Forum Discussion

John_Santana's avatar
John_Santana
Level 6
11 years ago

Archiving Disabled mailbox from Exchange server ?

Hi People,

How to make sure that when I right click and disable the mailbox from Exchange Server 2007 management console, the email is archived successfully ?

I have applied the registry entry to ensure that the disabled AD account can be archived with EV, but not too sure how to make sure if the disabled mailbox can be archived

Thanks. 

Best Practice
Configuring
Enterprise Vault
Information Governance
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • GabeV's avatar
    GabeV
    11 years ago

    Hi John,

    Are you disabling the mailbox in Exchange or the user account in Active Directory? Because when you disable a mailbox in the Exchange Management Console you are basically marking the mailbox for deletion. In that case, if the mailbox is deleted, Enterprise Vault can't archive it. However, if you are disabling the AD account, here is the technote you should follow:

    Archiving a mailbox with a disabled Active Directory (AD) account
    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76587

    As Jesus mentioned, running the archiving task in report mode should tell you if the task is reading the mailbox and how many items are eligible for archiving. I hope this helps.

  • A_J1's avatar
    A_J1
    11 years ago

    Hello John,

     

    I would suggested to enable a Dtrace on ArchiveTask & storageArchive and then do a Run Now on Exchange Mailbox Archiving Task on the affected user.

    You can follow the article on How to run a Dtrace - http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH38122

     

    Upload the log which will give the insight whether it find the Illegible items...

     

    One More thing to add the account is not hidden from GAL right ??

     

    If yes then you need add another registry key ProcessHidddenMailbox you can check the below article for more info http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH47252

     

     

    I hope this helps !!!

  • GabeV's avatar
    GabeV
    11 years ago

    John,

    I think that you just need to disable the AD account. Doing a quick search for this option in Exchange 2007, Disable Mailbox, I found this:

    The option that most people should be using in Exchange 2007 is to disable a mailbox. This is equivalent to the “Remove Exchange Attributes” option in Exchange 2003. This action does not remove the recipient object from Active Directory; it only removes the Exchange attributes from the object and marks its mailbox for deletion. Just like you can in Exchange 2003, you can reconnect the mailbox to the original account if you need to.

    (http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2008/09/21/the-difference-between-disabling-and-removing-a-mailbox-in-exchange-2007.aspx)

    Thus, if you marked the mailbox for deletion, I don't think that EV would archive all its contents since it wouldn't exist.

    I hope this helps.

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  • JesusWept3's avatar
    JesusWept3
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    well if you've followed the registry/sql changes, then simply do a run now in report mode. have a look at how much is eligible to archive, make sure no errors are generated, then do another run now in regular mode , and then another report mode and check the before and after etc

  • GabeV's avatar
    GabeV
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Hi John,

    Are you disabling the mailbox in Exchange or the user account in Active Directory? Because when you disable a mailbox in the Exchange Management Console you are basically marking the mailbox for deletion. In that case, if the mailbox is deleted, Enterprise Vault can't archive it. However, if you are disabling the AD account, here is the technote you should follow:

    Archiving a mailbox with a disabled Active Directory (AD) account
    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76587

    As Jesus mentioned, running the archiving task in report mode should tell you if the task is reading the mailbox and how many items are eligible for archiving. I hope this helps.

  • John_Santana's avatar
    John_Santana
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Gabr, yes I'm doing the Right Click and Disable the mailbox from the Exchange management console, as well as the AD console.

  • A_J1's avatar
    A_J1
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Hello John,

     

    I would suggested to enable a Dtrace on ArchiveTask & storageArchive and then do a Run Now on Exchange Mailbox Archiving Task on the affected user.

    You can follow the article on How to run a Dtrace - http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH38122

     

    Upload the log which will give the insight whether it find the Illegible items...

     

    One More thing to add the account is not hidden from GAL right ??

     

    If yes then you need add another registry key ProcessHidddenMailbox you can check the below article for more info http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH47252

     

     

    I hope this helps !!!

  • GabeV's avatar
    GabeV
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    John,

    I think that you just need to disable the AD account. Doing a quick search for this option in Exchange 2007, Disable Mailbox, I found this:

    The option that most people should be using in Exchange 2007 is to disable a mailbox. This is equivalent to the “Remove Exchange Attributes” option in Exchange 2003. This action does not remove the recipient object from Active Directory; it only removes the Exchange attributes from the object and marks its mailbox for deletion. Just like you can in Exchange 2003, you can reconnect the mailbox to the original account if you need to.

    (http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2008/09/21/the-difference-between-disabling-and-removing-a-mailbox-in-exchange-2007.aspx)

    Thus, if you marked the mailbox for deletion, I don't think that EV would archive all its contents since it wouldn't exist.

    I hope this helps.

  • John_Santana's avatar
    John_Santana
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Cool, so in this case I should then re-enable those mailbox again in the Exchange management console.