some advanced exchange 2010 help needed please

[RabbieBurns]

on my testbed exchange 2010 box, i took a p2v of it and tried to upgrade to sp1 on the resulting VM.. This install only has 1 active mailbox so its not exactly used much. It failed at the Mailbox upgrade part, and completely stuffed the install..

 

I think its due to when I tried to move the mail database, and it corrupted, and I had to create a new database, and migrate the few test mailboxes to the new one, but the old one is still there.

 

Trying to delete the old database, I get the following:

 

--------------------------------------------------------

Microsoft Exchange Error

--------------------------------------------------------

The mailbox database 'Mailbox Database 1883401331' cannot be deleted.

 

Mailbox Database 1883401331

Failed

Error:

This mailbox database contains one or more mailboxes or arbitration mailboxes. To get a list of all mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database . To get a list of all arbitration mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database -Arbitration. Before you can remove this mailbox database, you must disable, move, or remove user mailboxes and move arbitration mailboxes.

 

 

Ive deleted all the old inactive test mailboxes in the exchange, and running the 2 commands above doesnt list any mailboxes any more.. But I still cannot delete the old database... Any suggestions? Cheers

Edited February 24, 2011 by RabbieBurns

[sukh]

Hi

 

Search your AD for any mailboxes which are on this database. Use ADUC and search for Exchange recipients and do not specify and name to look for.

 

You should get a list of all mailboxes that appear and then you can see if an account does exisit on that DB.

 

Regards

S

[sukh]

Hi

 

Also, are you using the RC or RTM version of Exchange 2010?

 

Regards

Sukh

[RabbieBurns]

2010 RTM Standard edition on 2008R2 Standard

[tarquel]

n my testbed exchange 2010 box, i took a p2v of it and tried to upgrade to sp1 on the resulting VM.. This install only has 1 active mailbox so its not exactly used much. It failed at the Mailbox upgrade part, and completely stuffed the install..

 

Just a FYI but...

 

Are you saying that u have both the physical and virtual online/active? Really, the only instance i can think of doing this is if you are retiring that physical machine [at least, retiring it in the sense of wiping it cleanly without ever booting it back up again ] or the changes ur making to the VM version will still be affecting the attributes and settings in AD, and should you turn off / bin the VM, and go back to the physical, you could be in for even more pain

 

I would say that best practice would be to just create a VM with Srv2008 R2, install Exchange 2010 RTM with the MBX role, move some mailboxes into it from the other server, and then try upgrading it.

 

Of course, none of this helps u really but thought i should mention it regardless.

 

Have you tried dismounting the database first? and if u've left the physical server on, then its probably not helping too

 

HTH

Nath

[RabbieBurns]

they both werent active at once no.. i shutdown the real one and switched to the virtual one for sp1 installation, it failed, so i shut it down and rebooted the other one, which just picked where it left of and is working fine. What modifications does sP1 make to AD out of interest, i hadnt thought of that..

 

Also, the old databse is offline/dismounted and inactive etc

 

I could just do a fresh sp1 integrated exchange install on another vm and move the mailbox accross, but Im interested in learning about what the error means..

[Arthur]

If the database you are trying to delete contains arbitration mailboxes you won't be able to remove it until they have been moved to a different DB.

 

Get-Mailbox -Database "Mailbox Database 1883401331" -arbitration | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase [b]AnotherDB[/b]

 

# Run this command to check if the database contains arbitration mailboxes
Get-Mailbox -Database "Mailbox Database 1883401331" -arbitration

[sukh]

Hi

 

As stated by Arthur it may be that you still have arbitration mailboxes in the mailbox DB. These are hidden so you won't be able to see them unless you run the PS command. Change the DB01 to your databse name and see the results of the PS command.

 

Get-Mailbox -Database DB01 -Arbitration | ft -wrap -auto

 

Then I assume you want to remove these mailboxes and NOT move them to another database, if so then perform the following from the EMS. Replace the SystemMailbox in quotes with your results from the command above.

 

Remove-Mailbox "SystemMailbox{1f05a927-3be2-4fb9-aa03-b59fe3b56f4c}" -Arbitration -RemoveLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed

 

Regards

Sukh

[tarquel]

Arthur / Sukh: he said he's checked for arbitration mailboxes....

 

running the 2 commands above doesnt list any mailboxes any more

 

[sukh]

Hi

 

"Arthur / Sukh: he said he's checked for arbitration mailboxes....

 

 

running the 2 commands above doesnt list any mailboxes any more "

 

What do you mean by anymore? Did you run the Get-Mailbox -Database DB01 -Arbitration | ft -wrap -auto ? If so what were the results? Did you see any mailboxes listed?

 

If so, did you then run the second command? If so, what was the result?

 

If both commands worked and the mailboxes were removed, did you try and remove the database again?

 

Regards

Sukh

[RabbieBurns]

Thanks.. The Remove-Mailbox thing was the key.. there was a "FerderationMailbox" or sometihng still left over..

 

All gone now, and database sucessfully removed..

 

Cheers all

[sukh]

Hi

 

Glad it worked. FerderationMailbox is a system mailbox too.

 

Regards

Sukh

[tarquel]

hehe that was my initial thought until you said you had checked using both those commands the irony here is I've had the same message myself some while back but nothing to do with SP1 or anything.

 

Oh well, least you got there in the end.

