Table Of Contents

Configuring Exchange for Maintenance Tasks

Setting a Maximum Size for Exchange Mailboxes

Suppressing Mailbox-Limit E-mails in a Voice Messaging Configuration

Circular Logging in Exchange

Configuring Exchange for Maintenance Tasks

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On any Exchange server that is the home server for Cisco Unity subscribers, do the tasks in the following sections:

•Setting a Maximum Size for Exchange Mailboxes

•Suppressing Mailbox-Limit E-mails in a Voice Messaging Configuration

•Circular Logging in Exchange

In addition to the instructions in this chapter, refer to the Microsoft website for best practices on maintaining Microsoft products.

Setting a Maximum Size for Exchange Mailboxes

Voice messages can consume significant amounts of disk space. For example, voice messages recorded by using the G.711 codec consume 480 KB/minute. If Cisco Unity subscribers save many of the voice messages they receive, send, or delete (as applicable), the hard disk on the server where messages are stored can quickly run out of space. To prevent the hard disk from filling up, set appropriate limits on the size of subscriber Exchange mailboxes.

To view and set the size of subscriber mailboxes, you can use the Message Store Manager utility, available in Tools Depot (see the "Message Store Manager Utility" section on page 2-3 for additional information). Or, if you prefer, use the applicable procedure, as follows:

•To Set Limits for All Users in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003

•To Set Limits for Individual Users in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003

•To Set Limits for All Users in Exchange 2007

•To Set Limits for Individual Users in Exchange 2007

For other ways in which you can manage subscriber mailbox size, see the "Best Practices for Managing Subscriber Mailbox Size" section on page 2-8.

For more information on Exchange storage limits, refer to the Microsoft Exchange documentation. You can also review the white paper Understanding How Exchange 2000 Storage Limits Work with Cisco Unity at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/prod_white_papers_list.html.

To learn more about how Cisco Unity handles subscribers with full mailboxes, refer to the "How Cisco Unity Handles Full Mailboxes" section in the "Messaging and Default Accounts Overview" chapter of the System Administration Guide for Cisco Unity. (The guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps2237/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html.)

For information on mailbox size and Cisco Unity performance, see the "Administrative Monitoring Guidelines for Cisco Unity Performance" section on page 7-8.

To Set Limits for All Users in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003

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Step 1 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Microsoft Exchange > System Manager.

Step 2 In the left pane, expand Servers, expand the appropriate server, and expand the storage group.

Step 3 Right-click Mailbox Store, and click Properties.

Step 4 Click the Limits tab.

Step 5 In the Storage Limits section, specify values as applicable.

Step 6 Click OK to close the Mailbox Store Properties dialog box.

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To Set Limits for Individual Users in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003

Use this procedure to set different limits for individual users (for example, to set no limit for the company president).

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Step 1 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Microsoft Exchange > Active Directory Users and Computers.

Step 2 In the left pane, expand the server.

Step 3 In the left pane, click the directory in which the user appears (by default, the directory is named Users).

Step 4 In the right pane, right-click the user name, and click Properties.

Step 5 Click the Exchange General tab.

Step 6 Click Storage Limits.

Step 7 In the Storage Limits dialog box, uncheck the Use Mailbox Store Defaults check box.

Step 8 Specify values as applicable.

Step 9 Click OK to close the Storage Limits dialog box.

Step 10 Click OK to close the User Properties dialog box.

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To Set Limits for All Users in Exchange 2007

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Step 1 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Microsoft Exchange > Exchange Management Console.

Step 2 In the console tree, expand Server Configuration, and click Mailbox.

Step 3 In the results pane, choose the applicable server, and expand the applicable storage group.

Step 4 Right-click Mailbox Database, and click Properties.

Step 5 Click the Limits tab.

Step 6 In the Storage Limits section, specify values as applicable.

Step 7 Click OK to close the Mailbox Store Properties dialog box.

Step 8 Repeat Step 1 through Step 7 as applicable for other servers and mailbox databases in which Cisco Unity subscriber mailboxes are homed.

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To Set Limits for Individual Users in Exchange 2007

Use this procedure to set different limits for individual users (for example, to set no limit for the company president).

