Dedicated Journal Server

[JGates]

Anyone have a Dedicated Journal Server running in 8.0 SP3?  Trying to figure out what to set for the System Mailbox.  When I move the Journal Mailbox over and recreated the Task to point to the other Exchange Server with the Journal on it.  I have to create a new task.  When it asks for the System Mailbox that is sitting on my other server and doesn't show up.  So what do I use?  My Archiving task is using it for my original Exchange server.

Thanks,
Gates

[JesusWept3]

you could use the journal mailbox if you really wanted to and it was just that one mailbox
or create a new system mailbox on the same exchange server as the journal mailbox

But thats really what it comes down to, you cant have a system mailbox on a seperate exchange server than the exchange server you are targeting

[Evault_Professi]

I would recommend creating a new system mailbox on the new Exchange Server that would be targeted as mentioned by JesusWept2.

We ran into an issue in our environment when the Journal Account  was being used for Journal Archiving and used as a System Mailbox for the Journal Task. We had a backlog of messages that were not archiving.

 Although it was working at one point as mentioned above, and part of the issue also pertained to a missing hotfix. Symantec Support recommended us to use a System Mailbox account that is different to the account used for Journal Archiving. The article mentioned below indicates that the System Mailbox account used should only have one purpose.

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/319645.htm

Hope this helps!
Please advise.
Thanks,
Dennis

[JesusWept3]

To be honest, the only reason you should use a seperate system mailbox is so that you have a permanant window in to the exchange server i.e one that won't be moved, disabled, deleted, hidden etc like a regular mailbox could very well be. A lot of pitfalls people run in to is that they want to hide the mailbox from the GAL so that users don't send emails to it in company wide distributions or they move all the system mailboxes in to one message store for all the EV mailboxes and this is where it falls down. Specifying the journal mailbox shouldn't really have any adverse reactions, it just makes things easier when you use a regular stand alone system mailbox

[JGates]

So do you have 2 system mailboxes then?  One for the Journal Task on one server and one for the archive task on the other?

[TonySterling]

Yes, each Exchange server has its own system mbx.

[JGates]

Ok I'll give that a try.  Thanks everyone for the info.

[AndrewB]

Tony - just to clarify for myself, let's say you are journaling and doing regular archiving on the same exchange server. one system mailbox for the journal task and another one for the mailbox archiving task? or is using the same one for both ok?

[JesusWept3 · Accepted solution]

you can use the same system mailbox for both, you just need a mailbox that will reside on the same exchange server you are targeting
so for instance when you first target a system mailbox, it will only list mailboxes hosted on that exchange server, but it doesn't stop an exchange admin from moving the mailbox anywhere else after its targeted.

Then when EV connects it will start to run LDAP queries to determine storage groups, mailbox stores etc and during that routine it will fail out.
But in a scenario where the Journal mailbox and mailboxes you are targeting are on the server, one system mailbox will suffice

[TonySterling]

Agreed with JW2, that was what I meant.  One system mbx per Exchange server for all task targeting that Exchange server.