Downtime During Mailbox Migration from Exchange 2007
• How to Block Non-Cached Mode Outlook Clients with Exchange 2010

This article Exchange 2010 Local Move Request Fails with No Available Mailbox Replication Service Error is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

A public folder database can’t be removed until it no longer hosts any public folder replicas.  If you try to remove it while it still hosts replicas you’ll receive an error message.

Exchange 2010 public folder database can't be removed

——————————————————–
Microsoft Exchange Error
——————————————————–
The public folder database ‘PF-BR-01′ cannot be deleted.

PF-BR-01
Failed
Error:
The public folder database “PF-BR-01″ contains folder replicas. Before deleting the public folder database, remove the folders or move the replicas to another public folder database. For detailed instructions about how to remove a public folder database, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=81409&clcid=0×409.

——————————————————–
OK
——————————————————–

Microsoft has provided some PowerShell scripts with Exchange Server 2010 for public folder management. They are located in the \Scripts folder of the location that Exchange is installed.

Launch the Exchange Management Shell and run the following command to navigate to the \Scripts folder.

[PS] C:\>cd $env:exchangeinstallpath\scripts

Now inspect the public folder replicas to see whether the public folder database you’re trying to remove is the only replica, or if there are other replicas as well.

Get-PublicFolder \ -Recurse | ft name,parentpath,replicas

Name                ParentPath     Replicas
----                ----------     --------
IPM_SUBTREE                        {}
All Staff           \              {PF-HO-01, PF-BR-01}
CEO                 \All Staff     {PF-HO-01, PF-BR-01}
Social Club         \All Staff     {PF-HO-01, PF-BR-01}
Branch Office       \              {PF-BR-01}
Admin               \Branch Office {PF-BR-01}
Sales               \Branch Office {PF-BR-01}
Head Office         \              {PF-HO-01}
Admin               \Head Office   {PF-HO-01}
Finance             \Head Office   {PF-HO-01}
Sales               \Head Office   {PF-HO-01}
Service             \Head Office   {PF-HO-01}
Internet Newsgroups \              {PF-BR-01}

As you can see above the PF-BR-01 public folder database is the only replica for a few of the public folders. If the folders are no longer needed they can simply be deleted. Otherwise we need to move those replicas to another public folder database if we want to keep those folders. The MoveAllReplicas.ps1 script is provided for this task.

.\MoveAllReplicas.ps1 -Server esp-br-ex2010 -NewServer esp-ho-ex2010a

You may need to wait a while for this change to take effect depending on how many replicas you’re trying to move.

You also need to ensure that no mailbox databases are configured to use that public folder database. You can check this quickly using the following command.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabase | ft name,publicfolderdatabase

Name       PublicFolderDatabase
----       --------------------
MB-HO-01   PF-HO-01
MB-HO-02   PF-HO-01

If the public folder database doesn’t appear in the list then no mailbox databases are using it.

You’ll also need to make sure that the server is not the OAB generation server for any Offline Address Books that are also being published to public folders.

If necessary move the OAB generation to another mailbox server.

[PS] C:\>Move-OfflineAddressBook "Default Offline Address List" -Server ESP-HO-EX2010B

You can also disable public folder distribution of the OAB if you no longer have Outlook 2003 clients on the network.

Finally, if you have multiple public folder servers in your environment check whether there are custom public referral lists configured on any of them. If you remove a public folder database that is in another server’s custom referral list it can cause an error that the public folder store is in an inconsistent state.

Get-PublicFolderDatabase | where {$_.customreferralserverlist -like "*esp-br-ex2010*"}

Once all of these conditions have been met you should be able to remove the public folder database.

If you still can’t remove it and you’re sure the public folder database contains no more replicas you can use ADSIEdit to remove the public folder database from the organization.

Removing Exchange 2010 public folder database with ADSIEdit.msc

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Local Move Request Fails with No Available Mailbox Replication Service Error
• Poll: Do You Still Use Public Folders in Your Exchange Environment?
• Risk of Data Loss After Installing Update Rollup 4 for Exchange 2010 SP1
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: Can I Access Public Folders Using IMAP?
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: Why is My Disk Filling Up with Log Files?

