Dear Experts,

I'm running MS Exchange 2013 on Server 2012 R2.  I am cleaning/merging databases and have ran into a problem due to the arbitration mailboxes.  I am unable to delete a database because of the arbitration mailboxes.  

First, I identified all the mailboxes in the DB I wanted to move (DB01)

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB01" -Arbitration

I did the below to move the arbitration and user mailboxes to a different DB

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB01" | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase "DB02"

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB01" - Arbitration | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase "DB02"

The move was successful, but I was unable to delete DB01 because of an error related to the arbitration mailboxes when I attempted to delete it.

After researching this problem I used

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | Set-Mailbox -Arbitration -Database "DB02"

I have verified the active arbitration mailboxes are on DB02 by using

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | Ft Name, Database

Currently DB01 is dismounted and from what I can tell not doing anything except eating up a license.  Arbitration mailboxes still reside on DB01, but they are not active.  If anyone has any experience on how I can force the deletion of this database or remove the arbitration mailboxes for good it would make my boss and I so happy.  Thanks to everyone in advance.

Dear Experts,

I'm running MS Exchange 2013 on Server 2012 R2.  I am cleaning/merging databases and have ran into a problem due to the arbitration mailboxes.  I am unable to delete a database because of the arbitration mailboxes.  

First, I identified all the mailboxes in the DB I wanted to move (DB01)

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB01" -Arbitration

I did the below to move the arbitration and user mailboxes to a different DB

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB01" | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase "DB02"

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB01" - Arbitration | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase "DB02"

The move was successful, but I was unable to delete DB01 because of an error related to the arbitration mailboxes when I attempted to delete it.

After researching this problem I used

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | Set-Mailbox -Arbitration -Database "DB02"

I have verified the active arbitration mailboxes are on DB02 by using

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | Ft Name, Database

Currently DB01 is dismounted and from what I can tell not doing anything except eating up a license.  Arbitration mailboxes still reside on DB01, but they are not active.  If anyone has any experience on how I can force the deletion of this database or remove the arbitration mailboxes for good it would make my boss and I so happy.  Thanks to everyone in advance.

Please post the exact error when the database is mounted and you try to remove it.

Is this a multi domain forest? Set: set-adserversettings -viewentireforest $true

then check where the arbitration mailboxes are again:

get-mailbox -arbitration

I suggest you to go through the following procedure:

Run the cmdlet and see what mailboxes are still there.

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration |ft Name, Servername

Disable one by one: Example-

Disable-Mailbox SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9} -Arbitration -DisableLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed

Finally, remove the database

Remove-MailboxDatabase Mailbox Database 0912423282

Hi,

From your description, the arbitration mailboxes in DB01 is unnecessary. If you need to remove these arbitration mailboxes, you can use the following cmdlet.

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration -Database DB01 | Remove-Mailbox -Arbitration RemoveLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed

Hope this can be helpful to you.

Best regards,

Thanks for you reply Andy

The exact error message is:

This mailbox database contains one or more mailboxes, mailbox plans, archive mailboxes, public folder mailboxes or arbitration mailboxes. To get a list of all mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database <Database ID>. To get a list of all mailbox plans in this database, run the command Get-MailboxPlan. To get a list of archive mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database <Database ID> -Archive. To get a list of all public folder mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database <Database ID> -PublicFolder. To get a list of all arbitration mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database <Database ID> -Arbitration. To disable a non-arbitration mailbox so that you can delete the mailbox database, run the command Disable-Mailbox <Mailbox ID>. To disable an archive mailbox so you can delete the mailbox database, run the command Disable-Mailbox <Mailbox ID> -Archive. To disable a public folder mailbox so that you can delete the mailbox database, run the command Disable-Mailbox <Mailbox ID> -PublicFolder. Arbitration mailboxes should be moved to another server; to do this, run the command New-MoveRequest <parameters>. If this is the last server in the organization, run the command Disable-Mailbox <Mailbox ID> -Arbitration -DisableLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed to disable the arbitration mailbox. Mailbox plans should be moved to another server; to do this, run the command Set-MailboxPlan <MailboxPlan ID> -Database <Database ID>.

This is a single domain

Applied your Set command

get-mailbox -arbitration reveals the Exchange server the arbitration mailboxes are on, but not the db

get-mailbox -arbitration | Ft Name, Database - replies with all arbitration mailboxes residing on DB02

- Thank you

Hello and thanks for your reply

All of our databases live on the same server.  Won't disabling the SystemMailbox disable it in it's entirety?  Is there a way to choose which DB to disable it on?  I read that is will cause irreversible mailbox damage ( loss of data) if this happens.

Thank you

Hi Amy,

Thank you for your response.  I used your cmdlet but still receive the same error as before.  It is posted above in this thread.

Thank you for your help

Try this:

Remove-MailboxDatabase Mailbox Database 0912423282 -verbose

It should list the mailboxes still on that database by their DN.

Thanks for your response Andy,

I ran the cmdlet, but it did not return any mailboxes.  It returned the same error message as above.  Thinking I knew the direction you were going in - I ran the following:

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB02" -Archive

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB02" -Arbitration 

Get-Mailbox -Database "DB02" -PublicFolder

I did not receive any mailbox returns after these commands.

Thank you

Hi,have you remove completed move requests?

Get-MoveRequest -MoveStatus Completed | Remove-MoveRequest