Very interesting exchange issue
I have recently (<30 days ago) completed an exchange migration into 2007 from 2003. I had to migrate a few individuals who had very large mailboxes. The one in question now is a 14GB mailbox. I had to migrate his using the -configurationOnly switch from the command shell and then import a PST backup of his mailbox. No problem - that is pretty smooth most of the time. So after the migration, this mailbox was the last on this particular exchange 2003 server so I shut down the exchange services for a couple of weeks to make sure there is no loss of service/complaints. Everything looks good so I go to uninstall the exhcnage server and delete the guys mailbox from the server since the -configurationOnly will keep a copy on the original. When I delete the mailbox on the old exchange server, I get a call 10 minutes later saying he is having email problems. I investigate and sure enough - his mailbox is 'gone' So i'm pissed and need to quickly do research on restoring this mailbox from DPM. I create a RSG, restore the storage group his mailbox was in to the RSG. Then I use the toolbox to merge his restored mailbox. Well this won't work because of a GUID issue, at least that is what it appears to be. So now I need to figure out how to convert his GUID in adsiedit per recommendations from this forum on the topic. (By the way - why is the guid so awkward. When I edit a GUID, why is it all of a sudden in a different format? Did I miss this memo?) Anyways, so I use exmerge on the old exchange server and get a guid from that, convert it from some guys website - now it matches what the merge utility from the toolbox says it should be. Still won't merge. Says it ccan't find the user. Now i'm really pissed. So I create a 'new' mailbox for the guy and try to merge again - no luck. Then I get a phone call and the guy is getting errors sending/receiving emails (no ____ i'm thinking) and it turns out he gets a 'mailbox is over its quota' error message. I change the mailbox I just 'created' to be unlimited from the quote. I then notice at the general tab - exchange is reporting his mailbox as 14GB. So - in a nutshell - i migrate a mailbox from old exhcnage 2003 server to exchange 2007 server using -ConfigurationOnly. I wait 2 weeks - delete mailbox off the old exchange server. Now he can't send/receive mail. My exchange 2007 console does not show a mailbox for the guy now (previsously it showed he had a mailbox on the new server in the 10th storage group). DPM fails to restore because of a GUID problem (I will post a question about this on the DPM forum after I do some testing with a test account's mailbox as to avoid a dpm question in this post) and creating a 'new' mailbox for the guy from the ex2007 console 'fixes' the problem and he's back to using his 14GB mailbox. Any idea how deleting his mailbox from the exchange 2003 server caused this issue? Any idea why creating a 'new' mailbox for this guy had him back at his 14GB mailbox? When I created a mailbox - I created a new mailbox - selected 'existing users' entered the guys name - picked the 10th storage group and that was it. Any help in my weird mystery would be greatly appreciated. ZachZach Smith
July 20th, 2010 3:36pm

OK - So I may have figured out how his mailbox all of a sudden re-appeared as a 14GB mailbox eventhough I had just created a new one. When I changed his mailbox GUID in ADSIEDIT, that restored his mailbox to the original mailbox. What I still don't know is why would deleting his mailbox from the old exchange server break his guid/connection to his mailbox? This mailbox was migrated using -ConfigurationOnly, so deleting the old copy from the old server should not be an issue. ZachZach Smith
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July 20th, 2010 4:44pm

I'm not sure why you were doing the -ConfigurationOnly thing with ExMerge, but whatever. Obviously something didn't take and he was looking at the old mailbox. How did you "delete the guy's [old] mailbox"? -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "ZachSmith" wrote in message news:6d5811c3-100c-4699-a090-7daac9ecb194... OK - So I may have figured out how his mailbox all of a sudden re-appeared as a 14GB mailbox eventhough I had just created a new one. When I changed his mailbox GUID in ADSIEDIT, that restored his mailbox to the original mailbox. What I still don't know is why would deleting his mailbox from the old exchange server break his guid/connection to his mailbox? This mailbox was migrated using -ConfigurationOnly, so deleting the old copy from the old server should not be an issue. Zach Zach SmithEd Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
July 20th, 2010 5:11pm

