The Exchange mailbox of a user is the repository of all the professional communication. As the number of mailboxes increases in the database and the volume of data increases in mailboxes, the size of the Exchange database file (EDB) grows. There are many examples when the users are unable to open a specific mailbox which has a large size, and its items are inaccessible to the user. Also, Microsoft has set a maximum size limit for databases (the limit varies according to the version and the edition of Exchange Server). For example, in Exchange 2013 the size limit of a database is 16 TB, but the Exchange Experts recommend going for a maximum size of 2 TB only. Although 2 TB is quite a large size itself and if the network bandwidth is not sufficient enough, then it may be troublesome to access the mailbox data. In such a scenario, you need to use different methods to deal with the mailbox size as well as the database size.
First, check the size of the mailboxes using the following cmdlet.
To reduce the size of large mailboxes, you need to delete unwanted messages from the mailbox. You can search for messages to find and delete unwanted messages.
Here is the cmdlet for the same:
Example:
Search-Mailbox -Identity “Test Mailbox” -SearchQuery “Subject: ‘Test Message'” -DeleteContent
Also, you can try methods like archiving, attachment extraction, etc.
To deal with the size of the database, you have two options which you can choose. First, either defrag the database file or change the registry settings to suit the current size of the database. Let’s go through both processes one by one –
Follow the steps:
You should use the ESEUTIL tool to defrag the database which will remove the white space from the database and reduce its size.
Now you can notice a considerable improvement in the performance of Exchange Server.
If mailboxes are still not opening in the Outlook, then you will have to go for a professional tool which can export the large mailboxes into multiple PST files.
Kernel for Exchange Server recovery is a unique software which can remove all the issues related to a database file and save the recovered data at multiple destinations. When you are facing a problem with a large mailbox, you can export it into multiple PST files. Later, you can access these PST files in Outlook. Here is the process of using the software:
Whenever you face a situation where the size of the mailbox has become much large and it is not opening, then use Kernel for Exchange Server and divide the mailbox into multiple PST files. The benefit of these PST files is that you can open them in Outlook instantly. The data will be saved in the same hierarchy as in the Exchange mailbox.