Managing Mailboxes
Once
you’ve created an Exchange organization of mailbox-enabled users, there
are a number of administrative tasks you might undertake as you manage
the organization. Some of the common Exchange tasks related to mailbox
management are
Deleting a mailbox
Reconnecting a mailbox in Active Directory
Hiding mailboxes from the GAL
Modifying e-mail addresses
Configuring storage limits
Configuring permissions on mailboxes
Configuring delivery restrictions
Forwarding mailboxes to other e-mail addresses
Moving mailboxes to other storage groups or servers
Deleting a Mailbox
There are times when
you’ll need to delete a mailbox from an Exchange organization, usually
in conjunction with removing a user account (such as for an employee who
no longer works for the company). It is less common that you will need
to remove the mailbox but keep the user account. Exchange Server 2003
allows you to do either.
Deleting a mailbox
while removing the user account is accomplished using the same procedure
you use to delete a user account. Use the Active Directory Users And
Computers console to select the users you need to delete, and then
delete them. You will be prompted that the Active Directory object has
additional associated objects (in this case an Exchange mailbox) and
asked to confirm whether you want to delete them.
Alternatively, you can
remove only the mailbox from an existing user account without deleting
the account itself. To do this, use the Exchange Task Wizard in Exchange
System Manager. To reach the wizard in Exchange System Manager,
navigate to the Mailboxes folder in the mailbox store of the server that
contains the account, right-click the mailbox, point to Exchange Tasks,
and then click Delete Mailbox. This is shown in Figure 6.
Deleted Mailbox Retention
The
Deleted Mailbox Retention period is a feature of Exchange Server 2003
that is enabled by default. When you delete a mailbox, Exchange Server
2003 will mark it for deletion, but the mailbox will not be permanently
deleted for 30 days. The retention period is a configurable length of
time and is set at the mailbox store level, as shown in Figure 7. Access the mailbox store properties by right-clicking the desired mailbox store (note the navigation path in Figure 6) and clicking Properties from the shortcut menu.
Tip
Deleted
Mailbox Retention and Deleted Item Retention (discussed later in this
lesson) are not the same, and you should not confuse the two. Deleted
Mailbox Retention refers specifically to mailboxes that have been
deleted, whereas Deleted Item Retention refers to individual items
within a mailbox that have been deleted. Deleted
Item Retention is generally used more on a day-to-day basis than
Deleted Mailbox Retention. By setting a Deleted Item Retention period,
users are able to recover items in their Outlook client that they have
deleted from their Deleted Items folder. It’s a “second chance,” if you
will, because it allows users to retrieve items that seem to be
permanently deleted from their mailbox. Deleted Mailbox Retention, on
the other hand, primarily benefits administrators by allowing recovery
of a user mailbox that has been deleted without having to restore an
entire mailbox store from backup. |
The Deleted Mailbox Retention period can be overridden by using the purge
option in Exchange System Manager. You can purge a mailbox marked for
deletion by right-clicking it in the Mailboxes folder of the mailbox
store and then clicking Purge from the shortcut menu. This option is
useful if you know you no longer need a mailbox and are trying to free
up space.
Important
Once
you purge deleted mailboxes, the only way to recover them is from
backup. This is also true of mailboxes whose retention period has
expired. |
Reconnecting a Mailbox in Active Directory
Reconnecting a mailbox is
the process of associating a mailbox marked for deletion with a live
user account. There are a few situations when you will need to perform
this task. One such situation is if you accidentally delete a user
account and their mailbox from Active Directory. Another situation is if
an employee leaves the company and you need to assign the mailbox to
another user account (such as the employee’s replacement). The task of
reconnecting a mailbox marked for deletion is accomplished using
Exchange System Manager. If you are reconnecting a mailbox to a user
account that was accidentally deleted, make sure you have restored or
recreated the user account first.
Note
If
you perform this task in a lab environment, you may find the option for
Reconnect unavailable (dimmed). This happens when the Exchange Cleanup
Agent hasn’t run and updated Active Directory to reflect the deletion.
You can force the Exchange Cleanup Agent to run immediately by
right-clicking Mailboxes in your mailbox store and selecting Run Cleanup
Agent from the shortcut menu. After you refresh, you should see the
mailbox you deleted marked with a red X. |
1. | Open
Exchange System Manager and navigate to the Mailboxes folder in the
mailbox store on your Exchange server. When you click the Mailboxes
folder, you will see all the mailboxes in that mailbox store listed in
the contents pane of the console window.
Important If
you create mailbox-enabled user accounts for your lab in the Active
Directory Users And Computers console, you might be puzzled if the
mailboxes for the user accounts do not appear here. Once you create a
mailbox-enabled user, you must initialize the mailbox by sending a message to it before it will appear and be available to manage through the Mailboxes folder. |
|
2. | Right-click
the mailbox that has been deleted and that you want to reconnect, and
then select Reconnect from the shortcut menu. You will be prompted to
select a new user for the mailbox, as shown in Figure 8.
|
3. | You
can either type in a name or search for a name in Active Directory
using this dialog box. Once you have selected the desired user account,
click OK to complete the task. Exchange will notify you that the task
completed successfully, and you will see that the red X on the mailbox
in Exchange System Manager disappears. |