This article How to Remove an Exchange 2010 Public Folder Database is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

This tutorial demonstrates how to install an Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox server on Windows Server 2008. It is assumed that you have already extended the Active Directory schema for Exchange 2007.

Installing Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Pre-Requisites on Windows Server 2008

On Windows Server 2008 the pre-requisite roles and features for the Exchange 2007 Mailbox server role can be installed using ServerManagerCmd.exe.

Launch an elevated command prompt and run the following command.

ServerManagerCmd -i PowerShell Web-Server Web-ISAPI-Ext Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth Web-Windows-Auth

Next download the Windows Installer 4.5 file from Microsoft and install it on the server. The Windows6.0-KB942288-v2-x64.msu file is the correct one for a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 server.

A restart will be required before you move on to the next step.

Installing the Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Role

To install the Exchange 2007 Mailbox server role download the Exchange Server 2007 SP3 setup files from Microsoft and extract them to a folder on the server’s hard disk.

Launch an elevated command prompt and run the following command.

setup /m:install /r:m,t

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup

Preparing Exchange Setup

The following server roles will be installed
    Management Tools
    Mailbox Role

Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check

    Mailbox Role Checks              ......................... COMPLETED

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server

    Copying Exchange files           ......................... COMPLETED
    Exchange Management Tools        ......................... COMPLETED
    Mailbox Server Role              ......................... COMPLETED

The Microsoft Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully.
Setup has made changes to operating system settings that require a reboot to tak
e effect. Please reboot this server prior to placing it into production.

Reboot the server before proceeding to apply the latest updates and configure the server for your environment.

Install and Register the Office Filter Pack IFilters

An optional step is to install the Office Filter Pack and register the IFilters so that Exchange Server 2007 can index those file types.

You can install either the Office 2007 Filter Pack or the Office 2010 Filter Pack (which includes the Office 2007 IFilters). After you install the filter pack the IFilters need to be registered.

You can find the instructions and the script to register the IFilters here. Copy the script into Notepad and save it as Exchange_reg.vbs.

The script creates a registry file for you in the same folder.

Double-click the reg file to import it into the registry of the Mailbox server (make sure you do this while you’re logged onto the Mailbox server itself).

The script tells you to restart the Microsoft Exchange Search service. Open a PowerShell window and run the following command.

Restart-Service msftesql-exchange -force

You then need to run this command to start the dependent service that was stopped by the command above.

Start-Service MSExchangeSearch

The IFilters are now registered and Office file types can be indexed and searched on the Exchange server.

Related posts:

• Installing an Exchange 2007 Hub Transport Server on Windows Server 2008
• Installing Exchange Server 2007
• The Case of the 24,368 Read Receipts
• Installing an Exchange 2007 Edge Transport Server on Windows Server 2008
• Installing an Exchange 2007 Client Access Server on Windows Server 2008

This article Installing an Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server on Windows Server 2008 is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Each Exchange 2010 mailbox database comprises two main parts:

• the transaction log files
• the database file itself

The folder containing the log files will look something like this.

A best practice for Exchange 2010 mailbox servers is to store the database and transaction log files on completely separate disks. This is to protect the server from data loss if one disk or the other has a failure.

The way this works is that each database change is written to a memory buffer and also recorded in a transaction log file. Periodically the memory buffer information is also written to the database file. When this occurs a checkpoint is updated that tells the server which transaction log entries have and have not been written to the database yet.

If the server was to unexpectedly restart, the database comes online in a “dirty shutdown” state and the checkpoint is used to tell the server which transaction log entries need to be replayed into the database to recover the information that was lost in the memory buffer when the server failed.

Over time these transaction logs will grow, because of course the mailbox database is continually changing as new mail arrives in mailboxes (as just one example). Eventually the log files will fill up the disk if they are not removed.

