Can't delete databases due to associated active MailboxExport requests and can't delete those requests

Question

_{Thursday, March 1, 2018 5:16 AM}

I am trying to delete some empty mailbox databases on our Exchange 2013 mailbox server, and I get the following error:  This mailbox database is associated with one or more active MailboxExport requests. To get a list of all MailboxExport requests associated with this database, run Get-MailboxExportRequest | ?{ $_.RequestQueue -eq "<Database ID>" }. To remove a MailboxExport request, run Remove-MailboxExportRequest <Recipient ID\Request Name>.

I therefore ran the Get-MailboxExportRequest | ?{ $_.RequestQueue -eq "<Database ID>" } command and sure enough found some failed export requests.  The requests are from about 2 years ago and furthermore they are for users who have not existed in our Exchange or AD for more than a year.

Given that the relevant users no longer exist in AD I could not delete the entries with the Remove-MailboxExportRequest <Recipient ID\Request Name> command, so instead ran the following command (which I found in other Technet posts): Remove-MailboxExportRequest –RequestGuid <request guid> -RequestQueue <Database name>.

Seemingly that deleted the requests (it did not confirm deletion but also did not give an error).  However, when then trying again to delete the database I once again got the same error as mentioned in the first paragraph above.

So, I re-ran the Get-MailboxExportRequest | ?{ $_.RequestQueue -eq "<Database ID>" } command and it listed exactly the same export requests as the first time – so seemingly they have not been deleted.  That led me to try running the Remove-MailboxExportRequest –RequestGuid <request guid> -RequestQueue <Database name> command again, but that returned an error saying Couldn’t perform the operation because objects of type ‘Microsoft.Exchange.MailboxReplicaitonService.TransactionRequestJob’ couldn’t be found on <domain controller name>.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can clear the failed MailboxExportRequests once and for all, and finally delete my databases?

Thanks.

All replies (8)

_{Friday, March 16, 2018 9:09 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Thanks Manu, although that's not a solution either because 'force' is not a valid parameter for the Remove-MailboxExportRequest command.

Now we need to remove the failed mailbox export requests, and according to the error message, it failed due to the mailboxes in the request are not existing in your organization, in this situation, we suggest create some temp mailboxes which match for the request and then delete the requests.

If the issue persist, we can delete it via ADSI:

CN=Mailbox Replication,CN=YOUR EXCHANGE ORG,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com

Regards,

Manu Meng

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_{Thursday, March 1, 2018 6:02 PM}

Hey,

I had a similar issue, but with Exchange 2016 and the following article worked a treat.  The commands should work fine with 2013 as well:

 http://www.mustbegeek.com/delete-default-mailbox-database-exchange-2016/

Cheers

_{Friday, March 2, 2018 6:57 AM}

Hi,

Based on your description, I know that you cannot clear the failed mailbox export requests thus you cannot delete the database.

To fix it:

1. Please restart the information store service.
2. If issue persists, move the following arbitration mailbox to another database.

Get-Mailbox -Database <DBName> -Arbitration 
Move-Mailbox <ArbitrationName>  -Arbitration -TargetDatabase <DBName>

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Manu Meng

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_{Monday, March 5, 2018 4:22 AM}

Thanks Manu.

Unfortunately neither of those has resolved the issue.  Running the Get-Mailbox -Database <DBName> -Arbitration command did not return any results, but I ran it with Get-Mailbox -Database <DBName> -Arbitration | New-MoveRequest -TargetDatabase <NewDBName> command in any case, but I still get the same error when trying to delete the database.

_{Monday, March 5, 2018 4:25 AM}

Thanks, although the link you've provided is about ensuring all mailboxes (including monitoring, arbitration, etc) have been moved.  All those mailboxes have been moved and the databases are completely empty, except for the failed export attempts which are seemingly still associated with the databases.

_{Friday, March 9, 2018 2:00 AM}

Hi,

How about running the command below?

Get-MailboxExportRequest | Remove-MailboxExportRequest -force

Regards,

Manu Meng

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_{Tuesday, March 13, 2018 5:24 AM}

Thanks Manu, although that's not a solution either because 'force' is not a valid parameter for the Remove-MailboxExportRequest command.

_{Monday, March 19, 2018 3:37 AM}

Thanks Manu.  I was able to delete the MailboxReplications from within ADSIEdit, and have now been able to delete the databases.