What are the Definitions of Physical and Logical Messages and what reports contain them?
MessageStats reports show the message values in two categories: logical and physical. In the report column headings, the term physical identifies the physical message counts. If messages are not labeled as physical, they are logical messages.
For example, in the Mailbox Activity | Summary report, the message columns are labeled as Physical Messages. The term physical message is used to provide message counts in a manner similar to how Exchange handles a message. When a user opens Outlook, creates a message with five recipients and clicks Send, there is one physical message that Exchange tries deliver to each recipient.
Exchange may create copies of the message so that each recipient can receive the message. This process is called bifurcation and is performed when different recipients receive copies of the same message. A logical message is a message in which each recipient is counted as a separate message. For example, if a mail message is created in Outlook and is sent to nine recipients, MessageStats would count that as one physical sent message and nine logical sent messages. From a delivery standpoint (received messages), the logical and physical counts are the same since a delivery event can only happen to one mailbox.
Logical message counts make more sense when you categorize messages as internal or external. For example, in the Mailbox Activity | Internal vs. External report, MessageStats needs to determine whether a mailbox is sending internal or external messages. Since a message can have multiple recipients, and the recipients can be both internal and external, reports need to show a message in more granular way.
Here are the standard reports that show physical message counts:
Corporate Exchange at a Glance (Message part)
Server Traffic Usage
Service Delivery (Delivery Time parts)
Subject auditing (both reports)
Organizational Traffic
Server Activity (all reports)
Server Mail Traffic (all reports)
Delivery Times (all reports)
Message Sizes (all reports)
Mailbox Content (all reports)
Public Folder Content (all reports)
Mailbox Attachments (all reports)
Public Folder Attachments (all reports)
Mailbox Activity Summary
Mailbox Profile - Mailbox Profile - For the following parts:
1. Message Size Distribution
2. Mailbox auditing (both reports)
3. Message Sizes (both reports)
Internal Namespace Distribution
Mailbox Migration Progress (both reports)
Here are the standard reports that show Logical message counts:
Recipient Traffic Usage
Financials (Department Chargeback parts)
Departmental Reporting - Mailbox Activity
Mailboxes Top Senders and Receivers (both reports)
Top Internet Senders and Receivers (both reports)
Mailbox Activity Internal vs. External (logical counts are available as insertable fields)
Mailbox Profile - Mailbox Profile - For the following parts:
• Top Distribution Lists
• Mailbox Activity Trend
• Top Recipients and Originators
Custom Recipients (all reports)
Distribution Lists (all reports)
Top Internet Domains (both reports)
Internet Domain Auditing (both reports)
Top Internet Domain Users (both reports)