Setting the Default Public Folder Database and Default Offline Address Book
Mailbox databases can have different types of information associated
with them, including a default public folder database and a default OAB.
You set related options for mailbox databases using the Client Settings
tab of the related Properties dialog box. To view this dialog box and
update the messaging options, follow these steps:
-
In the Exchange Management Console, right-click the mailbox database, and then select Properties. -
In the Properties dialog box, click the Client Settings tab.
Note
If you can't update the text boxes on the Client Settings tab, it
means that a policy has been applied to the mailbox database. You must
directly edit or remove the policy and then make the necessary changes.
-
The Default
Public Folder Database text box shows the full path to the public
folder database that the mailbox database is using. If you've recently
created public folder databases, this field will be blank, and you
should specify the default public folder database to use. You may also
want to change the current default. In either case, click Browse,
select the public folder database that points to the public folder tree
that you want to use, and then click OK. -
The Offline Address Book text box shows the OAB
for the mailbox database. OABs contain information regarding
mail-enabled users, contacts, and groups in the organization, and they
are used when users aren't connected to the network. If you've created
additional OABs beyond the global default, you can specify one of these
additional OABs as the default
for the mailbox database. Click Browse, select the OAB you want to use,
and then click OK. Click OK again to apply the changes.
In the Exchange Management Shell, you can set the default public folder database and default OAB for mailbox databases using the Set-MailboxDatabase cmdlet. Example 2 provides the syntax and usage.
Example 2. Using the Set-MailboxDatabase cmdlet to set defaults
Syntax
Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity MailboxDatabase
[ -OfflineAddressBook OABIdentity]
[ -PublicFolderDatabase PublicFolderIdentity]
Usage
Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity "Accounting Mail"
-OfflineAddressBook "\US Corporate"
-PublicFolderDatabase "CORPSVR127\PublicFolderDB"
Setting Mailbox Database Limits and Deletion retention
Mailbox database limits are designed to control the amount of
information that users can store in their mailboxes. Users who exceed
the designated limits might receive warning messages and might be
subject to certain restrictions, such as the inability to send
messages. Deleted
item retention is designed to ensure that messages and mailboxes that
might be needed in the future aren't deleted inadvertently. If
retention is turned on, you can retain deleted messages and mailboxes for a specified period before they are permanently deleted and are nonrecoverable.
An average retention
period for messages is about 14 days. The minimum retention period for
mailboxes should be about seven days. In most cases, you'll want
deleted messages to be maintained for a minimum of five to seven days
and deleted mailboxes to be maintained for a minimum of three to four
weeks. An interval of five to seven days is used for messages because
users usually realize within a few days that they shouldn't have
deleted a message. A three-week to four-week interval is used for
mailboxes because several weeks can (and often do) pass before users
realize that they need a deleted mailbox. To understand why, consider
the following scenario.
Sally leaves the company. A coworker is given permission to delete
Sally's user account and mailbox. Three weeks later, Sally's boss
realizes that she was the only person who received and archived the
monthly reports e-mailed from corporate headquarters. The only way to
get reports for previous years is to recover Sally's mailbox, and you
can do this if you've set a sufficiently long retention period.
To view or set limits and deletion retention for a mailbox database, follow these steps:
-
In the Exchange Management Console, right-click the mailbox database, and then select Properties. -
In the Properties dialog box, on the Limits tab (shown in Figure 4), use the following options to set storage limits and deleted item retention:
-
Issue Warning At (KB) Sets the size
limit, in kilobytes, that a mailbox can reach before Exchange Server
issues a warning to the user. The warning tells the user to clear out
the mailbox. -
Prohibit Send At (KB)
Sets the size limit, in kilobytes, that a mailbox can reach before the
user is prohibited from sending any new mail. The restriction ends when
the user clears out the mailbox and the total mailbox size is under the
limit. -
Prohibit Send And Receive At (KB)
Sets the size limit, in kilobytes, that a mailbox can reach before the
user is prohibited from sending and receiving mail. The restriction
ends when the user clears out the mailbox and the total mailbox size is
under the limit.
