Deleting an Exchange database requires more than just moving the user mailboxes to a new database. Exchange databases also contain system mailboxes that are not displayed in the EAC.
When trying to delete or remove an Exchange database, the following error message appears:
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.
As already mentioned at the beginning, these are system mailboxes. The mailboxes are visible via the Exchange Management Shell and must also be moved to another database:
The monitoring mailboxes (HealthMailbox) can be moved to another database with the following command:
Get-Mailbox -Database FWDB1 -monitoring | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase FWDB
After all monitoring mailboxes have been moved, you can check whether there are any other system mailboxes in the database to be removed:
get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -Monitoring get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -AuditLog get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -Archive get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -RemoteArchive get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -PublicFolder get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -Arbitration get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -AuxAuditLog get-mailbox -Database fwdb1 -GroupMailbox
If there are other mailboxes, these can also be moved with a MoveRequest. The status of the MoveRequest can be checked with the following command:
Get-MoveRequest | Get-MoveRequestStatistics
Sobald alle Moverequest den Status „Completed“ haben, können die Moverequest mit dem folgenden Befehl entfernt werden:
Get-MoveRequest | Remove-MoveRequest
The database can now be removed:
Get-MailboxDatabase FWDB1 | Remove-MailboxDatabase
The database files are not deleted and must be deleted manually.
