Exchange 2000 question

[pinhead]

Scenario: 2000 Small Biz using Exchange with pop connectors for each email account. When mail is deleted in Outlook on the clients, where does it go? Can it be recovered if deleted by accident, and vice versa, if someone wants to cover tracks for whatever reason, is there a cache of deleted emails that can be cleared? Thanks!

 

[Saltin]

Interesting question.

Exchange 2000 does have a "deleted item retention" setting that can be enabled. Basically, it tells Exchange to hold on to any messages that have been deleted from the deleted items folder for "X" amount of days. You configure this on the mailbox store properties sheet, under the Limits Tab. Theres a setting for "keep deleted items" and "keep deleted mailboxes".

So the server provides you with the functionality you are looking for.


Now comes the sticky part, actually recovering the items. This is dead easy to do with Outlook. You just highlight the deleted items folder, select the "Tools" menu and then "recover deleted items". A window will appear with a list of deleted items that are still under the retention mechanism.

Since you use POP3, I assume your clients are a bit thinner than Outlook (Outlook Express maybe?). I'm not entirely sure you can do this with anything other than Outlook.

If you really needed to recover something, you could always attach an Outlook client to the mailbox in question, I suppose.

 

[MysticLlama]

You'll have to test out what the POP3 clients actually do when they pick up mail on the server.

Even if they don't leave it and they "remove" it, it may not actually be doing the delete process that would put it in the deleted items folder.

I remember that being one of the bugs that was in the old OWA (maybe in the current one, not sure) where if you deleted stuff it wouldn't show up in your deleted items folder, so you couldn't restore it.

It's doubtful that it'd be putting it in the deleted items folder under POP3 access, so I think Saltin would be right in saying that you'd have to use the Exchange function to get to old mail that is kept 60 days (or whatever limit) after it's been deleted.

I'll have to set up a pop connector, I don't think I've done it quite the same way as you're explaining now that I re-read it.

 

[Saltin]

Yeah, to add to what I was saying, if the POP3 clients are actually popping the messages off the server (pulling them down to the client), then Deleted Item retention won't work at all... even with an Outlook client. I know this from a little issue I had the other day.

 

[pinhead]

I'll look at it, thanks. The Exchange server has a connector for each mailbox and goes to the isp to pickup, I think it checksa every ten minutes or so then distributes it to the Outlook clients on each box. Just curious. Lets say it is saving mail to be restored, how would you clear it so it couldn't be restored? Set the limit to save for restore to 0?

 

[Saltin]

Pinhead,

I misunderstood you; I thought your clients were connecting to Exchange via Pop3. If I understand you, the Exchange Server uses some software to connect to your ISP mail and each user connects to an Exchange mailbox via Outlook?

Then yes, if you want to disable it altogether, set Deleted Item retention to Zero.

 

[pinhead]

I finally went by the office and checked in their outlook client. Under tools, the "recover deleted items" selection is grayed out so unavailable. With it set like that I'm guessing I don't need to bother with the retention setting. The pop connector is part of Exchange and which and how depends on how the isp is set up, either individual boxes or a global. This one uses a connector for each account.