Exchange 2010: very large shared mailbox

Question

We have a unique problem I need some advice to deal with.

Background: I've started a new job and inherited an exchange 2010 setup. One of the mailboxes is a shared mailbox that the company has been using to perform work flow rather than an external system.

An email comes in, it's moved to the relevant sub-folder and fitted with a category. As more work is done on it and the category continues to change, and it may also be moved to a different folder as the work continues.

This has gone on for years and now we have a rather large mailbox. Over 185GB in size. I have never seen a mailbox so large and something needs to be done with it before something goes wrong. Already whenever anyone performs a search on the folder the entire mailbox grinds to a halt while the search processes and it will only get worse from here.

Question: What is the best way of dealing with this? (Assuming I can find them a different method to use for actual work flow to avoid getting into the same mess in future. This is out of the scope of the question though)

I'd like them to have a nice fresh mailbox to work from but still have access to the old data when needed.

Things I have to keep in mind:

1- I want to avoid generating mass transactions if possible as with a 185gb mailbox they could be substantial.

2- Whatever method I use to 'archive' or store the old mailbox, it needs to keep it's categories so their 'filing system' is intact.

3- The old data needs to be easily accessible, preferable through outlook.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Just one idea

I would check Understanding Storage Configuration for the recommended database size for your deployment. One of them being:

Supported: Approximately 16 terabytes.

Best practice:

• 200 gigabytes (GB) or less.
• Provision for 120 percent of calculated maximum database size.

If the before mentioned applies to you, and you want to stay under those 200 GB, you could create a new database and add an archive for your monster-mailbox, where you store mails older than ‘x’ days.

You can move old mails by setting up a PowerShell script as a task, that makes use of the Search-Mailbox command.

You can use the Search-Mailbox cmdlet to search messages in a specified mailbox and perform any of the following tasks:

Copy messages from the source mailbox and delete them from the target mailbox.

If you want to retain your folder structure, you might have to move the mails manually.

However, and I am sure you know that, you might have an underlying problem. How does a mailbox become so big? Maybe you need to think about a different solution on the long term. Another way of dealing with the workflow behind the mailbox.

Answer 2

You aren't going to be able to do anything without generating transaction logs. That is how Exchange works. You will need to either work with that, or have a new database with circular logging on it and take the risk while the content is being moved about.

At a minimum you are looking at a new database and then splitting the content up. 185gb mailbox is well over the tested limits of Outlook and Exchange, so you will be seeing issues.

I would be looking at how the data can be split up. It could be as simple as moving the subfolder's into their own mailbox.

If this a "project" type system, then that would probably work well. Setup a mailbox for each "project", then setup a group for each "project" as well. Give the group Full Mailbox permissions, then you can easily add and remove the members who need access. I doubt whether everyone in the company needs access to all of that data all of the time.

Have someone assigned to sort the email, so it goes in to the mailbox as it does now, then move it to the relevant mailbox. As a project finishes the mailbox can be closed.

The only other option I can think of is to remove it from Exchange. Use an archiving tool which can suck the content out of the mailbox. Get one that has Outlook plugins so the content is available through that route. Once the mailbox is empty, move the mailbox to a new database (along with any other mailboxes in that database) drop it and create a new one.

Simon.