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Step 1 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Microsoft Exchange > Exchange Management Console.

Step 2 In the console tree, click Recipient Configuration.

Step 3 In the results pane, right-click the user whose limits you want to change, and click Properties.

Step 4 In the <username> Properties dialog box, click the Mailbox Settings tab.

Step 5 Double-click Storage Quotas.

Step 6 In the Storage Quotas dialog box, in the Storage Quotas section, uncheck the Use Mailbox Database Defaults check box.

Step 7 Specify values as applicable.

Step 8 Click OK to close the Storage Quotas dialog box.

Step 9 Click OK to close the <username> Properties dialog box.

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Suppressing Mailbox-Limit E-mails in a Voice Messaging Configuration

If you set a maximum size for Exchange mailboxes, as recommended in the "Setting a Maximum Size for Exchange Mailboxes" section, Exchange will automatically send e-mail warnings to subscribers who approach their size limits. However, when Cisco Unity is installed in a Voice Messaging configuration, subscribers who do not have text-to-speech access to e-mail messages cannot delete any e-mails that are delivered to the Exchange mailbox that contains Cisco Unity voice messages. If you want Exchange to enforce mailbox size limits but suppress warning e-mails so subscriber mailboxes are not cluttered with messages that they cannot delete, do the following procedure.

To Suppress Quota E-mails for All Users in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003

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Step 1 On the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Microsoft Exchange > System Manager.

Step 2 In the left pane, expand Servers, expand the appropriate server, and expand the storage group.

Step 3 Right-click Mailbox Store, and click Properties.

Step 4 Click the Limits tab.

Step 5 In the Warning Message Interval list, click Use Custom Schedule.

Step 6 Click Customize.

Step 7 In the Schedule dialog box, clear all highlighted areas to indicate that you never want Exchange to send warning messages.

Step 8 Click OK to close the Schedule dialog box.

Step 9 Click OK to close the Mailbox Store Properties dialog box.

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Circular Logging in Exchange

You can configure logging in one of two ways: either the existing logs are overwritten when hard disk space runs low, or the existing logs are never overwritten.

Exchange stores data in Jet databases. The most current transactions are stored in the Edb.log file. When the Edb.lg file reaches 5 MB in size, Exchange checks to see if the oldest transactions in the file have been committed to the database. If they have been, the old transactions are overwritten with new transactions, preventing the total size of the log files from growing beyond 25 to 30 MB in size. Exchange will not, however, overwrite any transactions that have not been committed to the database. This process is referred to as circular logging. When circular logging is enabled, full backups of Exchange are always required. If you do not plan to do full backups every time you back up the system, turn off circular logging to have more flexibility with your backup schedule.

When circular logging is disabled, and the Edb.lg file reaches 5 MB in size, Exchange creates a new log file of the same name, and renames the inactive file. The number of log files increases as more transactions are logged, and the system continues to create new log files until a backup is completed. If you disable circular logging, we recommend that you set a backup schedule to do full backups periodically, and incremental backups at all other times.

After you back up the message store by using Exchange-aware backup software, the backup software clears the transaction logs. At this point, the backup reflects the current state of the message store, so the transaction logs are no longer required to restore the message store. (Transaction logs are cleared after some types of backups but not all. For more information, refer to the documentation for your backup application.)

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Caution If circular logging is enabled and hard disk space runs low, the newest transaction log entries (which contain the newest messages) overwrite the oldest log entries (the oldest messages). When log entries are overwritten, you cannot use the transaction logs to restore messages that were received after the last backup. If disk space is very low and if the system is very busy, old entries may be overwritten in less than a day.

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If you decide to disable circular logging, confirm that scheduled incremental and full backups continue to run and that they do not fail or stop working for any reason. If backups are not done, the transaction logs can cause the hard disk to fill up, which in turn causes Exchange to stop working, and subsequently can cause Cisco Unity to stop working.

We strongly recommend that you do the following:

•Use Exchange-aware backup software to back up the message store.

•Carefully watch the amount of available space on the hard disk or in the partition where logs are stored, and free up disk space when the amount of available space gets too low.