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View or Configure Public Folder Database Properties

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Public folders are designed for shared access and provide an easy and effective way to collect, organize, and share information with other people in your workgroup or organization. A public folder database is a database that stores public folders, indexes their contents, and assists in the replication of the folders with other servers. A public folder database is stored as an Exchange database (.edb) file.

Looking for other management tasks related to public folder databases? Check out Managing Public Folder Databases.

What Do You Want to Do?

  • Use the EMC to view or configure public folder database properties

  • Use the Shell to configure public folder database properties

  • Use the Shell to view public folder database properties

Use the EMC to view or configure public folder database properties

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Public folder databases" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Organization Configuration > Mailbox.

  2. In the result pane, click the Database Management tab, and then select the public folder database you want to configure.

  3. In the action pane, click Properties.

  4. Use the General tab to view or configure the properties of a public folder database, to change its name, and to customize its maintenance schedule.

    • Name   This unlabeled box at the top of the tab displays the name of the public folder database. You can modify this name.

    • Database path   This read-only field displays the full path to the Exchange database (.edb) file for the selected public folder database. To view the entire path, you may have to click the path and use the RIGHT ARROW key.

      You cannot use this field to change the path. To change the location of the database files, close Properties, right-click the public folder database, and then click Move Database Files. You can also change the location by using the Move-DatabasePath cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell.

    • Last full backup   This read-only field displays the date and time of the last complete backup of the public folder database.

    • Last incremental backup   This read-only field displays the date and time of the last incremental backup of the public folder database.

    • Status   This read-only field displays whether the public folder database is mounted or dismounted.

      For information about how to mount or dismount a database, see the following topics:

      Mount a Database

      Dismount a Database

    • Modified   This read-only field displays the last date and time that the public folder database was modified.

    • Maintenance schedule   Use this list to select one of the preset maintenance schedules.

      You can also configure a custom schedule. To configure a custom schedule, in the Maintenance schedule list, select Use Custom Schedule, and then click Customize.

    • Enable background database maintenance (24 x7 ESE scanning)   Select this check box to enable background database maintenance. If you select this check box, the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) performs the database maintenance, and the public folder database reads the object during database mount and initializes the database to perform the background database maintenance. If you don't select this check box, the public folder database reads the object during database mount and initializes the database without the option to perform the background database maintenance.

    • Don't mount this database at startup   Select this check box to prevent Exchange from mounting this public folder database when it starts.

    • This database can be overwritten by a restore   Select this check box to allow the public folder database to be overwritten during a restore process.

    • Enable circular logging   Click this check box to enable circular logging. Circular logging overwrites and reuses a single log file after the data it contains has been written to the database. Circular logging is disabled by default. By enabling circular logging, you reduce drive storage space requirements. However, you can't recover anything more recent than the last full (normal) backup because the transaction logs no longer contain all the transactions that were completed since the last backup. Therefore, in a normal production environment, circular logging isn't recommended.

  5. Use the Replication tab to specify the public folder database replication interval and the replication message size limit.

    • Replication interval   Use this list to set the interval at which replication of public folders or content updates may occur.

      To schedule a custom replication interval, select Use Custom Schedule from the list, and then click Customize. Use the Schedule dialog box to customize the replication schedule, and then click OK to return to the Replication tab.

    • Replication interval for "Always Run" (minutes)   If you set the replication interval to Always Run, this box displays the time interval (in minutes) during which replication of public folders or contents may occur. You can modify this interval. The value range is from 1 through 2,147,483,647 minutes.

    • Replication message size limit (KB)   This box displays the size limit in kilobytes (KB) of a replication message. Small items may be aggregated into a single replication message that can be as large as this setting, but items larger than this setting are replicated with messages larger than this size. You can modify this size limit. The value range is from 1 through 2,097,151 KB.

  6. Use the Limits tab to specify the storage limits, warning message interval, deletion settings, and age limits for all public folders in the selected public folder database.

    • Issue warning at (MB)   Select this check box to automatically warn public folder owners that the public folder is approaching its storage limit.

      To specify the storage limit, select the check box, and then specify in megabytes (MB) how much content can be stored in the public folder before a warning e-mail message is sent to the folder's owner. You can enter a value from 0 through 2,097,151 MB (2.0 terabytes)

    • Prohibit post at (MB)   Select this check box to prevent posting to the public folders in the database after the size of folder reaches the specified limit.

