Get-MailboxServer ServerName| fl Name, ManagedFolderWorkCycle

2. On the mailbox server hosting the active database copies, look for event 10027 (MSExchangeMailboxAssistants) in the Application event log.  This provides a summary of the number of items deleted during the previous work cycle.  It may provide clues as to what is (or is not) happening.

Log Name:      Application

Source:        MSExchangeMailboxAssistants

Date:          3/26/2013 1:13:38 PM

Event ID:      10027

Task Category: Managed Folder Assistant

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      ServerName

Description:

Statistics of MRM expiration at end of this work cycle:

     TotalItemsSoftDeleted:  0

      TotalItemsPermanentlyDeleted:  1216859

      TotalItemsMoved:  0

      TotalSizeItemsSoftDeleted:  0 Bytes

     TotalSizeItemsPermanentlyDeleted:  13625982941 Bytes – 12GB

     TotalSizeItemsMoved:  0 Bytes

      TotalItemsWithPersonalTag:  0

      TotalItemsWithDefaultTag:  0

      TotalItemsWithSystemCleanupTag:  0

      TotalItemsExpiredByDefaultExpiryTag:  0

      TotalItemsExpiredByPersonalExpiryTag:  0

             TotalItemsMovedByDefaultArchiveTag:  0

             TotalItemsMovedByPersonalArchiveTag:  0

3. Use perfmon to examine the following counters:

MSExchange Managed Folder Assistant\Size of items permanently deleted (in bytes)
MSExchange Managed Folder Assistant\Items permanently deleted

To get the list of all Mailboxes in a mailbox database, use

Get-MailboxDatabase DBname | Get-Mailbox –ResultSize Unlimited | FT Alias >>.\alias_DB3.txt

Once you complete the step, select a user and run the cmdlet to see if all 4 folders are now emptied.

Get-MailboxfolderStatistics rsn1005 |ft name, ItemsInFolder, FolderSize -AutoSize

032913_1823_Exchange2012.png

All 4 folders should ideally be empty – its not in my case because I haven’t ran it yet.

To get the MailboxSatatistics for all users on a mailbox database, run this

Get-MailboxDatabase DB3 | Get-Mailbox –ResultSize Unlimited | Get-MailboxStatistics |ft DisplayName, DatabaseName, *item* -AutoSize

Again, remember not to throttle the server by running the cmdlet for all users at once. In case if you are reading this article after running all these cmdlets and seeing no success, maybe that is what happened.

CMDlets to run:

Set-Mailbox -Identity “ratish” -CalendarVersionStoreDisabled:$True

Search-Mailbox “ratish” -SearchDumpsterOnly –DeleteContent

Start-ManagedFolderAssistant -Identity “ratish”

You can use the get-Content switch to run in batches of 10 or 20

A special thanks to MVP Tony Murray, Tony Redmond and MSFT Bharat Suneja for their help.