Deleting mailboxes and store size

[Prognewb]

Using Exchange 2003 on a Windows 2003 server.

We were using a mailbox that was a sort of "catch-all" account, and it grew too large and was obsolete anyhow, so I deleted the mailbox in System Manager, and in AD. Before I did that, I set the limits to "keep deleted mailboxes for (Days)" to 0, but left the "keep deleted items for (days)" at 7.

I noticed the backup size of the store did not reflect the deletion of this mailbox (it was big enough to notice a marked difference in the store size). Is this because even though the mailbox is gone, the items that were in it won't be deleted for 7 days? My thought was that the deletion of the mailbox was at a higher level than the items in it, so they would be deleted along with it. Am I incorrect in thinking that, and can expect the items to drop off after the 7 days are up, or is there something else going on possibly? Thanks

 

[58sniper]

Just because you deleted mail doesn't mean that the size of the databases will get any smaller. The server will just have a bunch of white space in it. This can be verified by checking the event 1221 messages in the app log.

If the amount of whitespace is > 30% of the size of the database, and you're fairly sure you'll never use that space again, you can do an offline defrag to recover the space. You'll need at least 110% of that size in free space, and the store will be offline while you run it. That can take hours and hours, depending on the size of the database.

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Contributing author Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: The Complete Reference

 

[xmsre]

Deleted items are impacted by the deleted items retention period. Deleted (disconnected) mailboxes are retained for 30 days by default. You need to purge the disconnected mailbox.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/274343/en-us

If you don't see a red X nest to the mailbox in ESM, run the cleanup agent first (right click mailboxes under the store and it's an option). Once the mailbox is displayed with a red X, right click the mailbox and click purge.