      To specify this limit, select the check box, and then specify the size of the public folder in megabytes (MB) at which you want to prohibit posting. You can enter a value from 0 through 2,097,151 MB (2.0 terabytes)

    • Maximum item size (MB)   Select this check box to limit the maximum size of items that users can post to the public folders in the database.

      To specify the size, select the check box, and then specify the maximum size of items in megabytes (MB) that users can post to the public folders. You can enter a value from 0 through 2,097,151 MB (2.0 terabytes)

      Warning message interval   Use this list to display the interval at which you want warning messages to be generated. To select one of the default intervals, click the list, and then select one of the following:

      Run daily at midnight

      Run daily at 1:00 AM

      Run daily at 2:00 AM

      Use Custom Schedule

      If you select Use Custom Schedule, you must click Customize to set the schedule.

    • Keep deleted items for (days)   Use this box to set the numbers of days that deleted items are retained in a public folder. You can enter a value between 0 and 24,855 days.

    • Don't permanently delete items until the database has been backed up   Select this check box to prevent items from being permanently deleted until after the public folder database is backed up.

    • Age limit for all folders in this public folder database (days)   Select this check box to limit the age of all folders in this public folder database. Use the text box to specify the age limit in days. You can enter a value between 0 and 24,855 days.

  7. Use the Public Folder Referral tab to configure the folder replica that will be accessed by the client application. To learn more, see Understanding Public Folder Referrals.

    • Use Active Directory site costs   Click this button to specify that Exchange uses the cost data from the Active Directory site to compute the connection cost for public folder referrals. This is the default option.

      Note

      If the custom list contains public folder referrals, and you click Use Active Directory site costs, the list is unavailable and is cleared when this tab is refreshed.

    • Use custom list   Click this button to create a custom list of public folder referrals and the associated costs.

      When you click Use custom list, the following features are made available:

      Note

      If you click Use Active Directory site costs, these features are unavailable.

      Add   Click this button to open the Server Referral Cost dialog box.

      Click Browse to open the Select Referral Server dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the referral server from the list of available servers that contain a public folder database and click OK.

      In the Cost box, assign a cost number between 1 and 100. The number 1 represents the lowest cost, which means that Exchange routing is more likely to use this as the replica server. The number 100 represents the highest cost, which means that Exchange routing is less likely to use this as the replica server.

      Edit   Select a server from the list, and then click this button to edit a public folder referral. This button is disabled if no servers are listed in the custom list.

      Remove icon   Click this button to remove a public folder referral from the custom list. This button is disabled if no servers are listed in the custom list.

Use the Shell to configure public folder database properties

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Public folder databases" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example changes the size of the maximum post that can be stored in the Sales public folder database to 1 GB and issues a warning when the post size reaches 900 MB.

Set-PublicFolderDatabase  Sales -IssueWarningQuota 900MB -ProhibitPostQuota 1GB

This example sets the database maintenance schedule on PFDB01 to run daily from 02:00 (2:00 A.M.) until 06:00 (6:00 A.M.).

Set-PublicFolderDatabase -Identity 'PFDB01'-MaintenanceSchedule 'Sun.2:00 AM-Sun.6:00 AM, Mon.2:00 AM-Mon.6:00 AM, Tue.2:00 AM-Tue.6:00 AM, Wed.2:00 AM-Wed.6:00 AM, Thu.2:00 AM-Thu.6:00 AM, Fri.2:00 AM-Fri.6:00 AM, Sat.2:00 AM-Sat.6:00 AM'

This example sets the deleted items retention on the public folder database PFDB01 to 10 days.

Set-PublicFolderDatabase -Identity 'PFDB01' -DeletedItemRetention '10.00:00:00'

This example prevents the deleted items in the public folder database PFDB01 from being permanently deleted until after the database has been backed up.

Set-PublicFolderDatabase -RetainDeletedItemsUntilBackup $true -Identity 'PFDB01'

For syntax and parameter information, see Set-PublicFolderDatabase.

Use the Shell to view public folder database properties

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Public folder databases" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Use the Get-PublicFolderDatabase cmdlet to view the properties of a public folder database. This command returns all the public folder databases in your organization.

Get-PublicFolderDatabase

To view all of the properties of a single public folder database, you can pipe the results of the Get-PublicFolderDatabase cmdlet to the Format-List cmdlet. This example gets the properties of the public folder database Support.

Get-PublicFolderDatabase Support | Format-List

For syntax and parameter information, see Get-PublicFolderDatabase.

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