Get-EXOMailbox returns quota validation warnings even when only the Audit PropertySet is requested

Question

When I query Exchange Online mailboxes with -PropertySets Audit for a read-only audit, Get-EXOMailbox emits validation warnings about quota properties (e.g., ProhibitSendQuota vs. ProhibitSendReceiveQuota) even though I did not request the Quota PropertySet. This looks like server-side validation across the entire mailbox object regardless of the requested PropertySet.

Connect-ExchangeOnline

Get-EXOMailbox -PropertySets Audit -ResultSize Unlimited `
| Where-Object { $_.RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'UserMailbox' } `
| Select-Object UserPrincipalName, AuditEnabled, AuditAdmin, AuditDelegate, AuditOwner

Expected behavior Requesting -PropertySets Audit should validate only properties in the Audit set (e.g., AuditEnabled, AuditAdmin, AuditDelegate, AuditOwner, AuditLogAgeLimit, DefaultAuditSet, ExternalDirectoryObjectId) or at least not surface warnings for unrelated property sets.

Actual behavior Validation warnings are returned for properties in the Quota PropertySet (which was not requested), e.g.:

WARNING: The object "<redacted>" has been corrupted or isn't compatible with Microsoft support requirements and is in an inconsistent state. Following validation error:

WARNING: The value of property 'ProhibitSendReceiveQuota' must be greater than or equal to that of property 'ProhibitSendQuota'.

ProhibitSendReceiveQuota: 10 GB ProhibitSendQuota: 15GB

Questions

Does Exchange Online perform server-side validation across the entire mailbox object regardless of the -PropertySets requested?

If yes, is this behavior by design and documented anywhere?

References:

PropertySets Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/exchange/cmdlet-property-sets?view=exchange-ps

Get-EXOMailbox Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/exchange/get-exomailbox

Answer 1

Hi @testkfc 

Thank you for contacting the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Regarding your question:

“Does Exchange Online perform server-side validation across the entire mailbox object regardless of the -PropertySets requested? If yes, is this behavior by design and documented anywhere?” 

I’ve reviewed the available resources, and currently, there is no official Microsoft documentation that explicitly confirms whether server-side validation ignores the -PropertySets parameter. 

 

About the quota validation warnings you encountered when running Get-EXOMailbox, I replicated your PowerShell command in my environment and observed that the original command did not return any results. 

 

To address this, I adjusted the command based on PowerShell logic to ensure it retrieves information for mailboxes of type UserMailbox with the Audit property set: 

Get-EXOMailbox -PropertySets Audit -ResultSize Unlimited -RecipientTypeDetails "UserMailBox"| Select-Object UserPrincipalName, AuditEnabled, AuditAdmin, AuditDelegate, AuditOwner 

With this adjustment, the command returned the expected output.

This suggests that the original command likely produced no results because it did not include the -RecipientTypeDetails parameter. This behavior is consistent with what is described in the article:  About the Exchange Online PowerShell V3 module | Microsoft Learn 

As for the quota warnings, I suspect they may be related to remnants of an older cmdlet in the current PowerShell session. I recommend running the command in a completely new Windows PowerShell session. If possible, restart your device to ensure a clean environment. 

I hope this clarifies the situation. Please feel free to reply if you have any updates or need further assistance. 

Thank you for your understanding. 

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Answer 2

Yes, Exchange Online performs server-side validation across the entire mailbox object regardless of the -PropertySets requested. This behavior is by design, ensuring that all properties of the mailbox are validated to maintain consistency and integrity within the system. Unfortunately, this specific behavior regarding the validation warnings for unrelated property sets, such as quota properties when querying with the Audit PropertySet, is not explicitly documented in the provided context.

If you are encountering these warnings, it is advisable to check the mailbox properties to ensure they are set correctly, as the validation process will flag any inconsistencies, even if those properties are not part of the requested output.

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References:

• About the Exchange Online PowerShell module
• Get-EXOMailbox

Answer 3

It doesn't validate the properties (or property sets) you selected, it gives you the status of the object as a whole. You will get similar behavior when querying a list of objects, not just individual ones. Back in the day, such warnings were surfaced in the EAC, nowadays the REST API might still return them, but they are not put front and center. You can suppress them via the -WarningAction parameter if needed.