Exchange 2007: Manage Public Folder Databases

The following sections cover:

• Creating a new Public Folder database
  
  
• Creating and removing Public Folders
  
  
• Mail-enabling Public Folders
  
  
• Configuring Public Folder database settings
  
  
• Configuring Public Folder settings
  
  

Creating a New Public Folder Database

To accomplish the creation of a new Public Folder database, perform the following:

Creating and Removing Public Folders

Creating and removing Public Folders initially could be done only through the Outlook client (if a person had the correct permissions) or through the EMS. There was no GUI for working with Public Folders beyond the creation of the database itself. That has changed with the inclusion of the Public Folder Management Console tool found in the Toolbox options.

To create Public Folders from within SP1, perform the following:

To remove a Public Folder, you need to select it and choose Remove from the Actions pane. A warning displays and you need to confirm that you wish to remove it.

Mail-Enabling and Disabling Public Folders

By default, public folders do not receive email until you mail-enable them. They can receive posts from persons that have permission in the company, but not emails. To mail-enable a public folder, perform the following steps:

Configuring Public Folder Database Settings

Public Folders can be managed as one entity under the database properties, or individually as folders. Often you establish your settings at the database level and not the folder level because it is easier to manage in bulk.

You’ll notice that some of the settings are similar on the database level. To look at the properties, perform the following:

Note that all the information on the General tab, including the maintenance options, is the same as what we saw on the mailbox database earlier.

The Replication tab (shown in Figure 1) contains only a few settings:

• Replication Interval determines when the replication of Public Folders occurs when content updates are made. The default is for it to Always Run, but you can turn it off completely or change the time frame, even customize the replication schedule.

• Replication Interval For “Always Run” (Minutes) shows the time interval that replication can occur.

• Replication Message Size Limit (KB) shows the size limit of a replication message. Smaller items can be grouped together into a single replication message, while larger ones are handled differently.

The Limits tab is slightly different from its mailbox database counterpart, as you can see in Figure 2.

There is a still a warning and prohibit limit. There is also a maximum item size (KB) that prevents people from posting huge files to the public folders (although you can adjust this depending on the need, but you might find that it is better to adjust on a per folder basis, rather than at a database level).

The warning message interval works the same as it did for the mailbox database. Notice that there is only a deleted item retention time (the default is still 14 days) and the checkbox is still available for the permanent deletion of items.

There is an extra checkbox under the heading Age Limits. You select this checkbox to limit the age of all folders in the database. You can set a value of 0 to 24,855 days. After the items in the folder reach the specified age, Exchange deletes them and frees up the space automatically.

The final tab is the Public Folder Referral tab. Here you can do one of two things: the default is to use Active Directory site costs, or you can create a custom list to use.

The purpose of this is to configure the folder replica that ultimately is accessed by the client application. The way referrals work is that a client tries to open a public folder and the server has to determine where the contents should come from. Ordinarily, you have several replicas of your public folders (although in a smaller environment you might only have a single location). After the server determines the best replica to offer, it gives the client a referral. If the replica exists on the server itself, it uses the local replica; if not, it tries to look in the same AD site (by default) unless you specify otherwise on this tab.

Configuring Public Folder Settings

Public Folder settings on individual folders require you to go back to the Public Folder Management Console. Select the Default Public Folders, and then look for the individual folder you wish to make changes to in the Results pane. When you find the folder, select it, and click Properties from the Actions pane.

You see three tabs:

• General— Shows you standard information such as the total number of items, the size of the folder, when it was last modified, and so forth. There is one checkbox, Maintain Per-user Read and Unread Information For This Folder, which is selected by default. This enables a user to see whether a message has been read or unread in Outlook.

• Replication— Here is where you can choose other servers, if you have them, to hold replicas of your public folders. Imagine several branch offices around the world that have people who want to access the same information. If it all resides in one location, that creates extra traffic. However, if you can create replicas in appropriate locations (not necessarily of every folder if you don’t want or need to, but those that are more interesting on the global level), it reduces traffic and improves performance. You can adjust the replication schedule or simply go with the one already established on the database. You can also determine a local replica age limit (in days).

• Limits— This tab enables you to either use the database quota, item retention, and age limits or choose to use a different set of limits on this particular folder. You might decide a particular folder requires more of a maximum item size for posts, depending on the content in it. You might decide it requires a shorter age limit before content expires. Whatever the case, you configure those limits here.