Archiving mailboxes that are hidden from the Global Address List (GAL)

 

 

ENABLING HIDDEN MAILBOXES

When a mailbox is hidden from the Global Address List (GAL), Enterprise Vault (EV) will not allow the mailbox to be enabled for archiving.  This is expected behavior.

To change the default behavior, perform the following:

Change the value of MbxExchangeState for every hidden mailbox record in the table ExchangeMailboxEntry located in the EnterpriseVaultDirectory database by executing the following query from Microsoft SQL Server:

USE EnterpriseVaultDirectory
UPDATE ExchangeMailboxEntry
SET MbxExchangeState = '0' WHERE MbxExchangeState = '2'


After completing this, the hidden mailboxes will now be listed in the window Select the mailboxes that are to be enabled of the Enable mailboxes for Archiving wizard.

IMPORTANT: Each time the Provisioning Task is run the MbxExchangeState value of all hidden mailbox records is changed back to "2".  Therefore, each time hidden mailboxes are to be enabled it will be necessary to repeat the above step.  The Provisioning Task is run twice per day by default according to the schedule set.



ARCHIVING HIDDEN MAILBOXES

To archive the newly enabled hidden mailboxes by a "Run Now" command on the archiving task, ensure to repeat the SQL statement above IF the Provisioning Task has been run since the statement was last run. In short, the Archiving Task needs to find the value of MbxExchangeState to be 2 in order to perform "Run Now" archiving against a hidden mailbox.


To archive the newly enabled hidden mailboxes by scheduled archiving:

Create the following registry value on the EV server:

Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Agents
DWORD Value: ProcessHiddenMailboxes
Value data: 1

Restart each Exchange Mailbox Archiving Task to apply this change.

Location on a 64bit server is HKLM\Software\Wow6432node\KVS\Enterprise Vault\Agents

Note: This registry setting ONLY works for scheduled archiving, as the processes of "Run Now" archiving and Enabling Mailboxes for Archiving require the MbxExchangeState value to be set to 0.  This registry value can be set once and left; and all future scheduled archiving runs can archive hidden mailboxes as long as it is set.

Warning: Incorrect use of the Windows registry editor may prevent the operating system from functioning properly. Great care should be taken when making changes to a Windows registry. Registry modifications should only be carried-out by persons experienced in the use of the registry editor application. It is recommended that a complete backup of the registry and workstation be made prior to making any registry changes.