Exchange 2010 Standard running on 2008 R2, having migrated from a 2003 Standard box running on Server 2003 32-bit. I have set up Managed Default Folders with the time I want the standard folders to be retained, such as Deleted items for 30 days and Inbox for 452 days (15 months). I set up a Managed Folder Mailbox Policy that included those managed default folders. I have assigned that policy to each mailbox. It hasn't been 30 days yet since implementing the policy, but I think that I'm running out of space with about a 65 gb size database for another reason. BTW, transaction log files are purged properly on backup. I also have a feeling that the 452 days for folders like the Inbox and Sent Items were reset when we migrated. The items are new on this server. Why would the new server feel that they were 452 days old? The reason that I think I'm running out of space is that I have noticed that items that I have "permanently deleted" using Outlook since July (when we migrated from 2003) are all still available for retrieval in my Outlook 2007 restore deleted items. I think that's where my issue is. Items just stay there and I have about 400 users on this database. If nothing is really getting purged, the database keeps growing. Originally in July after the migration, the database was 43 Gb. For 2003, I ran the weekly mailbox cleanup and got a report of it's success after it ran. The database never really grew in size under 2003 with weekly purges of old data. Assistance requested on how to purge these items so that they can't be recovered. I thought that they were there for 30 days by changing the settings under Organization Configuration, Mailbox, Database Limits to 30 days/30 days. I have also unchecked, "Don't permanently delete items until the database is backed up", thinking maybe there was an issue there, but there isn't. The data still sits. Also, is there a way to test for and purge mail items over 30 days of age in the Deleted items folder in the event that I want to do it manually using the console and not wait for the policy to kick in? Same for the Inbox items? Maybe checking the Received day and if over 452 days since received it could be moved to Deleted items or just deleted permanently? I'm under the impression that Exchange 2010 Standard has a 75 Gb limit, hence my desire to rectify this soon. Thank you. --Arnie

have you read these post regarding the different retention settings and dumpster 2.0 http://clintboessen.blogspot.com/2009/10/exchange-2010-dumpster-20.html http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/25/452632.aspx Then take a look at this one which gives you detailed information and the last link on the page is on Recoverable Items cleanup processes http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee364754.aspx Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Thanks for the explanations. For the 3rd link/last link about the Recoverable Items cleanup process, it states, You can't use the EMC to delete items from the Recoverable Items folder for mailboxes that aren't placed on litigation hold or don't have single item recovery enabled." I took the setting frrom the same links to "Enable Single Item Recovery for a Mailbox" and issued the command, "Set-Mailbox -Identity netnoid -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $True -RetainDeletedItemsFor 30" After running that command, it came back and said, "WARNING: The single item recovery setting may take up to 60 minutes to take effect." I didn't wait, but then executed, "Search-Mailbox -Identity netnoid -SearchDumpsterOnly -DeleteContent", but it came back and said the term "Search-Mailbox" is not recognized. Am I on the right track? Thanks, again. --Arnie

Are you on 2010 SP1? Are you using the Exchange Management Shell to eun the cmdlets? Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

1. Version 14.0 (Build 639.21) 2. Running: Search-Mailbox -Identity netnoid -SearchDumpsterOnly -DeleteContent returns: The term 'Search-Mailbox' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again. At line:1 char:15 + Search-Mailbox <<<< -Identity netnoid -SearchDumpsterOnly -DeleteContent + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Search-Mailbox:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException Thank you. --Arnie

You need to update to SP1 to use that option. Are you in a place/time where you can do the upgrade to SP1? Lots of changes and additions in SP1 so I would recommend going there for a multitude of reasons including but not limited to resolution of your issueTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Thank you. I keep saying that, eh? I can run the upgrade this weekend. Other than backing up everything, is there anything else to consider for SP1? I have plenty of space on all the drives (OS, Data, Logs). --Arnie

LOL NP and check this out http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/09/01/456094.aspx and all should go well but if you hit any issues I would check the Exchange 2010 forum with specific problems. I have had several that went off without a hitch so hopefully yours will be great as wellTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

I'll report back on Monday with the results. Thanks for the links and thanks, again. --Arnie

happy to help, have a great weekend and hope your upgrade goes off without any issues!Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

The upgade to SP1 went well, once the prerequisites were accomplished. So having run, "Set-Mailbox -Identity netnoid -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $True -RetainDeletedItemsFor 30" on Friday against my account, I was successfully left with only 30 days of retained items this morning. I had also run, "Search-Mailbox -Identity netnoid -SearchDumpsterOnly -DeleteContent" on Friday, so which one did the actual cleanup after I applied SP1 on Sunday? Secondly, how do I run the cleanup against the whole database at once? Definite progress. Thank you! --Arnie

