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Trouble removing 2016 Mailbox Database

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015 4:51 AM

I'm stuck trying to remove an unused (first) mailbox database on my Exchange 2016 server.  I've moved all mailboxes (including Arbitration, AuditiLog, Archive and Monitoring) out of the database.  Now I am stuck with the following error:

[code]This mailbox database is associated with one or more active PublicFolderMailboxMigration requests. To get a list of all PublicFolderMailboxMigration requests associated with this database, run Get-PublicFolderMailboxMigrationRequest | ?{ $_.RequestQueue -eq "<Database ID>" }. To remove a PublicFolderMailboxMigration request, run Remove-PublicFolderMailboxMigrationRequest <Recipient ID\Request Name>.[/code]

Unfortunately, running the suggested commend yields nothing, nothing at all.  I've removed ALL Move requests and batches I could find but I'm still stuck here.

How the heck am I supposed to remove this pesky empty database of mine?

All replies (10)

Tuesday, December 22, 2015 10:10 PM ✅Answered | 5 votes

Satyajit,

Just another update for you.  I was able to delete the database using the web GUI once I removed a lingering object from AD located under CN=PublicFolderMailboxMigrationRequests,CN=Mailbox Replication,CN=MyOrgNAme,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com.  I did not end up manually deleting the database itself from ADSI.  Therefor, I will now unmark your answer and mark this as the answer. 

How this lingering request got stuck in AD but would not show running the commands in Powershell is obviously where the root of the problem lies.

Thanks,

Jason

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 5:30 AM

Let's walk through this once more to make sure we have it all:

  • No mailboxes - Arbitration, Archive, Auditlog and Monitoring
  • No requests of batches - mailbox move requests, PF Mailbox Migration requests or Batch Migrations

What about Public Folder mailboxes? I did not see that in the list you have above. 

Have your run these commands yet?

  • Get-PublicFolderMoveRequest
  • Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequest

Any information back from those cmdlets?

Damian Scoles (MVP) - Please remember to mark replies as helpful if they were or as answered if I provided a solution.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 6:52 AM

Hi Jason,

How about these

Get-MailboxRestoreRequest

Get-MailboxRestoreRequest | Remove-MailboxRestoreRequest
Get-MailboxExportRequest -Database "Database Name"

And why not restart the information store service.

Get-Service MSExchangeIS | Restart-Service

References:

Regards,

Satyajit

Please “Vote As Helpful” if you find my contribution useful or “Mark As Answer” if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

Thursday, November 12, 2015 9:30 AM

Hi Jason，

Have you tried above suggestions ? How about the result ?

You can also run the following command to check if there is any public folder mailbox being moved:

Get-PublicFolderMailboxMigrationRequestStatistics

Best regards,

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Niko Cheng
TechNet Community Support

Monday, November 30, 2015 7:46 PM

Let's walk through this once more to make sure we have it all:

  • No mailboxes - Arbitration, Archive, Auditlog and Monitoring
  • No requests of batches - mailbox move requests, PF Mailbox Migration requests or Batch Migrations

What about Public Folder mailboxes? I did not see that in the list you have above. 

Have your run these commands yet?

  • Get-PublicFolderMoveRequest
  • Get-PublicFolderMigrationRequest

Any information back from those cmdlets?

Damian Scoles (MVP) - Please remember to mark replies as helpful if they were or as answered if I provided a solution.

Damian, thanks for the reply.

As I stated in my original post, I have moved all arbitration, archive, auditing and monitoring mailboxes to a new database.  For additional clarification, I've also moved all User, Room/Equipment and Public folder mailboxes as well.  When I run the commands you suggested (which were the commands I was referring to in my original post as), nothing is returned.  I've already removed the requests.

Thanks,

Jason

Monday, November 30, 2015 7:49 PM

Hi Jason,

How about these

Get-MailboxRestoreRequest

Get-MailboxRestoreRequest | Remove-MailboxRestoreRequest
Get-MailboxExportRequest -Database "Database Name"

And why not restart the information store service.

Get-Service MSExchangeIS | Restart-Service

References:

Regards,

Satyajit

Please“Vote As Helpful” if you find my contribution useful or “MarkAs Answer” if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

Satayjit,

The Get-MailboxRestoreRequest returns nothing.  Also,  the server has been rebooted several times since this post but the database still refuses to allow me to remove it.

Thanks,

Jason

Monday, November 30, 2015 8:01 PM

Hi Jason，

Have you tried above suggestions ? How about the result ?

You can also run the following command to check if there is any public folder mailbox being moved:

Get-PublicFolderMailboxMigrationRequestStatistics

Best regards,

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

Niko Cheng
TechNet Community Support

Niko,

This command does nothing for me as it is expecting me to run it against a valid pending/completed requests.  Of which, I have none, hence the reason I created the post.  The public folder mailbox has already been moved and the request has also been removed but the error message I pasted seems to tell another story.

Thanks,

Jason

Wednesday, December 2, 2015 6:58 AM

Hi Jason,

What about the

Get-MailboxExportRequest -Database "Database Name"

Anyways, if you are sure, that the DB is not in use by anyone. GO ahead and delete it from ADSIEdit Configuration Partition.

Open ADSI-Edit and got to configuration

Navigate to this path:

CN=Configuration,DC=DOMAIN,DC=LOCAL

CN=Services

CN=Microsoft Exchange

CN=EXCHANGE_ORG

CN=Administrative Groups

CN=Exchange Administrative Group

CN=Databases

Regards,

Satyajit

Please “Vote As Helpful” if you find my contribution useful or “Mark As Answer” if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

Friday, December 4, 2015 6:49 PM

Hi Jason,

What about the

Get-MailboxExportRequest -Database "Database Name"

Anyways, if you are sure, that the DB is not in use by anyone. GO ahead and delete it from ADSIEdit Configuration Partition.

Open ADSI-Edit and got to configuration

Navigate to this path:

CN=Configuration,DC=DOMAIN,DC=LOCAL

CN=Services

CN=Microsoft Exchange

CN=EXCHANGE_ORG

CN=Administrative Groups

CN=Exchange Administrative Group

CN=Databases

Regards,

Satyajit

Please“Vote As Helpful” if you find my contribution useful or “MarkAs Answer” if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

I am aware of that method and was trying to avoid it.  I call that the "Nuclear Option".  Also, I checked for any export requests and there are none.  I've actually never made any exports on the environment here so  if something came back from that command I would have been surprised.  If we're certain there is nothing left in this database then that only leaves one other option; it's a bug.  BIG surprise coming from MS, especially this year.  Buggy RTM code?  NEVER!!  But sadly, I think that is all that's left.  Hopefully someone on the Exchange Dev team sees this and fixes the bug.  In the meantime, I'll go do some ADSI spelunking.

Satyajit, thanks for offering assistance.  I'll mark your last response as the the "answer" though I don't consider the matter resolved (by no fault of anyone's on this thread, of course).  Thanks again to Damian and Niko as well.

Jason

Monday, December 7, 2015 8:43 AM

Hi Jason,

I'll run some test in my lab version to see if its a reproducible bug.

Regards,

Satyajit

Please “Vote As Helpful” if you find my contribution useful or “Mark As Answer” if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.