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Remove Exchange 2007 servers...

aaguilar
Level 4

Hi

We have a mail platform with Exchange 2007/2013. We are going to delete the Exchange 2007 servers (all mailboxes are already in Exchange 2013) with the help of the following note: https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/ Article.TECH50256

When doing step 3 (Look up EV's record of mailboxes associated with this ExchangeServerIdentity) we find thousands of entries corresponding to mailboxes that no longer exist. After consulting,  support tell us that we must delete the ExchangemailboxEntry table, which would leave us with the historical information of elements that no longer exist, and that we need to perform other tasks that we have automated.

Has anyone else been through this? It seems incredible that this is the only solution (obviously we can not leave the servers on Exchange 2007 turned on, and we need this historical information).

Thanks and regards.

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions

GertjanA
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Hello,

Advocate of the devil here :)

EV does what it is supposed to do. Remove the entries connected to a server you want to remove. It is not EV (Veritas's) concern you target that specific table with custom queries/processes. They (Veritas) need to make sure that the product functions as intended, and performs well.

End advocate of the devil :)

You have 2 choices as far as I can tell. Make a copy of the table (or the directory database) and target that in your processes/queries.

Or, leave the targets in. Remove the tasks for those targets, but leave the targets. As long as the target Exchange remains, the ExchangeMailboxentry table is not having records deleted. It does not matter if the target exists physically (or virtually now-a-days) in the network. Just leave the name in the console.

 

Regards. Gertjan

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VirgilDobos
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Hey folks,

From experience, you can upgrade (you can even leave the Exchange 2007 tasks). The only thing is that EV 12 will not be able to archive from Exchange 2007. This is the only limitation.

--Virgil

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12 REPLIES 12

VirgilDobos
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Hi mate,

This means that you still have mailboxes in Exchange 2007. Have you triple-checked that all of them have been moved to Exchange 2013?

If you are sure there are no mailboxes left behind, you can safely go to the next step, delete the MSMQ related to Exchange 2007 servers and remove them from the VAC.

--Virgil

Hello

I am 100% sure that all the entries that appear after doing this query are of mailboxes that no longer exist in the system and that all the active mailboxes are already in Exchange 2013. Those entries correspond to mailboxes that no longer exist, of users which do not exist in Active Directory either.

If I delete the Exchange servers the entries in that table will be deleted, and I'm not interested in it. I need to keep historical information due to automated processes that I have, and rely on both the ArchiveID and the mailbox name.
 
Regards.

VirgilDobos
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I may be wrong, but I don't think the entries will be deleted.

To test you can do the following. Set backup mode, take a backup of the database and give it a try. If it really removes the entries, you can restore the database back.

--Virgil

Support confirmed that at the moment I delete the target will erase the entries in the DB ... :(

Regards.

GertjanA
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By default, the ExchangeMailboxEntry table is not cleaned. This table holds information about an enabled mailbox. Disabling a mailbox for archiving, or deleting the arichive, or even deleting the targets will not clean this table. (I believe this is also what Virgil states)

As far as I am aware, it will NOT prevent you from deleting the target exchange servers. The advice given (to empty the table) cannot harm, as running the provisioning task will fill it again. The disadvantage however is that you no longer have information on the archived mailboxes. I find it sometimes convenient to be able o query this table, to check if a mailbox has ever been archived. But, this is in an environment which has >150.000 archives, and archives have never been removed when users left.. I can imagine a small(er) environment is not having the above.

Te re-iterate. Set backup mode on your stores and indexes. Make a backup of the SQL databases. (or the Directorydatabase only if you need fast backup). delete a target. check the table. If ok, continue. If not ok, restore the databases (*or the directory db only), continue.

 

 

Regards. Gertjan

Hello

The ExchangeMailboxEntry table contains information for both active and non-active mailboxes. That is, old users with mailboxes and removed from AD will be in that table. Since that user can no longer move it to Exchange 2013, I must delete it from the table (that's what it says support me) in order to delete the Exchange 2007 targets. Support tells me (and they have checked it) that if I do not delete the table (which will be fed again with the active entries after passing the provisioning task), deleting the target will be deleted.

And as I said, I do need those entries for different tasks (my environment has several thousand entries as well, and no Archives are deleted when a user leaves).

Maybe the only thing I can think of is to make a copy of the table with another name and ask the queries there, but I find it very strange that I only have this problem.

Greetings.

GertjanA
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Hello,

Advocate of the devil here :)

EV does what it is supposed to do. Remove the entries connected to a server you want to remove. It is not EV (Veritas's) concern you target that specific table with custom queries/processes. They (Veritas) need to make sure that the product functions as intended, and performs well.

End advocate of the devil :)

You have 2 choices as far as I can tell. Make a copy of the table (or the directory database) and target that in your processes/queries.

Or, leave the targets in. Remove the tasks for those targets, but leave the targets. As long as the target Exchange remains, the ExchangeMailboxentry table is not having records deleted. It does not matter if the target exists physically (or virtually now-a-days) in the network. Just leave the name in the console.

 

Regards. Gertjan

Hi "Advocate of the devil" ;)

I only have one objection to the second option you say... If I leave the Exchange 2007 targets (deleting archive tasks, of course), can I upgrade my EV version? Right now I'm in v11, but I will not be able to upgrade to v12 with Exchange 2007 targets ... or yes?

Regards.

VirgilDobos
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Hey folks,

From experience, you can upgrade (you can even leave the Exchange 2007 tasks). The only thing is that EV 12 will not be able to archive from Exchange 2007. This is the only limitation.

--Virgil

Thanks to both of you.

Best regards.

GertjanA
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Your welcome I'm sure. Can you mark one of (or multiple is also possible I believe) answers as solution?

that way people with the same question know it has been answered, and can look at it, and others don't need to open it to provide an answer.

Thanks!

GJ

Regards. Gertjan

I was waiting to see which of the two options applied, since I did not know that I could select two :)

Thank you.