Maybe I can answer my own question: Set-MailboxDatabase <identity> -DeletedItemsRetention <number of days> --Arnie

I believe that is correct and glad to hear you are making progress!Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

When I run, "Set-MailboxDatabase <identity> -DeletedItemsRetention <number of days>" as C:\Windows\system32>Set-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 0773310059" -DeletedItemsRetention 30 I get the error: A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '-DeletedItemsRetention'. + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Set-MailboxDatabase], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Set-MailboxDatabase I also can't run, "Start-ManagedFolderAssistant" among other commands like, "Get-LogonStatistics". It prompts me for an identity. I have tired the server name and the database name "Mailbox Database 0773310059", and I get the error: The operation couldn't be performed because object 'birch.do.local' couldn't be found on 'redwood.do.local'. + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (0:Int32) [Start-ManagedFolderAssistant], ManagementObjectNotFoundExceptio n + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 100E25C5,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.SystemConfigurationTasks.StartElcAssistant redwood.do.local is my DNS server. Birch is my mail server. Birch is found on redwood, so I'm thinking a DNS issue, but everything seems to be working correctly. Thank you. --Arnie

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123971.aspx within the article look for "Set-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database01" -DeletedItemRetention 7.00:00:00" NOTE format is DD.MM:HH:SS so your command should be Set-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 0773310059" -DeletedItemsRetention 30.00:00:00Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Set-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 0773310059" -DeletedItemsRetention 30.00:00:00 (All appears on one line) Results: A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '-DeletedItemsRetention'. + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Set-MailboxDatabase], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Set-MailboxDatabase Thank you, again. Arnie

Try it withou the plurality i.e. you had -DeletedItemsRetention TRY same string but with -DeletedItemRetention Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Details, details. [PS] C:\Windows\system32>Set-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 0773310059" -DeletedItemRetention 30.00:00:00 WARNING: The command completed successfully but no settings of 'Mailbox Database 0773310059' have been modified. So, I guess this was already set. But, is this the retention of "tombstone" items or just deleted items that's already set on the Managed Folders Policy? I hope that I'm using the term "tombstone" correctly. I'm referring to items no longer in the users' Deleted Items filder. Thanks, again. --Arnie

Yes for 2010 its referring to items that were emptied from the Deleted Items folder or Hard/Permanently deleted http://clintboessen.blogspot.com/2009/10/exchange-2010-dumpster-20.html http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/25/452632.aspxTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Hi, I noticed that noone actually wrote that Exchange 2010 doesn't have a limit of 75 GB. The limit is the same on standard and enterprise and it is 16 TB. You can see it here: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/licensing.aspx /MartinExchange is a passion not just a collaboration software.

Excellent pointTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

The 75 Gb limit was based on the old days, I guess. My database is still growing, now up to 66.2 Gb. Maybe things will not climb after the Mailbox Assistant runs tonight? OK. It appears now as though users' retention of tombstone items is down to 30 days. No longer do I see recoverable items from July (90+ days ago) in users' Restore Deleted Items. However, user's still have items in their Deleted Items folder that are over 30 days old. These settings were in the Default Managed Folders, a tab that no longer exists since installing SP1 yesterday. I have noticed that the tabs under Organization Configuration, Mailbox has changed quite a bit. There used to be Default Managed Folders and that's gone. I had those all set correctly and a policy assigned to mailboxes and that's gone, too. This is getting confusing. Originally, I had set the following based on the header of the email or calendar date Inbox, Sent Items, Calendar, Drafts to 452 Days. Deleted Items, Junk E-mail to 30 days. At the end of the time period, everything would be Deleted with no recovery, as planned. --Arnie

Lots changed in SP1, very confusing and aggravating but hopefully the last of major shifts for some time. Glad you are all straightened out. Have a great rest of the week! Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Hi, I believe that the default bahavior for deleted items is 30 days after they are deleted not 30 days after they were sent. If you lost some managed folder settings this can explain why you still see some old mails under deleted items. /MartinExchange is a passion not just a collaboration software.

