If you have
attempted to remove a database on Exchange 2010 and higher, no doubt you will
have seen this error message:
"This mailbox
database contains one or more mailboxes, mailbox plans, archive mailboxes,
public folder mailboxes or arbitration mailboxes, Audit mailboxes. To get a
list of all mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database .
To get a list of all mailbox plans in this database, run the command
Get-MailboxPlan. To get a list of archive mailboxes in this database, run the
command Get-Mailbox -Database -Archive. To get a list of all public folder
mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database
-PublicFolder. To get a list of all arbitration mailboxes in this database, run
the command Get-Mailbox -Database -Arbitration. To get a list of all Audit
mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database -AuditLog. To
disable a non-arbitration mailbox so that you can delete the mailbox database,
run the command Disable-Mailbox . To disable an archive mailbox so you can
delete the mailbox database, run the command Disable-Mailbox -Archive. To
disable a public folder mailbox so that you can delete the mailbox database,
run the command Disable- Mailbox -PublicFolder. To disable a Audit mailbox so
that you can delete the mailbox database, run the command Get-Mailbox -AuditLog
| Disable-Mailbox. Arbitration mailboxes should be moved to another server; to
do this, run the command New-MoveRequest . If this is the last server in the
organization, run the command Disable-Mailbox -Arbitration
-DisableLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed to disable the arbitration mailbox. Mailbox
plans should be moved to another server; to do this, run the command
Set-MailboxPlan -Database ."
This is probably one
of the most useless errors in Exchange. It doesn't list all of the command
required to check the database is empty, it also listed commands not available
in the on premise version of Exchange.
The list of commands
to check, is as follows:
get-mailbox
-database "Databasename"
get-mailbox
-database "Databasename" -archive
get-mailbox
-database "Databasename" -arbitration
get-mailbox
-database "Databasename" -publicfolder
get-mailbox
-database "Databasename" -monitoring
get-mailbox
-database "Databasename" -auditlog
Where
"Databasename" is the name of the database you are trying to remove
and not all commands work on all versions of Exchange.
If any of those come
back with results, then you need to move the mailbox off:
Get-Mailbox
-Database "Mailbox Database 1" -AuditLog | new-moverequest
–targetdatabase "Mailbox Database 2"
After allowing the
domain to replicate, you should then be able to drop the database.