Let me clarify. I only used ExMerge after the fact to get a GUID in a format that I could convert in ADSIEDIT. If you've ever tried to chagne a guid in adsiedit - you know what I mean. I used the Exchange 2007 management shell to move his mailbox using -configurationONly because it is a 14GB mailbox migrating over a T1 WAN connection and 10+hrs into a standard move - it fails. The error message led me to a forum here that recommended using a migrate -ConfigurationOnly and import a PST backup into the new mailbox. Given the fact that the mailbox is 14GB, I do not want to spend weekends troubleshooting and testing becuase on a T1, best case is 28 hours. However, this move would be about 35+ due to stuff not related to this post and not important. So - I used -ConfigurationOnly. This leaves a copy on the old exchange server and a new mailbox on the new exchange server. After this - I shut down the exchange services on the old server because this was the last mailbox on that server. Once I had no complaints (2 weeks after the fact). I want to uninstall the exchange server from the server. I need to delete any mailboxes in the store on that server before I can uninstall. So, I right-click his name and remove the mailbox. I did this with other users on the same server due to the same migration issues with no issues. This guy's breaks some how. It would seem logical that deleting his mailbox from the old server somehow broke his connection to his mailbox within his AD account because I believe changing his mailbox GUID back to what it was is what fixed his issues. Deleting his mailbox off the old server should not and did not delete his mailbox from the new server. The mailbox on the old server should not have any relevance at this point since he was migrated to a new server, however that is not the way it happened. So, any idea as to why deleting the mailbox from the old server caused this issue? Why would his AD account reference his old mailbox in any way from the old server? Thanks for the help. ZachZach Smith
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July 20th, 2010 5:18pm

Comments inline below. -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "ZachSmith" wrote in message news:9e557037-6e31-45d9-9db0-e451b5178c20... Let me clarify. I only used ExMerge after the fact to get a GUID in a format that I could convert in ADSIEDIT. If you've ever tried to chagne a guid in adsiedit - you know what I mean. I used the Exchange 2007 management shell to move his mailbox using -configurationONly because it is a 14GB mailbox migrating over a T1 WAN connection and 10+hrs into a standard move - it fails. The error message led me to a forum here that recommended using a migrate -ConfigurationOnly and import a PST backup into the new mailbox. Given the fact that the mailbox is 14GB, I do not want to spend weekends troubleshooting and testing becuase on a T1, best case is 28 hours. However, this move would be about 35+ due to stuff not related to this post and not important. So - I used -ConfigurationOnly. This leaves a copy on the old exchange server and a new mailbox on the new exchange server. After this - I shut down the exchange services on the old server because this was the last mailbox on that server. Once I had no complaints (2 weeks after the fact). I want to uninstall the exchange server from the server. I need to delete any mailboxes in the store on that server before I can uninstall. So, I right-click his name and remove the mailbox. I did this with other users on the same server due to the same migration issues with no issues. This guy's breaks some how. It would seem logical that deleting his mailbox from the old server somehow broke his connection to his mailbox within his AD account because I believe changing his mailbox GUID back to what it was is what fixed his issues. Deleting his mailbox off the old server should not and did not delete his mailbox from the new server. The mailbox on the old server should not have any relevance at this point since he was migrated to a new server, however that is not the way it happened. So, any idea as to why deleting the mailbox from the old server caused this issue? Why would his AD account reference his old mailbox in any way from the old server? Thanks for the help. Zach Zach SmithEd Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
July 20th, 2010 6:09pm

Comments inline below. -- Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems." . "ZachSmith" wrote in message news:9e557037-6e31-45d9-9db0-e451b5178c20... Let me clarify. I only used ExMerge after the fact to get a GUID in a format that I could convert in ADSIEDIT. If you've ever tried to chagne a guid in adsiedit - you know what I mean. I used the Exchange 2007 management shell to move his mailbox using -configurationONly because it is a 14GB mailbox migrating over a T1 WAN connection and 10+hrs into a standard move - it fails. The error message led me to a forum here that recommended using a migrate -ConfigurationOnly and import a PST backup into the new mailbox. Given the fact that the mailbox is 14GB, I do not want to spend weekends troubleshooting and testing becuase on a T1, best case is 28 hours. However, this move would be about 35+ due to stuff not related to this post and not important. >>> You didn't say you were using a slow link. So - I used -ConfigurationOnly. This leaves a copy on the old exchange server and a new mailbox on the new exchange server. >>> Yes, I know what ConfigurtionOnly means. Are both Exchange servers in the same organization (forest)? After this - I shut down the exchange services on the old server because this was the last mailbox on that server. Once I had no complaints (2 weeks after the fact). I want to uninstall the exchange server from the server. I need to delete any mailboxes in the store on that server before I can uninstall. So, I right-click his name and remove the mailbox. I did this with other users on the same server due to the same migration issues with no issues. This guy's breaks some how. It would seem logical that deleting his mailbox from the old server somehow broke his connection to his mailbox within his AD account because I believe changing his mailbox GUID back to what it was is what fixed his issues. Deleting his mailbox off the old server should not and did not delete his mailbox from the new server. >>> How did you do this? It should not be necessary since Active Directory considers his mailbox to be on the new server. From your description, it appears you actually deleted his new mailbox. You could purge the mailbox from the mailbox store, but that's very different from deleting his mailbox from Active Directory, and it's not at all necessary to remove the mailbox store. What's necessary before deleting the mailbox store is that no Active Directory user accounts point to the mailbox store you're deleting, not that there is a disabled mailbox present in the store. The mailbox on the old server should not have any relevance at this point since he was migrated to a new server, however that is not the way it happened. So, any idea as to why deleting the mailbox from the old server caused this issue? >>> I don't think you did what you think you did. Perhaps if you tell us the exact steps, we might be able to fathom what's going on. Why would his AD account reference his old mailbox in any way from the old server? Thanks for the help. Zach Zach SmithEd Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
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July 20th, 2010 6:14pm

