Clean Mailbox feature in Exchange2000 Server?

[zoeythecat]

Hi All,

In Exchange 55 there was a tool within Exchange Admin, under Tools called "clean mailbox" where you could clean out Calendar items, Deleted Items, etc. Is there anything similar in Exchange 2000?

Could someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance,
Zoey

 

[zoeythecat]

Anyone?

 

[de1458]

this is done on policy base on e2k, you set the 'Mail
box Manager Setting' option in 'Recipient Policies'
here is some steps to take,
- create a new policy with 'mailbox manager, setting or right click on the existing policy if you want to modify select 'Change property pages..' and select the 'mailbox manager'
- you will see a new tab 'Mailbox manager setting (policy)' in the modified/new policy, then you define what action should this take,
- then, yes not done yet, you got to apply it to individual server through the property page of the server.

the last step allow for very flexiable operation let said you have many policies set up.

 

[zoeythecat]

Thanks De for the information. However, the difference is you have to set a policy versus running a manual operation (I.E - Go in and clean the Mailbox calendar, Inbox, etc). The policies I believe you have to set this up for all mailboxes (I.E - You cannot do this on individual mailboxes.)

Correct me if i'm wrong? The policy does not work the same as the Exchange 55 feature where you could highlight the individual mailbx, then click on Tools-->Clean Mailbox<

It appears that Exchange 2000 does not have the same feature as its predecessor.

Correct me if i'm wrong?

Zoey

 

[bigpapapump]

Zoey - Did you figure out how to only clean mailboxes that you specify? I am having this problem as well. I had a weekly cleanup job setup in 5.5 and it worked awesome.

Can't seem to get the same thing setup correctly in 2000, it cleans every mailbox. CEO didn't appreciate it.

 

[zoeythecat]

Emiller,

Still have not found how this can be done. I recently talked with Microsoft (sneaked this topic in on another case) and they emailed me an article relating to &quot;Recipient Policies&quot;. De1458 notes what Microsoft noted. Here is a couple articles Microsoft sent me. But I still don't see how individual mailboxes can be cleaned. Take a read through and let me know if you can make sense of it.

Articles on Mailbox Manager, for use in cleaning mailboxes.

- 288115 XADM: How to Exclude a Single Mailbox, Multiple Mailboxes, or a Group

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=288115

- 311497 XADM: Mailbox Manager May Miss Its Schedule If the Server Is Under Load

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=311497

 

[glenna]

A bit backwards...but, we just started setting mailbox limit sizes for people. They would complain they could not get into Outlook. We'd explain they cannot save every graphic and piece of junk in their Outlook. We'd give them temporary access, but they need to clean it all out.

They did. We reset limits. No more problems.

Not elegant, but it did allow the users to clean their own garbage, then encourage them to keep it up to date.

GlennA
MIS

 

[zoeythecat]

Yes. we do have limits on our mailboxes as well. The problem is we have a few people who use their calendars extensively and do not want to manually go back and purge their calendar items. Some of these calendars are over 9MEG. Our default limit for the users are 10MEG. So you can imagine we have to continue to increase the limits for these mailboxes. The nice part of Exchange 55 was you had the ability to clean items such as calendar by opening up the Exchange Admin program and running the Cleanup wizard on the individual mailbox. This way we can manage the space on our databases more efficiently. Why Microsoft did not include this feature in Exchange 2000 is really puzzling to me.

 

[Marcs41]

Exchange 2000 does not let you cleanup per user manually.
However, you have 2 options.
One is with the mailbox manager, and some rules etc., can get rather compex though.
The other one is much simpler. Let the user do it! It is their mess. All they have to do is click Tools - Mailbox Cleanup and specify how old or how big the messages must be to be filtered. They can then delete or archive.
This does however not apply to Calender Items.
To achieve that, set their Autoarchive option for the Calendar to older then x Months

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC![/sub]

 

[zoeythecat]

Marcs41,

Good points you make. One thing I have already tried is the &quot;Autoarchive&quot; feature in calendar and it did not work . It should work but it does not work. Try it and let me know if it works for you. I tried it on my mailbox, and also tried it on the users mailbox. We have outlook 2000. After running the Autoarchive function it did not purge or archive items older than what was specified (specified older than 30 days)

Have researched the Mailbox Manager and researched the rules, etc. Even in this case you cannot do it for individual mailboxes. I only came up with rules that excluded mailboxes. So it appears to me this is still a Global change for all mailboxes and then you exclude mailboxes you don't want to be part of the rule (Counter productive and time consuming if you ask me).

I wish I was in an environment where I could simply tell the users, &quot;Clean your mailboxes yourselves&quot;. Politics play a big part of this. The users rule us in our environment in a sense. But like you noted, the &quot;Mailbox Cleanup&quot; does not include Calendar items. Once again, this just perplexes me as to why the Cleanup Wizard that was part of Exchange 55 was not incorporated into the Exchange 2000. To me it is a no brainer. This was a very useful function for us, as well as other Companies i'm sure. This helped us manage the size of our mailboxes and keep the proper limits set.

 

[Marcs41]

Well, I use Outlook XP for the moment, and it works, as well in Corporate mode as in Internet mode.
Do keep in mind that the archive file you specify in the Calendar options can differ from the 'real' one, you can adjust that.

For your Mailbox Manager, I will look up the way to do it for individual mailboxes.

I know the feeling when you are in a situation where users rule! I just used to annoy them to death and stall alot when they asked something, always stating that is was because THEY did not want to make a mimimum effort, that I had so much delay. The problem resolved itself after a while.

I know in Exch. 5.5 is was easy to do, and yes, it should have stayed that easy.
I'll come back on that.

 

[zoeythecat]

Marcs,

Thanks for your help. If you do find out how to do this for individual mailboxes that would be great.

Thanks again!

 

[Marcs41]

Read this article.
It requires some planning, and maybe grouping if not done already, but it works.

 

[Marcs41]

Oops:
here is the link:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319188&Product=exch2k

 

[jbud]

It seems that the Mailbox Management process can only be started at the server level (in Exchange System Manager, under Administrative Groups > Exchange Organization > Servers > ServerName, right-click the server and select Start Mailbox Management Process). This means that you can't specifically run mailbox management on only one user's mailbox.

However, one can create a recipient policy that is specific to one user. Once created and applied, the settings for this recipient policy will be used every time the mailbox management process is startd.

 

[Marcs41]

That is correct, however not practical if you would have to make a policy for each users, hence my recommendation to make them groupmembers, just for the mailbox manager, whivh you then define to act on those groups. In which case, you can put management seperate and give them a larger timeframe, or none at all.