Exchange 2003 User Mailbox Limits
HiWe want to enforce a user mailbox limit to stop users being allowed to send emails if their mailboxes are over a specific size.The first issue is that we want to be able to have different users having different size limits i.e. directors would have a larger limit than standard users. From what I can see the only way to do this would be to set each users mailbox size limit in Active Directory as this cant be done using a mailbox store policy as that just enforces limits for all users. Is there a way that we can set mailbox store policies and only have them being applied to certain groups i.e. if we created a security group called "Exchange Directors" and applied a prohibit send limit for them and then another group called "Exchange Standard" and applied a different prohibit send limit for them?The other issue is that I created a test mailbox and got enough content into take the mailbox size to 120mb. I then set the storage limits on this account in Active Directory to send warning and prohibit send at 100mb. This did not kick into effect until midnight that night which is fine. The issue is however that next morning I reduced the content on the mailbox down to under 100mb but I cant send email. I assume this restriction will be lifted at the next midnight however this isnt going to be any good as the users will scream to high heaven if they have to wait til the next day to be able to start sending email again. They accept that limits need to be enforced but we need it to be that once they delete email and get below the prohibit send limit that they are then able to send email again. Can this be done?Thanks
September 4th, 2009 11:46am

Follow the below best practices. Create a separate Mailbox Store for VIP users and implement Different Mailbox Limits. Create different Store for normal users and implement different Mailbox Limits. You can achieve both of them using Exchange System Policies you dont have to do this manually for each individual. See Below Use System Policies to Configure Mailbox Storage Limits in Exchange Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822938 Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|
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September 4th, 2009 1:10pm

ok, good idea on the creation of different mailbox stores.What about the other issue, I found this Microsoft article, do you think this is what I am looking for? http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb684892.aspxThanks
September 4th, 2009 1:15pm

Basically whenever you change the Mailbox Limits for certain users the changes donot apply for couple of hrs the reason is The default interval for refreshing the cached mailbox information is two hours. You can always change the settings as mentioned article. But also note that it may degrade the performance of Server as you are changing the default caching period.Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|
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September 4th, 2009 1:22pm

Hi, Yes, the default caching mechanism for mailbox information cache is two hours. You could restart the information store serviceto take effect immediately or modify the registry keys to reduce the interval. Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 mailbox size limits are not enforced in a reasonable period of time http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327378 Thanks, Elvis
September 8th, 2009 8:59am

Thanks for your helpI got the mailbox size limits enforced issue fixed and have set it at 20mins which is fine and all is working.I regards the other issue I have a problem in that I only have Exchange 2003 standard so i cant create additonal mailbox stores - is there any other way?Thanks
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September 8th, 2009 3:13pm

In that case one work around would be to place all VIP users in separate AD OU. and then use the ADMODIFY utility to bulk modify their MBX to unlimited or whatever limit you want to place. http://www.msexchange.org/articles/ADModify-Change-Exchange-Specific-AD-User-Attributes.html Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|
September 8th, 2009 3:33pm

ok, will give that a try and let you know, many thanks
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September 8th, 2009 5:50pm

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