To remove the transaction log files the database needs to be backed up. When an Exchange Server database is backed up by a proper application-aware backup product, after the backup is finished the backup program will issue a command to VSS (Volume Shadow-copy Service) on the server that the backup was successful and to go ahead and truncate the transaction logs.

The server then proceeds to remove the transaction log files up to the nearest checkpoint prior to the backup commencing. Because the database can continue to change and write new transaction log files while a backup is in progress it is not unusual for multiple transaction log files to still be present after a backup has completed. However most of them will be removed, and regular backups are the method by which transaction logs can be kept from consuming all free disk space on the server (as well as the obvious benefit of having your Exchange databases safely backed up).

So if your Exchange Server disk is being filled up by transaction log files, the issue is likely to be one of the following:

Cause: You aren’t backing up the mailbox server

Solution: Back up the mailbox server with a proper Exchange Server application-aware backup product. There are commercial products available for this such as Symantec Backup Exec or you can use the built-in Windows Server Backup for the task.

Cause: You’re using the wrong type of backup

Solution: Make sure you’re running a backup job type that will truncate the logs. Full and Incremental backups will truncate the transaction log files, whereas Differential and Copy will not.

Cause: The backup is not completing successfully

Solution: Check your backup product for log file entries that indicate what the issue is.

Cause: The backup is completing successfully but transaction logs are not truncating

Solution: Check the Application Event Log on the mailbox server for errors with the log truncation process.

Related posts:

• Avoid Running Out of Transaction Log Disk Space on Exchange Servers
• How to Set Up an Automated Exchange 2010 Database Backup Alert Email
• PowerShell Script: Check Exchange 2010 Database Backups
• Exchange 2010: Are Passive Database Copies Included in Backups of DAG Members?
• Review: Exchange Server 2010 Backup and Recovery Training

This article Exchange 2010 FAQ: Why is My Disk Filling Up with Log Files? is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

In Exchange Server 2010 SP1 importing PST files into mailboxes is performed using Mailbox Import Requests. These are similar to export requests in that they are processed by a Client Access server.

Because multiple Client Access servers can exist in a site there is no way to determine which one will process the request, therefore the PST file to import must be accessible via the UNC path of shared folder.

The account that is performing the import also needs to be explicitly granted the rights to do so, as no accounts have this right by default (even Organization administrators).

Granting User Rights for Mailbox Imports in Exchange 2010 SP1

The first step is to grant the right to import mailboxes to an account in your organization.  In the Exchange Management Shell run the following command.

New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role "Mailbox Import Export" –User Administrator

If you’re logged with that user already simply restart your Exchange Management Shell session to be granted access to the new cmdlets.

Creating a Network Share for Mailbox Imports in Exchange 2010 SP1

Next we need to create the network share that will be used as the file path for the PST files to be imported.  All that is required here is a network share that the Exchange Trusted Subsystem group has read/write permission to.

Importing a PST File with an Exchange Server SP1 Mailbox Import Request

To import a PST file to a mailbox we use the New-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet.  In this example the PST file alan.reid.pst is being imported into John Smith’s mailbox.

[PS] C:\>New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst -Mailbox john.smith

In some cases you might prefer to import the PST file into sub-folder of the mailbox. You can do this by adding the -TargetRootFolder parameter to the command.

[PS] C:\>New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst -Mailbox john.smith -TargetRootFolder "Mailbox - Alan Reid"

The import request will create the target folder and begin importing the PST file contents into it.

You can view the status of the mailbox import request using the Get-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest

Name                                           Mailbox                                        Status
----                                           -------                                        ------
MailboxImport                                  exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Of... InProgress

By piping Get-MailboxImportRequest into Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics you can also monitor the progress of the import.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest | Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics

Name                                   Status                    TargetAlias                           PercentComplete
----                                   ------                    -----------                           ---------------
MailboxImport                          InProgress                john.smith                            10

Importing PST Files into Personal Archives in Exchange Server 2010 SP1

Another way to use mailbox import requests is to import PST files directly into personal archive mailboxes. This is very useful for organizations who want to get rid of all PST files on the network.  All you need to do is add the -IsArchive parameter to the command when importing the PST file to a mailbox user who has been enabled for archiving.

