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Group Usage Service Schedule

A Group Usage Service schedule monitors expansion events and timestamps affected groups of the Microsoft Exchange Server(s) for an identity store.

An expansion event occurs when an Exchange Server expands a distribution list for sending messages. The event is recorded in the Exchange Server's message tracking log, which the Group Usage Service schedule reads, parsing for the timestamp that indicates when the distribution list was last used.

The timestamp is then used by the Group Life Cycle Schedule to extend or reduce the life of mail-enabled distribution groups based on their usage. See the Enable Group Usage Lifecycle topic.

While creating a Group Usage Service schedule, you have to specify a job triggering criterion, the containers the job will process, and the messaging servers for reading expansion logs.

Create a Group Usage Service Schedule​

Step 1 – In Admin Center, click Identity Stores in the left pane.

Step 2 – On the Identity Stores page, click the ellipsis button for an identity store and select Edit.

Step 3 – Click Schedules under Settings in the left pane.

Step 4 – On the Schedules page, click Add Schedule and select Group Usage Service Job.
The Create Schedule page is displayed.

Step 5 – In the Schedule Name box, enter a name for the schedule.

Step 6 – The Name Preview box displays the schedule name prefixed with _GUS__; the schedule is displayed with this name in email notifications.

Step 7 – Select a Directory Manager portal URL in the Portal URL drop-down list to include it in notifications generated for the schedule. Users are redirected to this portal to perform any necessary action.

Step 8 – In the Scheduler Service Name drop-down list, select a Scheduler service that would be responsible for triggering this schedule. The number of services displayed in the list depend on the number of nodes in all Elasticsearch clusters in the environment, as each node has its own Scheduler service. See the Scheduler Service topic for additional information.

Please note the following while selecting a Scheduler service:

  • The Scheduler service for the Directory Manager instance on which you are creating the schedule is selected by default. However, you can select the Scheduler service of another instance as well.

  • The Scheduler service can be changed even after creating the schedule. Upon the next run, the schedule will be triggered by the newly-selected Scheduler service.

  • If the selected Scheduler service fails to trigger the schedule, then no other Scheduler service can be selected automatically.

  • If a schedule is run manually on the Admin Center, then the Scheduler service of that instance will be used.

Step 9 – You can specify containers as targets for the schedule. The schedule will process all groups in those containers and sub-containers.

  • Select the Include all containers check box to run the schedule on all the containers in the identity store.
    Or
  • Click Add Container to add one or more containers as targets. The Add Container(s) dialog box shows the domain name and the OUs in the identity store. Select the check boxes for the required containers and click Add; the selected containers are displayed in the Target(s) area. To exclude a sub-container, clear the check box for it on the Add Container(s) dialog box.
  • To remove a container in the Target(s) area, click Remove for it.
    To remove all target objects, click Remove All.

Step 10 – You can also specify one or more messaging servers. The job reads expansion logs from these servers.

  1. Click Add Server in the Messaging Server area. The Add Messaging Servers dialog box displays the messaging servers in the identity store.

  2. Select the check boxes for the messaging servers that the Group Usage Service schedule should process.

    Or

    Select the Server Name check box if you want this job to read the expansion logs of all messaging servers in the identity store.

  3. Click Add. The messaging server(s) are displayed in the Messaging Server area.

Step 11 – Click Add Triggers in the Triggers area to specify a triggering criterion for the schedule, that, when met, starts the execution of the schedule. See the Triggers topic for information on the triggering criterion setting.

Step 12 – After specifying the settings for triggers, click Add. The trigger is displayed in the Triggers area.

A schedule can have one or more triggers, allowing the schedule to be started in many ways. With multiple triggers, the schedule will start when any of the triggers occur.
To enable or disable a trigger - Click Edit for a trigger in the Triggers area and use the toggle button at the top of the Update Trigger dialog box to enable or disable the trigger.
To remove a trigger - Click Remove for a trigger to remove it.

Step 13 – Click Add Authentication in the Authentication area to specify an account for running the schedule in the identity store.
The Authentication dialog box displays your accounts in the respective identity store that you have used for signing in. Select an account to authenticate with it or click Login with a different user to provide the credentials of another account to run the schedule in the identity store.

NOTE: Make sure this account falls under a high priority security role that has elevated permissions in the identity store (for example, Administrator).

NOTE: If you are creating this schedule in a Microsoft Entra ID identity store, you can only specify the logged-in user's account. See the Schedules for Microsoft Entra ID Identity Store section of the Schedules topic for additional information.

Step 14 – On the Create Schedule page, click Create Schedule.

Step 15 – On the Schedules page, click Save.
The schedule is displayed under Group Usage Service. See the View the Schedules in an Identity Store  topic for additional information.