Caution
Prohibiting send and receive might cause users to lose e-mail. When
a user sends a message to a user who is prohibited from receiving
messages, a nondelivery report (NDR)
is generated and delivered to the sender. The recipient never sees the
e-mail. Because of this, you should prohibit send and receive only in
very rare circumstances. Your organizational policy will likely spell
out those circumstances. To remove this restriction, clear the Prohibit
Send And receive At check box.
-
Warning Message Interval
Sets the interval
for sending warning messages to users whose mailboxes exceed the
designated limits. The default interval is daily at 1 A.M. -
Keep Deleted Items For (Days)
Sets the number of
days to retain deleted items. An average retention period is 14 days.
If you set the retention period to 0, deleted messages aren't retained,
and you can't recover them in the same way you could if retention was
enabled. -
Keep Deleted Mailboxes For (Days)
Sets the number of
days to retain deleted mailboxes. The default setting is 30 days.
You'll want to keep most deleted mailboxes for at least seven days to
allow the administrators to extract any data that might be needed. If
you set the retention period to 0, deleted mailboxes are retained only
if you select the next option, and then only until the database has
been backed up. If a mailbox is backed up, you can recover it only by
restoring it from backups. -
Do Not Permanently Delete Mailboxes And Items Until The Database Has Been Backed Up
Ensures that deleted mailboxes and items are archived into at least one backup set before they are removed.
-
Click OK to save the settings.
In the Exchange Management Shell, you can set limits for mailbox databases using the Set-MailboxDatabase cmdlet. Example 3 provides the syntax and usage.
Note
Use the following format for single-event schedules:
Startday.hour:Minute [AM/PM]-end.hour:Minute [AM/PM]. You can enter
names of weekdays in full or abbreviate them. You can also use a
24-hour clock, and if you do this, you must omit the AM/PM designator.
Here's an example with the AM/PM designator: Mon.5:00 AM-Fri.7:00 PM. And here's an example without the AM/PM designator: Mon.05:00-Fri.19:00.
Example 3. Using the Set-MailboxDatabase cmdlet to set limits
Syntax
Set-MailboxDatabase [-Identity MailboxDatabase]
[-AllowFileRestore <$true | $false>] [-BackgroundDatabaseMaintenence
<$true | $false>] [-CircularLoggingEnabled <$true | $false>]
[-DataMoveReplicationConstraint <None | SecondyCopy | SecondDatacenter |
AllDatacenters | AllCopies>] [-DeletedItemRetention NumberDays]
[-DomainController DCName] [-EventHistoryRetentionPeriod NumberDays]
[-IndexEnabled <$true | $false>] [-IsExcludedFromProvisioning <$true |
$false>] [-IssueWarningQuota Limit] [-JournalRecipient RecipientId]
[-MailboxRetention NumberDays] [-MaintenanceSchedule Schedule]
[-MountAtStartup <$true | $false>] [-Name Name] [-OfflineAddressBook OABId]
[-ProhibitSendQuota Limit] [-ProhibitSendReceiveQuota Limit]
[-PublicFolderDatabase DatabaseId] [-QuotaNotificationSchedule Schedule]
[-RecoverableItemsQuota Limit] [-RecoverableItemsWarningQuota Limit]
[-RetainDeletedItemsUntilBackup <$true | $false>]
[-RcpClientAccessServer ClientAccessServerOrArrayId]
Usage
Set-MailboxDatabase -Identity "Accounting Mail"
-IssueWarningQuota 1991680
-DeletedItemRetention 14
-MailboxRetention 30
-ProhibitSendQuota 2097152
-ProhibitSendReceiveQuota 2411520
-QuotaNotificationSchedule "Sun.01:00-Sat.23:00"
-RetainDeletedItemsUntilBackup $true
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