[PS] C:\>New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\archive.pst -Mailbox alan.reid -IsArchive

Completing the Mailbox Import Request

When a mailbox import request is completed it remains on the server until it is removed by an administrator using Remove-MailboxImportRequest.

To see all of the completed mailbox import requests run this command.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest | where {$_.status -eq "Completed"}

Name                                           Mailbox                                        Status
----                                           -------                                        ------
MailboxImport                                  exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Of... Completed

And to clear all completed mailbox import requests from Exchange run the following command.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest | where {$_.status -eq "Completed"} | Remove-MailboxImportRequest

Related posts:

• How to Export Mailboxes with Exchange Server 2010 SP1
• Exchange 2010 Local Move Request Fails with No Available Mailbox Replication Service Error
• Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox Import Request Logging
• How to Remove an Exchange 2010 Public Folder Database
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: Why is My Disk Filling Up with Log Files?

This article How to Import PST Files into Mailboxes with Exchange 2010 SP1 is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Before we look at how to create a new mailbox export request in Exchange 2010 SP1 there are a few things that you should understand.

Firstly, no accounts are granted the rights to export mailboxes by default.  You need to explicitly grant these rights, even to accounts that are organization administrators.

Secondly, the mailbox export request is processed by the Client Access server role.  Because multiple Client Access servers can exist in a site the request could be processed by any one of them.  To ensure that the path to the export PST file is valid for any Client Access server it has to be a UNC path to network share, not a local path.

Granting User Rights for Mailbox Exports in Exchange 2010 SP1

The first step is to grant the right to export mailboxes to an account in your organization.  In the Exchange Management Shell run the following command.

New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role "Mailbox Import Export" –User Administrator

If you’re logged with that user already simply restart your Exchange Management Shell session to be granted access to the new cmdlets.

Creating a Network Share for Mailbox Exports in Exchange 2010 SP1

Next we need to create the network share that will be used as the file path for the exported PST files.  All that is required here is a network share that the Exchange Trusted Subsystem group has read/write permission to.

Exporting a Mailbox with an Exchange Server SP1 Mailbox Export Request

With everything configured properly we can now use New-MailboxExportRequest to start the mailbox export.  The only two required parameters for the command are the file path to the export PST file, and the name of the mailbox to export.

[PS] C:\>New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox alan.reid -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst

Name                                           Mailbox                                        Status
----                                           -------                                        ------
MailboxExport                                  exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Of... Queued

To view the status of the request use the Get-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxExportRequest

Name                                           Mailbox                                        Status
----                                           -------                                        ------
MailboxExport                                  exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Of... InProgress

You can also see more detail about the mailbox export request with Get-MailboxExportRequest.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxExportRequest -Name MailboxExport | fl

RunspaceId     : c48a9069-e572-4c65-80ea-773e61e5337e
FilePath       : \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst
SourceDatabase : MB-HO-01
Mailbox        : exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Office/Alan.Reid
Name           : MailboxExport
RequestGuid    : 9de3a722-0c82-4e34-98bf-0ff624c47c16
RequestQueue   : MB-HO-01
Flags          : IntraOrg, Push
BatchName      :
Status         : InProgress
Protect        : False
Suspend        : False
Direction      : Push
RequestStyle   : IntraOrg
OrganizationId :
Identity       : exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Office/Alan.Reid\MailboxExport
IsValid        : True

An easy way to see the progress of all mailbox export requests is to pipe Get-MailboxExportRequest into the Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics cmdlet.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxExportRequest | Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics

Name                                   Status                    SourceAlias                           PercentComplete
----                                   ------                    -----------                           ---------------
MailboxExport                          InProgress                Alan.Reid                             20

Exporting an Archive Mailbox with Exchange Server SP1 Mailbox Export Request

You can also export a user’s Personal Archive using mailbox export requests simply by adding the -IsArchive parameter to the command.

