[swallowevil]

Hey everyone, I'm fairly new here and not much of a bes admin, just getting my feet wet after being thrown into the role. With help we were able to migrate from BES 4.0 to a new BES 5.0 server without any issues. So now, I'm trying to be a good admin and stay on top of things. It looks as if I should be upgrading to SP2 (don't have SP1 installed) so I'm wondering about how long it takes to install the Service pack? I know this will depend on what kind of server that BES is running on but was wondering if I could get some rough estimates for those of you that have installed it? We're running on a Dell power edge 2650 as of now, with Server 03 installed. We only have about 40 users as of now (everyone seems to be jumping ship to android or iPhone after we enabled active sync.) I need to know how long the BES will be out while installing the service pack so I can communicate to my users and let my manager know. Like I said, if anyone can give me some rough estimates it'd be much appreciated. (TIA)

[Jadey]

I have a test Exchange BES, all one one box, around same number of users as you. SP2 install took around 20 mins. Took me longer to download it than install it hahahaha

Obv on a live production box you need to factor in some sort of disater recovery plan in case the upgrade spoons it, but in raw terms, just running the upgrade where everything is on same box, you're prob looking at around 20 mins.

[justpaul]

If downtime is a concern, one option would be to setup a BES standby server. Then, failover the users to it, patch the original server, then failback the server. Mailflow would be uninterrupted.

[swallowevil]

Thank you both for the info and ideas, much appreciated.

[jjbova]

I just installed SP2 today. I was at BES 5.0.1 MR1. I will be honest, I completely forgot about our "backup" server, and failover. I was trying to just rush through the install. But then I saw someone get an e-mail while I was doing the upgrade, I was like "That is awesome, the BES is smarter than the admins..... doh"

Good luck with your upgrade, hope it goes smoothly.