What was your BES Express 5 install experience like?
 

Just curious of what it was like for you.

only 2 so far?

fail id actually like to see what everyone else's installs were like!

My experience was fairly good, however I did have BPS 4 on a virtual server so I just cloned that, removed BPS 4 and install BESX 5. This also gave me the reassurance that if anything went wrong I could just kill the clone and try again.

As a side note migrating users from BPS 4 to BESX 5 was freakin' easy, unlike what most of the RIM documentation says.

1st attempt
- Installed my own SQL2008Express and had problems connecting to db
- Administration and Webdesktop failed to work

2nd attempt
- Uninstalled previous db (and SQL) and BESX
- Installed allowing the install to add SQL2005Express
- Worked fine once I got the SRP and other keys sorted out
- Activated first device using a cable on the server -> user very happy :smile:

Weird you had issues with SQL 2008 express, was it at SP1?

Yes it was at SP1 ... for a change I read all the requirements and followed the install instructions to the letter :smile:

Now it's working I'm not going to touch it (for now).

JB.

Each time add a user to our BESExpress v5, onto our 2008 Standard server with Exchange 2007 SP2, i have to restart the BES services before it will actually activate, which is a ballache.
Event Viewer is always populated with BES errors, yet mostly the devices seem to work once activation has been successful.
Anyone know why you can't wirelessy activate on besexpress? Seems daft not being able to.

All of my client installs have gone smooth, but I had a ***** of a time installing on sbs2008 due to two separate issues that took several hours to nail down....

One was Not being able to pull up bas because 8.3 file naming was disabled on the server when bes was installed.

The second and harder to nail down issue was courtesy of a RIM bug. If the server has a 0 in the ip address, it screws up stuff....

Update on my part. Since full BES 4.1.6 was causing my DC to hang at bootup, i've migrated ALL our users over to the BES Express now (on our exchange 2007 box), and quite seemlessly i might add.
The first device 8110 i wiped before activating. Thereafter for every other handset i realised i didn't need to; just re-associated the user with the device and all was good. No need for stopping/starting services.

GUYS THAT IS SUCH EASY



h t t p s : / / w w w. blackberry.com/blackberrytraining/web/_content/indexExternal.html?cc=3731382d30323036335f42455358 496e7374616c6c&cx=3230393930313031&cl=656e&cg=636f 6e6669675f6c6f76655f707572706c652e786d6c

Follow exactly the steps, you can't make anything wrong!!!!!

and it works fine in the DMZ, running it without any problems yet...... 8-)

ive been struggling with this for days now.

it doesnt help that the guide is wrong for SBS2003 (several sections telling you to do things that cannot be done etc)

i must admit the lazy developer way of having to run everything in a webserver etc isnt a good way for developers. what ever happened to devs creating a proper application rather than having to get us to setup all the securities and sql databases etc.

remember that many people using SBS arent full time server types (who would employ someone in a small business that spends maybe 1 hour a month working on the server?) i certainly dont know anyone that uses sql enough to perform all the tasks that are needed - and when i get the usual sql error it says go to the log - which hasnt been updated!!!!!

this kind of stuff should be REALLY simple to install, ive installed plenty of software that frankly does far more complicated tasks and didnt need a 60 page security premissions guide and they actually worked straight away.

of course it would be even better if BB devices could actually pickup exchange emails out of the box. i mean even ipods can get exchange info (calendar, contacts and emails) and thats an MP3 player! why is RIM making life hard for itself by forcing users to install what i can only describe as dire software

also, why does it take 4 days to send the install setup files to people in the UK yet if we use USA details you get it in 1 hour. thats not a good impression for us either

we are looking at moving all phones over to blackberry due to issues with windows mobile but ive had just as much trouble with very poor software and install guides and flakey BB handsets (personal emails failing 50% of the time and all i get it a vague error that doesnt help anyone)

sorry RIM. but you are about to lose a customer.

sorry for the rant but after about 3 days locked in the server room trying to figure this out im a very POd techie (web development and design are my area of expertise, not server sql configuration)

I know what your're saying liamt. RIM have been forced to provide free software to combat all the smartphones that can sync with Exchange without any headaches......so they came up with BESEXPRESS!!!
Oh dear! They certainly didn't put a great deal of effort into it did they?
As i detailed in another thread i had to restart the bes services each time i wanted to add a user = crazy!
The webportal as you say is lazy, i have to alter my GPO security/activex settings just to get the damned thing to work. It still doesn't work out the box....so i have to keep digging into the GPO to look for the reasons why.

Not overly impressed tbh. I'm currently petitioning my MD to consider the switch to smartphones.

haha. we are considering moving due to all the issues with windows mobile smartphones. android isnt available via our carrier so we are stuck with more great looking but unreliable HTC winmo phones or nokia smartphones

im also wondering what the overhead of all this express s/w is as its essentially using extra resources over all other smart phone systems