[PS] C:\>New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox alan.reid -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst -IsArchive

Completing the Mailbox Export Request

When a mailbox export request is completed it remains on the server until it is removed by an administrator using Remove-MailboxExportRequest.

To see all of the completed mailbox export requests run this command.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxExportRequest | where {$_.status -eq "Completed"}

Name                                           Mailbox                                        Status
----                                           -------                                        ------
MailboxExport                                  exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Users/Head Of... Completed

And to clear all completed mailbox export requests from Exchange run the following command.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxExportRequest | where {$_.status -eq "Completed"} | Remove-MailboxExportRequest

Related posts:

• How to Enable or Disable POP3 Access for Exchange 2010 Mailboxes
• Exchange 2007/2010 Public Folder Store in an Inconsistent State
• PowerShell: Configuring Settings on Multiple Exchange Mailbox Databases
• PowerShell Script: Check Exchange 2010 Database Backups
• Using Test-ServiceHealth for Exchange Server Health Checks

This article How to Export Mailboxes with Exchange Server 2010 SP1 is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

Clustering Exchange 2010 for High Availability

High availability for Exchange Server 2010 can be achieved by “clustering” two different server roles.  This can be for high availability within a single site or across multiple sites (site resilience).

Related posts:

• Upgrading to Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2
• Exchange 2010 Local Move Request Fails with No Available Mailbox Replication Service Error
• Poll: Should CAS Arrays be Deployed in all Exchange 2010 Sites?
• What Are The Benefits of Exchange Server 2010 Compared to Exchange 2007
• How to Export Mailboxes with Exchange Server 2010 SP1

This article Exchange 2010 FAQ: How Do I Cluster Exchange Server 2010? is © 2011 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

This is useful in many different scenarios such as:

• Simplifies the help desk role of creating new mailboxes by removing the need for help desk staff to choose an appropriate mailbox database
• During bulk mailbox provisioning or mailbox migrations the mailboxes are automatically spread over all available mailbox databases

Despite the benefits there are also situations in which the Exchange administrator would not want mailboxes automatically provisioned on a particular database.  For example a mailbox database that is configured with a very large mailbox storage quota for VIP users should be excluded, or a new mailbox database that is still in the process of being configured for use should be excluded.

To exclude a specific Exchange Server 2010 mailbox database from automatic provisioning use the following command in the Exchange Management Shell.

[PS] C:\>Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity "Mailbox Database 04" -IsExcludedFromProvisioning $true

To re-enable the mailbox database for automatic provisioning set the value back to $false.

[PS] C:\>Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity "Mailbox Database 04" -IsExcludedFromProvisioning $false

Related posts:

• Exchange 2010 Local Move Request Fails with No Available Mailbox Replication Service Error
• How to Move an Exchange 2010 Database to a Different Folder
• How to Remove an Exchange 2010 Public Folder Database
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: Why is My Disk Filling Up with Log Files?
• PowerShell Script: Check Exchange Mailbox Database Last Backup Time

This article How to Exclude a Mailbox Database from Automatic Mailbox Provisioning in Exchange Server 2010 is © 2010 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com

• Part 1 – What needs to be backed up for Exchange Server 2007?
• Part 2 – How to backup and restore Mailbox Servers
• Part 3 – How to backup and restore Hub Transport and Edge Transport Servers
• Part 4 – How to backup and restore Client Access Servers
• Part 5 – How to recover individual mailbox items using Recovery Storage Groups

Related posts:

• Avoiding Infinite Loops with Internal Relay Domains in Exchange 2007/2010
• Exchange 2007/2010 Transport Rule Logging
• Some Recent Articles
• Exchange 2010: Are Passive Database Copies Included in Backups of DAG Members?
• Exchange 2010 FAQ: How to Minimise Downtime During Mailbox Migration from Exchange 2007

This article Exchange Server 2007 Backup and Recovery is © 2009 ExchangeServerPro.com

Get more Exchange Server tips at ExchangeServerPro.com