Correct, the DeletedItemRention has to do with items that are emptied from the deleted items folder OR hard deleted, i.e. Shift+Delete if you want to force delete/manage items in mailboxes check out these links http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd297955.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123958.aspx Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Thank you. I'm going to have to research what my retention tags should look like. The default policy that I had previously assigned to the default folders no longer exists and is no longer assigned to any mailboxes. From what I understand, you create the retention policy tags, assign them to a retention policy and assign the retention policy to a mailbox. It actually looks simpler than before if I'm on the right track here. --Arnie

Correct nothing would have migrated you are on the right track. I would suggest setting up a guinea pig mailbox and test away :-) Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

If I start a new policy, does the clock start ticking when the policy is implemented? For example, if I create a mailbox retention tag for the Junk folder for 30 days before they're deleted and I implement the policy tomorrow, do I have to wait 30 days for the policy to kick in, since everything is new to that policy? Or does the policy check the status of the Junk mail folder and immediately process those items over 30 days old? Thank you. --Arnie

Hi, During the online maintenance it checks the timestamps of when the mail was receive, when it was deleted an so on, so if you have a main in deleted items that was deleted over 30 days ago it should be gone the day after you implement the policy. /MartinExchange is a passion not just a collaboration software.

Thank you. Implementing today. Hopefully, after maintenance tonight it will be gone. Will report back in 24h. --Arnie

Unfortunately, the Deleted Items that are over 30 days old are still there today in Deleted Items.

It starts counting from the date the items were emptied from the deleted items folder OR hard/permanently deleted in place. i.e. If I do a normal delete and items get moved to my Deleted Items Folder they are just moved Once you empty the deleted items folder the count starts on that day and also the nightly maintenance must first run in order to clear the flag, i.e.. you are past retention and may be deleted Conversely if you SHIFT+DELETE something the counter starts from that day forward Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Sorry, I wasn't clear about what I was referring to. The Recover Deleted Items appears to be working properly, as best I can tell, with your assistance. I'm referring now to the regular Deleted Items and the policy that I had set up yesterday. The rentention tag is set for 30 days for the Deleted Items folder. The policy includes that retention tag and is assigned to two users. Both users have Deleted Items over 30 days old. In fact, there are Deleted Items around 90 days old in one of them. They should be removed from Deleted Items and made available under Recover Deleted Items. They didn't move last night. Thank you. --Arnie

Hmm should be based upon the day they enter the deleted items folder Why don't you set up a test mailbox and then set the policy for 2 days on a folder for that user and then run some test i.e. move a 90 day old item into the folder and see if its gone the first day or if it waits for 48 hours. I think its going to wait based upon the day it entered that folder since that really would be best, i.e. 30 days from the time an item enters the Deleted Items folder kill it. Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Thanks. I created the test retention tag: Exchange Management Shell command completed: New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name '2 Day email deletion test' -Type 'DeletedItems' -Comment 'TEST' -AgeLimitForRetention '2.00:00:00' -RetentionAction 'PermanentlyDelete' -RetentionEnabled $true I created the Policy: Exchange Management Shell command completed: New-RetentionPolicy -Name 'TEST Retention Policy' -RetentionPolicyTagLinks '2 Day email deletion test' Exchange Management Shell command completed: 'mydomain.local/Users/netnoid' | Set-Mailbox -RetentionPolicy 'TEST Retention Policy' Those commands run together in the EMC, so the second command wouldn't stand on its own. I'll see what happens in two days, or so. I have about 50 items over the past two months in there. Thank you. --Arnie

Great let me know how it goesTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Well, the mailboxes with the 2-day policy did not clear out their Deleted Items after 48 hours. I'll report back Monday. I created a new account and put in a message and deleted it. I'll check to see how it's handled on Monday. Maybe accounts that were migrated from Exchange 2003 have this problem? We'll see. Thank you. --Arnie

Yes let me know what happens and if it still doesn't work by Monday give me an outline of all the steps you have taken with detailed instructions and we can break it down and find the missing piece (if it doesn't work that it) Have a good a good weekend!Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

I can confirm that for two out of the three accounts that the 1-day deleted items retention worked correctedly (good news) and the third account deleted items up to the 2-weeks ago point, which is an improvement. That's the bad news. All three accounts should have deleted all of the Deleted Items after 1 day. I had changed the original two days to one day to just hasten the process. I looked at my retained items today and saw that they were moved from the Deleted Items folder at 12:02 AM. The process started correctly around 3 days ago. As of October 29, I have now set all of my user accounts to: Delete Junk E-mail items at 30 days with possible recovery. Delete Deleted items at 30 days with possible recovery. Delete Outbox items at 30 days with possible recovery. Delete Sync Issues items at 30 days with possible recovery. Delete Inbox items at 452 days with possible recovery. Delete Sent Items items at 452 days with possible recovery. Delete Draft items at 452 days with possible recovery. So, I created the above retention tags and created a policy that includes those tags. The policy has been applied to user accounts as of Saturday, about 48 hours ago. I checked one account and the Deleted Items remain in the user's account from several months ago. Nothing has changed for that particular account, yet. I'll wait another day or two and report back. Thank you. The database is up to 70.2 Gb. Thank you.

