Question

Help removing a "phantom" mailbox in Exchange 2007

Asked by: ndalmolin_13

Hello Exchange Experts,

Im running Exchange 2007.  Each morning a Powershell script is run that emails me a list of users that have exceeded their storage limit.  There is one user on this report that no longer works for our organization.  His account has been removed from AD and his mailbox has been deleted.  He should not be on the report at all.  If I input the following command, I receive an error stating the mailbox does not exist.
      Get-mailbox jnorquest

If I go into the Exchange Management Console and look for the mailbox, I find nothing.

However, if I run the following command, I get statistics for this user:
      Get-mailboxstatistics | where-object{$_.displayname eq Norquest, John} | FL

The command above gives me some details that state the database in which this mailbox is located is: warehouse.  I run the following command and the mailbox is not found:
      Get-mailbox database warehouse

Any ideas what is going on here?  Any ideas on how I can clear this ex-users mailbox statistics?  As always, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Nick

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Asked On
2009-11-03 at 07:16:52ID24867312
Topic

Exchange Email Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: endital1097Posted on 2009-11-03 at 07:25:31ID: 25729803

try the following
Get-MailboxStatistics -Server MBXSVR | Where { $_.DisconnectDate -ne $null }

 

by: shauncroucherPosted on 2009-11-03 at 08:24:20ID: 25730577

Also try this command:

Get-Mailbox | ?{$_.displayname -eq 'Norquest, John'} | FL

and

Get-Mailbox | ?{$_.displayname -eq 'John Norquest'} | FL

Anything returned here?

Shaun

 

by: ndalmolin_13Posted on 2009-11-03 at 09:32:48ID: 25731357

When I type the following command:  Get-MailboxStatistics -Server MBXSVR | Where { $_.DisconnectDate -ne $null }

The ex-user does come up along with four other users that I can't find in Active Directory.  There is a 5th user that is in AD and still employeed with the company.

When I type the following command:  Get-Mailbox | ?{$_.displayname -eq 'Norquest, John'}| fl

I don't get anything

 

by: ndalmolin_13Posted on 2009-11-03 at 09:54:23ID: 25731580

The "phantom" mailbox is located in Disconnected Mailboxes.  I think as soon as I remove it from their, my problem will be resolved.

Nick

 

by: endital1097Posted on 2009-11-03 at 09:56:08ID: 25731603

yes, the command i gave you was to located deleted/disconnected mailboxes
even though the mailbox is not active you will still get size statistics for it

 

by: ndalmolin_13Posted on 2009-11-03 at 12:44:26ID: 25733388

I know I have to use the Remove-Mailbox to purge these, but can't find an good example fo the syntax, do you know what that would be?

 

by: endital1097Posted on 2009-11-03 at 13:00:16ID: 25733562

use the following command to get the mailbox guid
$temp = Get-MailboxStatistics -Server MBXSVR | Where { $_.DisconnectDate -ne $null }
then use the command
Remove-Mailbox -Database Server01\Database01 -StoreMailboxIdentity $temp.MailboxGuid

 

by: endital1097Posted on 2009-11-03 at 13:01:06ID: 25733576

sorry forgot to update
$temp = Get-MailboxStatistics | Where {$_.DisplayName -eq 'Norquest, John'}

 

by: endital1097Posted on 2009-11-03 at 13:03:44ID: 25733611

$temp = Get-MailboxStatistics -Server MBXSVR | Where { $_.DisconnectDate -ne $null -and $_.DisplayName -eq 'Norquest, John' }
Remove-Mailbox -Database $temp.Database -StoreMailboxIdentity $temp.MailboxGuid

 

by: ndalmolin_13Posted on 2009-11-04 at 05:02:36ID: 31649449

That did it.  Thanks for all the help not only with helping me find where the problem was, but also the removal process.  It worked like a charm.  

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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