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Old 06-28-2010, 11:32 PM   #1
alanbr
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Default Hosted BES Express

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Does anyone know if the new free BES Express 5.0 SP1 will be offered to hosters? This would enable blackberries on a BIS plan to sync calendar, contacts, etc. OTA, just like the full BES does, but the full BES requires a BES data plan, whereas BES-X will only require BIS. So it seems like an excellent product to be hosted. Does anyone have any news on this?

Regards,
Alan
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Old 06-30-2010, 07:49 AM   #2
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Although rumored to work, BESX does not support OTA activation of a BIS plan device. The only suppported way to activate that device is by wire. Quite inconvenient for a hosted solution.
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Old 06-30-2010, 08:15 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CanuckBB View Post
Although rumored to work, BESX does not support OTA activation of a BIS plan device. The only suppported way to activate that device is by wire. Quite inconvenient for a hosted solution.
Not if they can publish Web Desktop manager.

Or make sure they have a BES plan for OTA EA.
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Old 06-30-2010, 08:31 PM   #4
alanbr
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Originally Posted by CanuckBB View Post
Although rumored to work, BESX does not support OTA activation of a BIS plan device. The only suppported way to activate that device is by wire. Quite inconvenient for a hosted solution.
Is it that inconvenient? I was told that wired activation is simple through BlackBerry Desktop Manager, as long as you have your hosted exchange account linked to Outlook on the computer with the correct profile and with BB Desktop Manager configured correctly. And then once activated, everything will sync wirelessly under a BIS plan. So I thought it would not be so difficult. But I am no expert in wired activation. Is the information I got incorrect?

Regards,
Alan
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Old 06-30-2010, 08:39 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alanbr View Post
Is it that inconvenient? I was told that wired activation is simple through BlackBerry Desktop Manager, as long as you have your hosted exchange account linked to Outlook on the computer with the correct profile and with BB Desktop Manager configured correctly. And then once activated, everything will sync wirelessly under a BIS plan. So I thought it would not be so difficult. But I am no expert in wired activation. Is the information I got incorrect?

Regards,
Alan
Think about what you're describing here for a second.
You'd need a MAPI connection from your home computer to the Hosted Exchange Server and BES. That would mean the host would need to open up their servers to the public Internet... not likely to happen at all.
So, in short, it's extremely inconvenient to support something like that.

knotty's suggestion of using WDM is bit more eloquent and should allow a wired EA if configured properly. There's still some tweaking you'd need to so on the end-user side to allow proper use of WDM. I still don't see it happening in a hosted environment.
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Old 07-01-2010, 10:30 PM   #6
alanbr
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Originally Posted by penguin3107 View Post
Think about what you're describing here for a second.
You'd need a MAPI connection from your home computer to the Hosted Exchange Server and BES. That would mean the host would need to open up their servers to the public Internet... not likely to happen at all.
So, in short, it's extremely inconvenient to support something like that.

knotty's suggestion of using WDM is bit more eloquent and should allow a wired EA if configured properly. There's still some tweaking you'd need to so on the end-user side to allow proper use of WDM. I still don't see it happening in a hosted environment.
Hi, as I said before I am no expert in this, but here is a link on wired activation:
KB18660 - View Document
It didn't seem to me as something complicated in a hosted environment. Is this the procedure that you are considering? If so, then I thought incorrectly that it would be something quite simple for the hosters. I appreciate your help.

Regards,
Alan
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Old 07-01-2010, 11:38 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alanbr View Post
Hi, as I said before I am no expert in this, but here is a link on wired activation:
KB18660 - View Document
It didn't seem to me as something complicated in a hosted environment. Is this the procedure that you are considering? If so, then I thought incorrectly that it would be something quite simple for the hosters. I appreciate your help.

Regards,
Alan
That's it, but there are some serious security considerations to opening up the DM and MAPI ports to the internet.
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Old 07-07-2010, 06:12 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by CanuckBB View Post
That's it, but there are some serious security considerations to opening up the DM and MAPI ports to the internet.
1) As I am no expert, this may be a silly question, but I will go ahead and ask: aren't those ports already open if the hoster offers me a hosted Exchange account and I have Outlook on the PC syncing with that Exchange account through the mentioned Profile?

2) Furthermore, I noticed that after a battery pull, the Enterprise Activation reappeared in Advanced Options, so it may be possible to activate OTA even though I have a BIS plan, at least these posts give me hope:
http://forums.crackberry.com/f50/bes...-plans-432049/
http://forums.crackberry.com/f50/fix...vation-436745/

3) Therefore, may we assume that it is not so complicated for hosters to offer BES Express or do you still think it will not happen?

Regards,
Alan

Last edited by alanbr; 07-07-2010 at 06:33 PM..
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Old 07-07-2010, 07:17 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alanbr View Post
aren't those ports already open if the hoster offers me a hosted Exchange account and I have Outlook on the PC syncing with that Exchange account through the mentioned Profile?
Not necessarilly.
How, exactly, is Outlook configured?
Are you getting your email via POP, IMAP, MAPI, etc.? You might be using "Outlook Anywhere" which is basically a tunneled SSL connection. This won't work for BES. BES needs MAPI.
Need more details to accurately answer this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alanbr View Post
I noticed that after a battery pull, the Enterprise Activation reappeared in Advanced Options, so it may be possible to activate OTA even though I have a BIS plan
Yes, it's possible. If you have the PROVISIONING service book, which it sounds like you might, then you can possibly do a wireless EA on a BIS plan.


