Errors when backing up Exchange after deleting mailboxes

[Rob_Kelley]

Hi
When I delete a mailbox (user leaves company) the backup then errors as follows on the deleted mailbox:

Final error: 0xa000fe09 - The directory is invalid.
Backup - \\MAIL\Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes Directory not found. Can not backup directory Accounts and its subdirectories.

I have this error 7 times, each on a different mailbox that was deleted yesterday.

I have searched for hrs on the net but found nothing about this.
Win 2003 svr, Exchange 2003, BU 9.1.

Any ideas anyone?

[Keith_Langmead]

If they're still showing up in the graphical selection list then the mailboxes are still probably there, as Exchange hasn't yet purged them. Have you checked in Exchange System Manager to confirm if they are still listed? Check your deleted mailbox retention settings (by default I believe Exchange won't remove them until they have had a full backup), or manually purge the mailboxes from the system.

Just to keep things tidy, once they're purged and no longer showing up in the graphical display, you might want to go back to your selection list and switch to the text view, and confirm that they are not still being referenced (as an exception since you de-selected them).

Keith

[Rob_Kelley]

The only lisyting in text view is:
\\server\microsoft information store\first storage group\*.* /subdir

so I cannot see what mailboxes are being ref'd

[Keith_Langmead]

Right, in that case you can go by what's been shown in the graphical view. Does the graphical view still show the mailboxes which have been deleted?

Is so then it's because Exchange hasn't purged the mailboxes from the system yet.

Keith

[Rob_Kelley]

I know that exchange has not deleted them yet and yes they are shown with a red cross as they should be, but surely BE should be able to handle these mailboxes whilst in retention time without causing my jobs to be marked as 'failed'
Does this issue occur in BE v10?

In graphical view I only see 'Mailbox Store' & 'Public Folder Store' and it does not go down to mailbox level.

[Keith_Langmead]

So you're seeing the Information Store, the Public Folder Store and the Exchange Mailboxes, and if you select the last of those three you can't view the the mailboxes which your trying to backup? Certainly you should be able to view that information, so I don't know why you wouldn't be able to.

BE can essentially handle backing up Exchange after you're deleted an account, however the problem you're seeing is with the "mailbox backup" not the "Exchange backup". It's a subtle difference, but while the Exchange backup which includes the Information Store and Public Folder Store does various clever things, the mailbox backup basically just connects to each mailbox individually, reads through the e-mails, and backs up each and every one of them, therefore allowing you restore an individual e-mail rather than the entire Information Store. Since it is trying to open the mailbox, when it gets to those mailboxes which have been deleted from the system, it is no longer able to login, and therefore it receives an error.

Hope that makes sense.

[padmaja_rajopad]

Hi,

Are the users deleted from Active Directory or just disabled?

If the users have left the organisation do you still want to back up their respective mailboxes?

If no, then you can simply uncheck the mailboxes from the "Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes" in the selection list.

You are getting the error while backing up Exchange mailboxes or Exchange information store?

Regards
Padmaja