OK - so I now know the cause of my issue. I just need some opinions on how to fix it. Here is what I have. I get IMCEAEX-_O=Company_OU=EXCHANGE+20ADMINISTRATIVE+20GROUP+20+28FYDIBOHF23SPDLT+29_CN=RECIPIENTS_CN=user@domain.com #550 5.1.1 RESOLVER.ADR.ExRecipNotFound; not found ## In an NDR. Users only get this NDR if they reply to an email from the affected user that is dated before the issue started. The user has a mailbox and the user has a disconnected mailbox. If I look in ADSIEDIT and look at the LegacyExchangeDN for the user, it is /o=Company/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=user. When I look at the disconnected mailbox, it has a column for LegacyExchangeDN and it is the same thing. I obviously can't connect this mailbox to the user account because it already has a mailbox. I can only think of two things to do and i'm not sure which. I could either backup the current mailbox to a PST. Delete the mailbox. Reconnect the existing mailbox and import the PST OR Delete the disconnected mailbox. Leave everything else as it is. Any thoughts? THanks, Zach Zach Smith
August 4th, 2010 12:19am

On Tue, 3 Aug 2010 21:19:55 +0000, ZachSmith wrote: > > >OK - so I now know the cause of my issue. I just need some opinions on how to fix it. Here is what I have. I get > >IMCEAEX-_O=Company_OU=EXCHANGE+20ADMINISTRATIVE+20GROUP+20+28FYDIBOHF23SPDLT+29_CN=RECIPIENTS_CN=user@domain.com #550 5.1.1 RESOLVER.ADR.ExRecipNotFound; not found ## > >In an NDR. Users only get this NDR if they reply to an email from the affected user that is dated before the issue started. The user has a mailbox and the user has a disconnected mailbox. > > If I look in ADSIEDIT and look at the LegacyExchangeDN for the user, it is /o=Company/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=user. > >When I look at the disconnected mailbox, it has a column for LegacyExchangeDN and it is the same thing. > >I obviously can't connect this mailbox to the user account because it already has a mailbox. I can only think of two things to do and i'm not sure which. > > >I could either backup the current mailbox to a PST. Delete the mailbox. Reconnect the existing mailbox and import the PST > >OR > >Delete the disconnected mailbox. Leave everything else as it is. Any thoughts? Make a note of the charateristics of the two mailboxes in the mailbox database (e.g. the size and number of items in each of them). Use the EMC to disable the mailbox. Use ADUC to create a new AD user -- but no mailbox. Connect the mailbox you're going to discard to that new AD user. Connect the remaining mailbox to the AD user. --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP
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August 4th, 2010 4:06am

Sounds like you have the major issues under control here now, however thought I would mention that should you want to avoid the GUID editing nightmares in the future you should check out; Lucid8's DigiScope http://www.lucid8.com/product/digiscope.asp since it can open raw EDB files without the need for the use of Recovery Storage Groups (RSG) and the GUID doesnt have to be present in AD either. Once the EDB is opened within DigiScope you can see all mailboxes and data and then Browse, Search, Export or Recover specific or all data to any Live Production Exchange Server, even cross version i.e. 2003 - 2010 etc. DigiScope supports Exchange 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000 and 5.5. Troy Werelius Lucid8
August 4th, 2010 4:29pm

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