Why do the Member Count and Total Member Count fields for the "List Access By Distribution List" (4289353)

In the MessageStats reports, there are 3 questions below regarding the "List Access By Distribution List" report located at "MessageStats Reports" | "Distribution Lists" | "List Access" | "By Distribution List".

Question 1:
Why do the Member Count and Total Member Count fields for the "List Access By Distribution List" report remain zero?

Question 2:
What does "Member count - Total" and "Total member count - Total" columns mean?

Question 3:
What values from Exchange is displayed in these columns?

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Question 1:
MessageStats does not display the value (they're all zeros) of two columns "Member count - Total" and "Total member column - Total". Why MessageStats does not display these values?

Answer: The member count values are only populated if the Gather Distribution List Membership flag is turned on. This is done by looking at the Exchange Organization property page. To turn on that flag, follow the following steps:

1. Open Quest MessageStats by clicking "Start" | "Quest Software" | "MessageStats" | "Quest MessageStats".
2. In the MessageStats console, expand "Quest Software" | "MessageStats" | <server name> | "Exchange Organizations" | <org name>
3. Right click on the <org name> | click Properties.
4. Click "Distribution List Membership" and check "Gather membership information when gathering distribution lists."
5. Click "Apply" | "OK".
6. Run a default gathering.
7. Review the report.

Question 2:
What does "Member count - Total" and "Total member count - Total" columns mean?

Answer: There are two total member counts due to the possibility of DLs (Distribution Lists) that are members of other DLs. The Member Count - Total field represents the count of the direct membership of that DL, while the Total Member Count - Total represents the count of the membership including all child distribution lists. An example may help with this. Let us assume that I have a DL (called DL1) that has the following members:

3 Mailboxes
2 Custom Recipients
1 Distribution List

And let us also assume that there is a second DL (called DL2) that has the following membership:

2 Mailboxes

Finally, DL2 is the distribution list that is a member of DL1.

So the Member Count Total of DL1 would be 3+2+1=6. The Member Count Total of DL2 would be 2. The Total Member Count Total of DL1 would be 6+2=8. Finally, the Total Member Count Total of DL2 would be 2.

In summary, the two totals represent the counts of the direct membership and the extended membership (due to child DLs). If a DL has no members that are DLs (thus no child DLs), these two totals are the same.

Question 3:
What value of Exchange is displayed in these columns?

Answer: Membership totals are an aggregated value by looking at the DL members, determining their type (i.e. mailbox, etc.) and aggregating the summary values.

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