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kmcq02
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How to delete mailbox backups from Veeam Backup for O365?

Post by kmcq02 »

We are primarily using Backup for O365 to create a PST file for terminated users. We never delete the O365 account but we export a PST so the mailbox data is in an accessible format for management, if needed. Basically, I am running the Veeam O365 backup then immediately creating the PST via Explorer for Exchange. Once that is done I don't need to retain the mailbox in Veeam and it is just consuming space. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to delete mailboxes out of Veeam once I am finished with them. Is there a way to do that?

I do see some other use cases for mailboxes in O365, e.g. running daily backups when we know a user is leaving the company and likely to start cleaning up their mailbox. But the primary use will be for PST exports and not being able to delete a mailbox backup would be a bummer.
foggy
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Re: How to delete mailbox backups from Veeam Backup for O365

Post by foggy »

Hi Kerry, currently backup data goes out according to retention, there's no other way to delete it. Let's consider this as a feature request.
Mr Incredulous
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Re: How to delete mailbox backups from Veeam Backup for O365

Post by Mr Incredulous »

You may consider it a feature request, I rate it slightly differently.

Consider the case where a mailbox is set up incorrectly, perhaps with a misspelt name. Or perhaps some temporary testing has been performed on dummy accounts. Or some one is about to start the company, gets a mail box created and then doesn't actually start. More examples, I'm sure, I have at least a dozen of these.

So what you're saying is if any of these get on to the backup, they could stay there for 7 years (or whatever the retention policy). We need to keep paying licenses for 7 years for these dead accounts?

In actual fact, this is going to be intolerable for most organisations, I can see the only solution is to periodically delete the entire repository and rebuild it from scratch, just so that we can free up licences that have been inadvertently locked down for 7 years. Obviously deleting the entire repository could be deemed risky and shouldnt be taken lightly which I would have thought would be at odds VEEAMS strategy as a company specializing in data backup.

Please could the Feature be near the top of the list, or at least before we come round to renewal.

Many thanks!
Polina
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Re: How to delete mailbox backups from Veeam Backup for O365

Post by Polina » 1 person likes this post

Hi Martin! And welcome to Veeam Forums

Things have changed since the above discussion and now, with version 2.0, you can remove unneeded items from the repository. For example, you can do it with PowerShell.

And licenses are not locked, in fact. If no backups have been performed for a given user in the past 31 days, you can reuse their license.
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