 

What i meant is that Exchange itself has alot of aspects in AD, not SP1 specifically, so switching between two machines that have the same computername but different config's / SP's of exchange on them would be a very dangerous thing IMO. Yes, it may work, and in your case, its a test setup / domain / etc, but what if it did some horrific things "behind the scenes" that you ddint see / werent aware of, and you did the same on a production Exchange setup..... just advising caution here as you should never clone Exchange servers due to the way a exchange server is tied to AD is all I meant

 

I know you've sorted it but for anyone else, here's a little thing on this error message:

 

Delete default Mailbox Database & move Arbitration Mailboxes

 

Cheers

Nath

[RabbieBurns]

yeh, i must have mis-typed it first time round, and you were all right about the cause and resolution..

 

Anyway, as previously mentioned, this is just my own testing 'playground' arena for 2010 exchange so I can hopefully fsk it up as much as possible and learn things from it..

 

Our production exchange (2007) runs on proper hardware, with proper backups, and Im not even looknig to upgrade that to 2010 exchange until at least the end of the year...

[RabbieBurns]

seems ive stuffed it up...

 

any way back from this?

[sukh]

Hi

 

1. Can you clarify if you are running SP1 on the production server or on the test server?

2. Is the test server part of your production AD or is it isolated in it's own AD?

3. Can you confirm if any databases exist on this server? If so, can you check if they have the systems mailbox on them?

4. Can you check Event Log for additional errors?

5. This may be related to the removal of the DB/mailboxes.

 

Regards

Sukh

Edited February 27, 2011 by sukh

[RabbieBurns]

Hi suk, this is all test, the entire AD, DC, exchange, etc

 

I have found this link: When you try to install the Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox role, the installation process fails

 

and run the command:

New-Mailbox -Arbitration -Name FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042 -UserPrincipalName FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042@

which I think has fixed things.. will report back soon!

 

 

Thanks

[sukh]

Hi,

 

That artilcle is saying to recreate the system mailboxes which were deleted before.

 

Did you not create a new database after the old one was deleted and check these?

 

Let me know how you get along.

 

Regards

Sukh

[RabbieBurns]

I already had a new database, but by deleting that federation thing from the old/broken database it seemed to remove the entry in AD too. Running that command seems to have brought back the AD entry..

 

Its late now, but will report back tomorrow how things are. Thanks for your continued help.

[sukh]

Hi

 

How did it go?

 

Regards

Sukh

[RabbieBurns]

thanks for the follow up, been really busy this week havent had a chance to play, will report back as soon as I can

[RabbieBurns]

So today I have finally had a chance to follow this up. I did a P2V and shutdown the existing one. I installed SP1 of exchange which went well. Then I installed SP1 of 2008R2 which also went well. Finally I upgraded it to 2008R2 Enterprise from the Standard that it was. Its working great (touch wood).

 

Thanks everyone for getting this sorted.

[RabbieBurns]

ok still playing with this test setup. There is a 2008 Server which was the PDC and held the main roles. I want to remove this 2008 server, so I have transferred the FSMO roles to a new 2008r2 dc.

 

To test, I shutdown the 2008 server, but now exchange doesnt work (well, owa, I havent tested outlook).

 

	A server that contains information about your user account and mailbox can't be found.
Show details


Request
Url: https://mail.peninsulamediagroup.co.uk:443/owa/auth.owa
User host address: 220.233.58.237
OWA version: 14.1.287.0

Exception
Exception type: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADTransientException
Exception message: Could not find any available Global Catalog in forest pmg.co.uk.

Call stack
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ConnectionPoolManager.GetConnection(ConnectionType connectionType, ADObjectId domain, String serverName, Int32 port, NetworkCredential credential)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ConnectionPoolManager.GetConnection(ConnectionType connectionType)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADSession.GetConnection(String preferredServer, Boolean isWriteOperation, Boolean isNotifyOperation, String optionalBaseDN, ADObjectId& rootId, ADScope scope)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADGenericReader.GetNextResultCollection(Type controlType, DirectoryControl& responseControl)
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADPagedReader`1.GetNextResultCollection()
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADGenericPagedReader`1.GetNextPage()
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADGenericPagedReader`1.d__4.MoveNext()
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.Recipient.ADRecipientSession.FindMiniRecipientBySid[TResult](SecurityIdentifier sId, IEnumerable`1 properties)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.OwaIdentity.CreateOWAMiniRecipientBySid()
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.OwaWindowsIdentity.InternalCreateExchangePrincipal()
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.FBASingleSignOnFilterChain.GetExchangePrincipalFromWindowsIdentity(WindowsIdentity windowsIdentity, String smtpAddress)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.FBASingleSignOnFilterChain.HandleIfLegacyRedirect(WindowsIdentity identity, String explicitLogonUser, Configuration owaConfiguration, HttpApplication httpApplication)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.FBASingleSignOnFilterChain.FilterRequest(Object source, EventArgs e, RequestEventType eventType)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.RequestFilterChain.ExecuteRequestFilterChain(Object source, EventArgs e, RequestEventType eventType)
Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa.Core.OwaRequestEventInspector.OnPostAuthorizeRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

 

If I use DCPromo to remove it as a DC role, will that resolfve the issue, or is there some other things I need to transfer off that I havent thought about / know about ?

[sukh]

Hi

 

Seems like new Exchange thinks that the new DC isn't a GC. Can you confirm it is?

 

Also, try and let Exchange discover the new topology, try and restart the Microsft Exchange Active Directory Topology Service

 

Cheers

Sukh

[RabbieBurns]

How do I confirm that it is a global catalogue?