Q183739: XADM: Identifying and Removing Large Numbers of Orphaned Objects
Article: Q183739
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): 4.0,5.0,5.5
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 13-APR-2002
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0, 5.0, 5.5
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SUMMARY
=======
This article describes a semi-automated method for comparing two large global
address lists from different sites to determine which objects are orphans, and
then to delete those orphaned objects. There are several ways to remove orphaned
objects depending on the situation and the number of orphaned objects involved.
For a description of orphaned objects and how to deal with one or two orphans,
please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
Q152614 XADM: Removing Objects Whose Tombstone Expired Before DirRep
For a more thorough discussion of how orphaned objects are created, including
several options for dealing with them, please see the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base article:
Q179573 XADM: Orphaned Objects and Exchange Server Directory
Article Q179573 is useful if the number of orphaned objects make it impractical
to deal with them one at a time and if removing and recreating the Directory
Replication connector between sites is not an option, as would be the case in
extremely large organizations with large global address lists, slow links, and
many orphaned objects.
MORE INFORMATION
================
It is possible to have mailboxes, custom recipients, or other objects in one
site that no longer exist in the site where they were created. These are called
orphaned objects. More common ways that orphaned objects are created include the
following:
- Changing the Tombstone lifetime to an interval that is shorter than the
amount of time it takes to replicate that tombstone throughout the
organization.
- Using MTACheck to delete replication messages, and then the Tombstone message
never replicates to some other site.
If there is a large number of orphaned objects, the reason for the orphaned
objects should be determined, and the issue resolved before beginning this
process; otherwise, it will not fix the problem.
One way to rid the organization of these orphaned objects, is to recreate the
objects in their original site/server/container and then make enough changes to
the object so that the newest version of that object replicates to the site
where it is orphaned. Then the object can be deleted in the original site and
the delete can be replicated out properly. That is the approach that this
article takes.
Overview
--------
First, assume that site 1 has orphaned objects. The global address lists from
site 1 and site 2 need to be exported into CSV files and compared. The names
that appear in the global address list from site 1, but not in the global
address list from site 2, are saved into a new CSV file. This is done by
exporting the global address lists with the Exchange Administrator program and
loading them into Access 97. You then need to do the comparison and save the
results in an Excel 97 spreadsheet. Modify the list and save it to two separate
CSV files, one to create the objects and one to delete them. Finally, the first
CSV file is played into site 2 multiple times to create the objects and then
increase the object-version numbers. Once that has replicated, the second CSV
file is played into site 2 one time to do the delete.
If a different version of Access or Excel is used other than Access 97 and Excel
97, the steps may be slightly different, but the concept is the same.
Detailed Steps
--------------
First get exports of the global address lists from Site 1 and Site 2
1. Perform a Tools/Directory export of the entire global address list on both
sites. It is best to do this with a predefined header file. The last header
should be "Object-Version." If you are unfamiliar with exporting to CSV
files, try the following:
a. From the Exchange Administrator program, select Directory Export from the
Tools menu.
b. Set it to export to a file that does not exist, for example, Test.CSV. It
will create Test.CSV in the directory that you specified and export the
mailboxes.
c. Then use Excel to look at the Test.CSV file. You will see that the first
row is all headers. There should be 13 headers with the last column
reading "Hide from AB."
d. Select rows 2 through the end of the file, and delete them so that you
only have the first row, which is the headers.
e. Then go to column N (the 14th column right after "Hide from AB") and enter
"Object-Version."
f. From the File menu, select Save As and save the file as a CSV type named
GAL1. Save it again the same way with the name GAL2.
g. Close Excel and do NOT save the file in Excel format.
h. Finally, use the Exchange Administrator program and export the mailboxes,
custom recipients, and distribution lists to the GAL1 file or GAL2 file,
depending on your site. Then go to the other site and export to the other
file.
2. Next import the global address lists into Access. To do this, create a table
definition before doing the import to prevent truncation errors with
particularly large fields. The text field size defaults to 50 characters,
which may not be large enough for some fields, particularly the "Email
addresses" and "Members" fields, which are defined as Memo fields. If the
fields are not declared as Memo fields, the records that exceed the 50
character limit will register an error in a third table that is generated by
Access.
3. Use Access to generate a new database.
4. In the new database, design a table named GAL1 with fields that match the
fields exported.
Assuming the global address lists were exported based on the directions in
step 1, the fields will be as follows:
OBJ-CLASS Text
First Name Text
Last Name Text
Display Name Text
Alias Name Text
Directory Name Text
Primary Windows NT Account Text
Home server Text
E-mail Address Text
E-mail Addresses Memo
Members Memo
OBJ-CONTAINER Text
Hide from ab Text
Object-Version Text
Otherwise, match the fields in the table with the fields in the CSV. Any field
that has data exceeding 50 characters should be set to Memo.
5. Copy the design (by selecting "Structure Only" when pasting) to a second
table called GAL2.
6. From the main menu, select File and choose Get External Data and then Import.
7. In the window, under Files of Type, select "Text (csv,...)" and choose the
first exported global address list.
