Administering mailbox storage limits

When creating mailboxes for users you should consider setting up mailbox storage limits. That way you can control the amount of hard drive storage space used by the personal information

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store. Otherwise, mailbox size can become a problem, especially when users are assigned SMTP addresses. With SMTP addresses personal information store can increase tremendously.

For an organization with a large number of mailboxes, setting the storage limit to issue a warning when the mailbox size goes beyond a certain value to cover the greatest number of users can be ideal. Here's how:

  • Click on the private information store

  • Select File Properties.

You'll see three options: Issue Warning, Prohibit Send and Prohibit Send And Receive. The safest option would be to set the Issue Warning option. When the mailbox grows beyond a certain size the user will automatically receive a warning from Exchange itself. When setting a value, you should consider total hard drive storage space assigned to the information store.

It's a good idea periodically to monitor mailbox size limits, especially when users may go on vacation and don't set up an Out Of Office message.

To check mailbox resource size:

  • Select the server that holds the Private Information Store.
  • Highlight Private Information Store.
  • On the File menu, select Properties.
  • In the resulting dialog box, select the Mailbox Resources tab.

You can now see which mailbox is increasing in size and you can either move these mailboxes to another server or clean the overloaded mailboxes. (But only do the latter as a last resort.)

Adesh Rampat has 10 years experience with network and IT administration. He is a member of the Association Of Internet Professionals, the Institute For Network Professionals, and the International Webmasters Association. He has also lectured extensively on a variety of topics.

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Related Book

Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Administrator's Guide
Author : David McAmis
Publisher : Prima Publishing
ISBN/CODE : 0761513906
Cover Type : Hard Cover
Pages : 416
Published : Dec 2000
Summary : 
Whether you are administering an Exchange Server for 10 users or 10,000, this book provides you with the technical information you'll need to successfully manage Exchange 2000 Server. This invaluable resource is perfect for you, the system administrator, who installs and manages the day-to-day operations of Exchange Server.


 

This was first published in March 2001

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