Quote:
Originally Posted by alanbr View Post
Therefore, may we assume that it is not so complicated for hosters to offer BES Express
Terrible assumption. Go back and re-read prior posts in this thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alanbr View Post
or do you still think it will not happen?
My previous thoughts on this topic remain unchanged. I think it's unlikely you'll see a successful BESx Hosted provider.
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Old 07-07-2010, 07:35 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by penguin3107 View Post
Not necessarilly.
How, exactly, is Outlook configured?
Are you getting your email via POP, IMAP, MAPI, etc.? You might be using "Outlook Anywhere" which is basically a tunneled SSL connection. This won't work for BES. BES needs MAPI.
Need more details to accurately answer this.
I believe it is MAPI. It's definitely not POP or IMAP. It is via a profile configured in Mail Profiles in Windows. Does that help clarify this part?

Last edited by alanbr; 07-07-2010 at 07:41 PM..
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Old 07-07-2010, 07:52 PM   #11
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I believe it is MAPI. It's definitely not POP or IMAP. It is via a profile configured in Mail Profiles in Windows. Does that help clarify this part?
No, unfortunately it doesn't.
Can you post some screenshots of your mail profile settings?
Specifically the Connection tab in your Exchange settings and the Exchange proxy settings.
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Old 07-07-2010, 08:18 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by penguin3107 View Post
No, unfortunately it doesn't.
Can you post some screenshots of your mail profile settings?
Specifically the Connection tab in your Exchange settings and the Exchange proxy settings.
Hi,

Thanks for trying to help. I cannot post those screenshots because I am not using Windows anymore. I now use a Mac, but before I used Windows. The profile is configured via an executable. The instructions for using it (and a link to download it) are as follows:
SherWeb - How can I use the configuration tool to setup my Outlook profile?

This executable is for one of the hosters with which I have worked, which is SherWeb. I also worked with another hoster very well known in the BlackBerry world called ExchangeMyMail. In both cases I believe those ports were open, but I am sure you will be able to find out. Once again thanks for helping me.

Regards,
Alan

Last edited by alanbr; 07-07-2010 at 09:11 PM..
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Old 07-07-2010, 11:44 PM   #13
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Sounds like "Outlook Anywhere" or "RPC over HTTPS" as it used to be called. Don't believe BES can use that.

I've stated before that some people have reported the ability to EA OTA on a BIS plan. But the point is it's only some peolpe and it's not a supported configuration option from RIM. If your business is hosting, you want 100% reliability.
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Old 07-08-2010, 10:46 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CanuckBB View Post
Sounds like "Outlook Anywhere" or "RPC over HTTPS" as it used to be called. Don't believe BES can use that.

I've stated before that some people have reported the ability to EA OTA on a BIS plan. But the point is it's only some peolpe and it's not a supported configuration option from RIM. If your business is hosting, you want 100% reliability.
I agree with you. That is why I was trying to check if those ports were not open already, in which case a wired activation through Desktop Manager would not represent any (additional) risk. The EA OTA is indeed an exception, not the rule, and I do not think we can count on it when evaluating if hosting BESx is or not a viable product.
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Old 07-10-2010, 10:06 PM   #15
alanbr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CanuckBB View Post
Sounds like "Outlook Anywhere" or "RPC over HTTPS" as it used to be called. Don't believe BES can use that.

I've stated before that some people have reported the ability to EA OTA on a BIS plan. But the point is it's only some peolpe and it's not a supported configuration option from RIM. If your business is hosting, you want 100% reliability.
Hi,

I ran a test and would like you to help me figure out what the results imply. I went back to my Windows PC and configured everything for a wired activation, meaning:
1) I have a hosted BES (not BES Express)
2) I installed BB Desktop Manager as per the instructions for a wired activation
3) I installed the Outlook Profile explained above.
4) I ran BB Desktop Manager and confirmed the online status
5) I wiped my device and connected it to the PC

The results were as follows:
1) The activation never kicked off, probably because I have a BIS plan only
2) However, the hosted BES received some kind of communication from my BB, because it identified the PIN code of my device.

So the questions I have are:
1) Do the results imply anything about how the mail profile is connecting to the hoster?
2) Do the results in any way imply that a wired activation would work for a hosted BESx?

Once again, thank you for helping me with this.

Best Regards,
Alan
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Old 01-07-2011, 10:21 PM   #16
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Lightbulb Re: Hosted BES Express

Large hosting companies wont host it becuase it will erode their revenues because of the lower price they would have to charge. I found one that does offer BESX for $5.00 and the service works fine. SkySphere - Hosted Microsoft Exchange 2010 - Zix Email Encryption - VPS - Blackberry Enterprise Server - Hosted Applications
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