issues activating users after BES service account switch
 

While preparing for our Exchange 2010 migration, we migrated our besadmin account from Exchange 2007. But we had some issues because permissions didn't migrate over with the service account. After speaking with t-support, it was decided to create a new service account (besadmin2) on Exchange 2010.

Since then, we are having issues with acitvating users on BES. In the last 3 cases, the network at etp mail stays in the users account. We had to cancel the activation, delete the email and try again and on the 4th try it finally worked. Deleting from BES and recreating the account seems to work but it is not a preffered solution because we are not sure how much information, preferences etc will be lost when the user is deleted on BES. We tried using a static mailbox agent for the duration of an activation today and it worked but I am not sure if this is a permanent soltuion.


Q1 - What information is lost when a user is deleted from BES? Is it just the signature and software configs? Will the users preferences on the device (spell check, font size etc) remain in place or will the device have to be reconfigured?
Q2 - Has anyone had any experiences with such issues in the past? Is the issue that we have two versions of Exchange in our environment causing problems with activation? (we do not have mail flow or any other issues) Will the issues go away when all users are migrated?
Q3 - Does anyone know if using a static mailbox agent can be considered solution to these issues?

If there are issues while trying to activate a users device, is it common practice to delete their account off the BES, create a new account and try to activate the device again?

RIM support has suggested several times that I delete the user from BES if I am having trouble activating. It seems as if this is part of their troubleshooting steps and say they do this fairly often. What do you generally do when you run into activation issues with a certain device? They also mentioned that when a user is switching devices, RIM recommends that the user is deleted from BES and recreated before the new devices is activated.

Would you happen to know if there is a way to make a backup of the device settings and then remove the user from BES?

Re: issues activating users after BES service account switch
 

The easiest way to take a full device backup is via Desktop Manager. Then you can add and remove the user from the BES, delete their handheld, reset to factory, whatever you want - and be able to "put the device back" how it was.

Re: issues activating users after BES service account switch
 

RIM support probably suggest this crap because it is an easy way to fix a lot of "issues" - but in my mind, it is not really a fix, more of a workaround.

If I am having trouble activating a device/user, then I use "removing them from BES" as a last step, because it tells me nothing about what is/was wrong.

I never remove users from the BES to swap their devices out. I just EA them on a new one by generating an EA password and putting it into the new device. For a plain device swap, I cannot think of a single reason why removing and re-adding to BES would be of any benefit whatsoever. In fact it would be a pain, as you would lose the BES backup of user settings, so would then need to use DM backup/restore OR device-swap-wizard (shudder) to do the change over. Or give the user a new device with none of their settings on it, which usually really annoys them, and isn't helpful to anyone.

Typically, for me, if a device/user is not activating:

a) I will run the BB PIN through the RIM EA readiness check - often with new devices, especially for my users in Asia Pacific, the networks really struggle to understand and add the Corp BB plans. This is unlikely to be anything to do with your issues, but you asked what I do, so here it is LOL

b) I will take the BES user and try activating them on one of my "known good" devices - i.e. a BB device and SIM card that definitely work (I have been known to use my own for testing). IF they EA on my BB, then it means their device/SIM is the issue. If they cannot EA on my BB, then chances are their device/SIM are OK and it is something to do with their account on Exchange or the BES.

c) Device/SIM issues go back to the network (for warranty replacement blah)

d) Non-device issues require troubleshooting. Does the BESAdmin account have proper permissions to their mailbox? Can the BES reach their mail database/server? I then try a test EA (often from the RIM tech support site again) and look to see whether the EA message gets to their inbox or gets junked/spammed along the way.

e) It gets harder to specify what I do next from here, as we are getting into the land of strange-little-problems, so we would be here all day. At this point I might try deleting them from the BES and re-adding, LOL

Re: issues activating users after BES service account switch
 

As long as I don't wipe the device, deleting the user from BES shouldn't hurt the users device preferences right? I would think that I would only lose the device settings if I wipe the device? Am I wrong in thinking that? What is the correct way to approach this: 1) delete from bes, 2) backup the device, 3) wipe, 4) restore, 5) add to bes 6) reactivate

Re: issues activating users after BES service account switch
 

First off, thanks so much for your reply. It has given me a lot ideas.

BESAdmin (we had to switch service accounts and create a new one on Exchange 2010) account has proper permissions to the mailboxes. The problems started after we first switched service accounts. The first few devices we tried to activate had issues. The network at etp email gets to their mailbox and just sits there. In those cases it worked after canceling the activation about 6 times and trying again. Recently, the activation's have worked the way they should. It is very sporadic so I am not sure how to troubleshoot this.

We are currently migrating our user community from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010. The bes service account is on Exchange 2010 but most of our users are still on Exchange 2007. RIM has suggested there is a strong possibility that the activation issues have to do with having two versions of Exchange in our environment. I don't know why that would cause an issue but it does cause an issue with the network at etp mail being picked up from the users mailbox and the activation to start. Would you happen to have any experience or suggestions with this scenario?

Thanks again

Re: issues activating users after BES service account switch
 

Does anyone know of any activation issues being caused by have load balancing devices like Citrix Netscalers for the Exchange 2010 servers?