Do remember that the 75 GB limit isn't an issue in Exchange 2010 so no need to worry about the DB size as long as you have free GB on the server. /MartinExchange is a passion not just a collaboration software.

Thanks for the update The items that were properly removed, when were they sent to the "deleted items" folder? The items that were not removed, same question, i.e. when were they sent to the "deleted items" folder? Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Thanks for the quick replies. I was just looking at items in the Deleted Items folder and yes, they were moved to retention. That was the only folder with a retention tag and within a policy that the users had applied to them. The items not touched were in Deleted Items for about 2 weeks. --Arnie

ok so were there ANY items that were SENT to the DELETED ITEMS folders PRIOR to implementing the POLICY removed? Or were only items you sent the DELETED ITEMS folders AFTER the POLICY was in place removed? Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Yes, there were emails in place before the policy was instituted and those were removed. Not sure about afterwards, but if they were there before, I think that would answer your question.

Agreed just trying to break the problem down i.e. your current replies seem to suggest anything moved into the deleted items folder POST POLICY are being handled properly, however anything PRE POLICY are not. Can you validate that statement?Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Not exactly. pre-policy worked fine for the one user that I'm sure had things there for a few months. The user had quite a few items in Deleted Items. I applied the 1-day policy to the user. After about 3 days, the policy ran and items were moved to retention for 30 more days. The Deleted Items for that user was clear this morning. Pre-policy doesn't seem to be working for standard users right now that have a 30-day tag on Deleted Items before moving to retention. I'm going to change the three accounts back to the 1-day retention policy for Deleted Items and see how it flies for a few days. All three of those accounts received additional email in Deleted Items today. I'm also going to put in the test account created post policy that has one Deleted item in it. That should move within 2 days. It may not move tonight because I think it goes from 12:00AM to 12:00AM to count day 1. So, it has to be there tonight at 12 and tomorrow at 12, so we can see on Wednesday morning (PDT). Thank you, --Arnie

ok thanks for the updateTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

The test 2-day retention policy doesn't seem to be working. I'll wait another day to be absolutely certain. As I try to count days in a convoluted fashion as MS probably does, maybe the system determines that Tuesday is the day to start counting at zero and Wednesday is day 1 and Thursday is day 2. Whatever. I'll be certain tomorrow if the items in the Deleted Items and Junk Mail folder are still there and not moved to retention, as I would expect them to. Thank you. --Arnie

Thanks for the updateTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

Mixed feelings here. I don't think that the policy is working on emails already in the folders. I'll be gone on vacation until next Friday. I'll not muck with anything until then and see where we stand. Of interest, even though the database is almost 74 Gb now, it seems to be taking up 153 Gb of drive space. If I look at the drive, it's 408 Gb and has 255 Gb free. If I go into the only folder on the drive and check properties, it shows 73.9 Gb. So, I know that there's a lot of whitespace, too. --Arnie

Really odd Regarding disk space if the file size is 73.9GB then I doubt that its the culprit taking up the missing space, could be that you have a VSS copy on the drive though. That would make sense because its about double the size of the EDB. Have a great vacation Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

I can confirm that items in my four test mailboxes are deleting properly as far as junk mail and deleted items. Older items in the mailboxes that should have been gone on day 1 (they were over a week old when the 2-day retention policy was put in place) didn't delete until the new items started to get deleted, if that makes any sense. The retention policy that was set in place to delete all of my users Deleted Items after 30 days isn't working, yet. It hasn't reached 30 days, so that will be the test in about 13 days from now to see if it attacks the entire Deleted folder including items over a year old. I have some users with items 18 months old in their Deleted Items. --Arnie

Thanks for the update. I will do some additional research on why this is, but seems like its a timing issue and then eventually the policy kicks in and its fine but its determined based upon items entering the policy sphere X days from when the policy was implemented if I am following you, is that correct? Will be interested to see what happens in 13 days!Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com

I am in agreement with your assessment. Thank you. --Arnie

Good news. The retention policy appears to be working correctly. I have checked a user's account who is apparently incapable of deleting an email for possibly religious reasons (or they just can't be bothered with such nonsense), so they were a good candidate to check in with. Nothing previously was ever since going to 2010, so they were up to over 500 days of retention. As of today, the last email in their Inbox is dated 8/23/2009, which is exactly 452 days (15 months) ago as of yesterday and fits the policy which would have run last night at the end of day 452. When checking yesterday, the last email in their box was 8/22/2009, so I'm convinced that the problem is solved. The database size has stopped growing now as of about 5 days ago and has settled in at 76.2 Gb. It looks like things are clearing out as expected. Troy et al., thank you for your assistance. --Arnie

Excellent, thanks for the update!Troy Werelius www.Lucid8.com