Tuesday 21 July 2015

How to Disable Mailbox from Exchange 2010 using EMC or PowerShell

In Exchange 2010, User wants to disable/remove or delete the user mailbox in exchange 2010 then they can use two methods i.e.; EMC and PowerShell.

To Disable users Mailbox Exchange 2010

In Exchange 2010, user Mailbox can be disable by following two methods:
  •        Using Exchange Management Console
  •         Using PowerShell

Using Exchange Management Console to Disable Mailbox.

To Disable Users Mailbox in Exchange 2010 by using Exchange Management Console follow the given steps:
  •  Navigate from Recipient Configuration to Mailboxes.
  • The Result pane contains a list of Mailboxes.
  • Select the user Mailbox which you want to disable.
  •    Right click on the selected mailbox and then click to disable.
  •    After clicking on disable, a message will display for the confirmation of disability. Select Yes for the conformation.


Using PowerShell to Disable Mailbox Exchange 2010

To disable Exchange Mailboxes using PowerShell use the command Disable-Mailbox  given below
Syntax:  Disable-Mailbox mailbox name. This command will disable the mailbox whose name has been provided in the field.

For Example: Disable-Mailbox dawsonhenry@mailtest.com will disable the mailbox of dawsonhenry@mailtest.com





The Above mentioned PowerShell command will display a confirmation command to assure disable process. Press “Y” to conform.

To Remove Users Mailbox Exchange 2010

In Exchange 2010, users Mailbox can be removed or deleted by following two methods:

(1)    Using Exchange Management Console
(2)    Using PowerShell

Using Exchange Management Console to Remove user mailbox

Remove Users Mailbox Exchange 2010 using Exchange Management Console can be done by following the given steps:
  • Navigate from Recipient Configuration to Mailboxes.
  • The Result pane contains a list of Mailboxes.
  • Select the user Mailbox which you want to remove.
          
  •  Right click on the selected mailbox and then click to remove.

  •   After clicking to disable, a message will display for the confirmation of disability. Then click "Yes" to conform.

Using PowerShell to Remove Mailbox Exchange 2010

To remove mailbox from Exchange 2010 using PowerShell by using the command Remove-Mailbox as given below:
Syntax: Remove-Mailbox Identity
This command will delete the user mailbox.
Example: Remove-Mailbox mailtest\dawsonhenry
Will delete the mailbox of dawsonhenry





Above mentioned PowerShell command will display a confirmation command to assure remove or delete process. Press “Y” to conform.

Conclusion

We had concluded that it is possible to disable/remove or delete the user mailbox using Exchange Management Console and PowerShell. Both methods are applicable for Exchange 2010 it depends on user choice to opt for any of them. 

Friday 17 July 2015

Overview on DAG (Database Availability group) for Exchange server 2010

DAG is a group of about 16+ mailbox servers that host a set of databases. Exchange server 2010 support up to 100 databases per server. The Mailbox server, which is a member of the DAG is able to host copies of active and passive database.
                                                     Fig: Exchange Server 2010 DAG  

In this fig, the Mailbox Server 1 host the active copy of Database 1 and the remaining Database 2 and 3 are Passive copy of mailbox database. The active Database 1 has its data or information stored as a replicated copy in database 2 and 3, whatever modifications made in Database 1, the same will reflect in Database 2 and 3.
But when Database 1 got corrupted or server down then it became Passive and switch over to another DAG member i.e.; Database 2 which stores its copy has become Active. And replication of files between Database 2 (Active) and Database 3 (Passive) begins.
This describes that Mailbox Server provides the ability to deploy services and enhance the availability of data from Mailbox server. Mailbox server provides the ability of data failure recovery through replication system. Whenever the active database gets corrupted due to any reason, it switches over to another database which belongs to DAG (Database Availability Group) member and become active.

Witness server

In Database Availability Group, witness server is the additional server which is not the part of DAG but plays a vital role that it reserve over failure by continuing updating in every 30 seconds to the DAG.  

  •  Witness server should not be the member of a DAG.
  •  The witness server must be in active directory.

Occurrence of Mailbox Database Replication

Data Replication is done in two ways:

  1.  File Replication
  2.  Block mode Replication

File Replication


In File Replication system, the transaction logs are created and gets closed after reaching 1 MB size and then replicate in each member of a DAG that stores in mailbox server. File Replication is done in Exchange server 2010RTM (initial release version).

Block mode Replication


In exchange server 2010 sp1, the file replication makes the database copies to sync with each other. Once the mailbox database sync to each other they switch over to ‘block mode replication’. It is a continuing mode of replication, where the chances of failure decrease. In Block mode Replication each database replication is transmitted to the log buffer and further transfer to the active and passive copies of the database.