8. In the Import Wizard, on the first screen, leave the default format as
"Delimited" and click Next.
9. On the second screen, leave "Comma" as the delimiter, and check the First Row
Contains Field Names box to enable it. Set the Text qualifier to the double
quote (") character and click Next.
10. On the third screen, select "In an existing Table" and select GAL1 from the
drop down list.
11. On the last screen, leave the "Import to Table" as the default and click
Finish.
12. Repeat steps 5 through 10, using the second exported global address list and
the GAL2 table.
13. On the Queries tab in the Access database, click the New button, select
design view, and add the tables GAL1 and GAL2. Close the Show Table window.
14. In the top half of the Select Query window, you should see two windows, GAL1
and GAL2. Position the scroll bars so that you can see the Directory Name
field in both windows, and then click and drag the Directory Name field from
the GAL1 window and drop it in the Directory Name field in the GAL2 window.
A line should now be joining the two fields.
15. Right click on the center of the adjoining line and select "Join
Properties." In the Join Properties window, select option 2, which says,
"Include all records from 'GAL1' and only those records...."
16. Perform steps 14 and 15 with the OBJ-CONTAINER field.
17. Drag the OBJ-CONTAINER field from the GAL2 window to the first column in the
table below. Uncheck the Show button. Enter "Is Null" in the Criteria row.
18. Repeat Step 17 with the Directory Name field from GAL2 into the second
column.
19. Select all of the fields from GAL1 except the "*" "E-Mail Addresses," and
"Members" fields, and drag them into the table. They should default to
having the Show row checked.
20. Select Query/Make-Table query... from the main menu.
21. Give it a Table name of "Records in GAL1 but not in GAL2" and click OK.
22. Close and save the query.
23. Open the query. It will create the new table listed in step 21.
24. Open the new table.
25. From the File menu, select Save as and choose Export.
26. Save the table to an external file.
27. Make the save type "Microsoft Excel 97" and save it as "Records in GAL1 but
not in GAL2.xls"
28. Use Excel to open the "Records in GAL1 but not in GAL2.xls" file.
WARNING: This should now be the list of orphaned objects in GAL1. Note that
any objects that were recently created in GAL1 or a site that it replicates
to which have not yet replicated to GAL2 will also be in this list. It is
very important that this list is reviewed. Remove any line that has an
object that is still valid and verify that every object in this list is to
be deleted.
29. Search through the Object-Version column and note the highest value. If the
Object-Version field was never exported, this value can be checked by hand
through the Administrator program in RAW mode. Select a sampling of the
orphaned objects and look at the values of the Object- Version for each.
From that sample, make a reasonable estimate as to the highest value for all
of them.
30. Guarantee that the last column has data in it. If it does not, move the
OBJ-Container column so it is the last column. If this step is skipped, you
will get an error during import that the number of fields did not match the
number of headers.
31. From the File menu, select Save As and save it as a CSV file named
"Add2GAL2.CSV."
32. Insert a new column B. This should be right after the Object Class column.
Name the column "MODE," and populate every record with the word "Delete" in
this column.
33. From the File menu, select Save As and save it as a CSV file named
"DelGAL2.CSV."
34. Close any open Excel files and do NOT save any of them in Excel format if
prompted.
35. Use an editor like Notepad to create an "Add2Gal2.BAT" file. Enter the
following and save the file:
start /wait admin /i Add2Gal2.csv
start /wait admin /i Add2Gal2.csv
.
.
.
start /wait admin /i Add2Gal2.csv
Determining how many admin /i commands is based on the object-version numbers
of the orphaned objects. You want at least one more command than the highest
version number as noted in step 29. Each time the admin /i command is run,
the object-version number will increase by one on the object. The goal is to
create the object on GAL2 and make it's object- version number higher than
that of the same object that already exists in GAL1.
36. Place the "Add2Gal2.CSV" file and the "Add2Gal2.BAT" files in the
Exchsrvr\Bin directory on Machine2.
37. Run the Add2Gal2 batch file.
38. You should now see the objects in the GAL2 on Machine2 and the Object-
Version number should equal the number of times the import command was
entered in the batch file in Step 35.
39. Replicate the GAL from Site 2 to Site 1 and verify that the Object- Version
numbers on Site 1 now match those on site 2 for a sample set.
40. From the command prompt in the Exchsrvr\Bin directory on the server in Site
2, run the command: admin /i DelGal2.csv
41. The objects should be deleted from GAL2. Replicate the GAL from Site 2 to
Site 1.
BR/> If some of the objects are not deleted, check their Object-Version
numbers in the GAL in Site 1. If they are higher than the number used in
step 35, then this process will need to be repeated from Step 1 with the
reduced set of orphaned objects. Otherwise, if there are only a couple of
orphaned objects, follow the steps for manually removing orphaned object as
described in the Knowledge Base article Q179573, Orphaned Objects and
Exchange Server Directory."
Additional query words: detect
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Keywords :
Technology : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange500 kbExchange550 kbExchange400 kbZNotKeyword2
Version : :4.0,5.0,5.5
Issue type : kbinfo
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