Help with Exchange 2000 to 2007 and BES 4.1.3 to BES 4.1.5
 

Hi guys,

Been using these forums for a while now and they have helped me with a lot along the way so thanks for that. Anyways I now find my self in a situation where I can search for help on individual aspects of this process but I can't get my head around the "total" solution. Also by posting this I'm hoping any responses may help others in similar circumstances (unless I'm the only one :razz:)


Scenario:

Installation of NEW Exchange 2007 environment (not an upgrade) to replace Exchange 2000. New environment to be brought online in an initial pilot stage with some pilot users migrated from 2000 to test. As part of this pilot stage, need to test blackberry as well.

Current Setup:

Exchange 2000
BES 4.1.3 (50 users) MSDE database

My Proposed Pilot Solution:

After doing some research and discovering the MAPI and CDO incompatibility between Exchange 2000/2003 and Exchange 2007 a "knife edge" cutover would be the simplest solution with an upgrade of the BES to 4.1.5 as per the comments in http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...unctional.html The problem is though that this is only a pilot stage so only a handful of exchange/blackberry users will be brought into the new environment at first.

My proposed solution and one I'm in the midst of setting up is a temporary new BES server running the latest version with a temp SRP key and CAL pack that I have received from our provider. The idea being that this is a stand alone solution for the pilot that won't effect the current BES install and Exchange 2000 setup. The pilot users would have their mail box moved to the new Exchange 2007 server (configured as per the installation guide in the above link) with those that have Blackberries deleted from the BES 4.1.3 server and then activated on the BES 4.1.5 server. In my head I feel this will work for the pilot stage?

From Pilot to Production:

Once the pilot stage is over I need to either; move all remaining Blackberry users to the new BES as their mailboxes are moved across making the temp BES become the permanent one eventually removing the original BES. But because the BES servers are different, I can't just move the users as I could if the BES versions were the same and they were looking at the one database. This would involve reactivating every users in the new environment.

or

Move remaining blackberry users mailboxes onto the new Exchange 2007 server, at the same time upgrading the original BES to 4.1.5 and installing the compatible MAPI and CDO files. This cutover would hopefully have all users running in the new environment like nothing happened. Then reactivating the pilot users for a 2nd time but back onto the upgraded BES.

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I feel that the second option may be the better of the two with the risk being that the upgraded BES server is not proven in the new Environment as where the pilot server would be.

Also, for the pilot BES server, is there a way to copy across one BES's configuration to another? and if the configuration can't be copied can the IT policies? If all this information is held in the database then I am assuming no.

Please help me discover what I have missed in my thought process as our Exchange 2007 pilot is handled by a 3rd party but with the BES I am on my own...

Thanks in advance,
Aaron

Use the same BESAdmin account for both BES and Exchange Servers, just assign the permissions on the Exchange 2007 machine first.

The install your test BES, don't worry so much about policies. As long as Activations, email and wireless sync works you are golden.

The second option is the best one, just upgrade the CDO/MAPI components and upgrade to 4.1.5 on your production BES.

Then you are good to go.

Feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks for the quick reply gibson_hg.

As I was typing it all out it was making more sense written down.

I don't have the luxuary of not worrying about the policies because this is a government system and I am obliged to follow security guidelines. If there is no way of exporting and importing policies from one system to another then I will have to set a policy up manualy?

When you look at your list of policies is there an option to export? I don't have a BES in front of me to check. I know there is a copy option but I am unsure about an export option.

I can't see an export option and the copy option only allows you to copy the settings of another and make a new one within that window...

With 4.1 SP3 you can use the BESUserAdminService / Client to export policy information.

With 4.1 SP5 you can use the tool ITPolicyImportExport.exe

Download the BRK

Thanks hdawg, the BESUserAdminService / Client does the trick. Atleast I can get it into a readable format which will help me quickly configure a similar policy.

Do you know if an export (more just a piped list I suppose) from 4.1.3 using the client can be imported into 4.1.5 using the ITPolicyImportExport.exe?

I don't; sorry. I've been trained through a series of bad experiences to only use BESUserAdminService / Client versions that match exactly. Supposedly you can get by using versions as long as the major version (such as 4.0 or 4.1 match) ... but I've gotten mixed results and stick to only exact version matching with what the server version is too.

Hi gibson_hg,

Just about to use my secondary test BES now that our Exchange 2007 system is up and running and the BESAdmin permissions have been applied. I have logged onto the test BES server and been confronted with this message.

"The MAPI profile "BlackBerryManager" does not exist.

The MAPI Profile is used to log into the Microsoft Exchange server so that BlackBerry Manager can access the address book, send messages to BlackBerry users and perform some administrative functions on users.

In the following dialogue, please specify the name of the Microsoft Exchange server and mailbox on that server to use for this purpose."


I'm thinking that perhaps I can't use the same account as it can't have a Mailbox on both servers and the mailbox needs to remain on the Exchange 2000 server to serve the non-pilot users.

Do you think perhaps bringing up another admin account to use for the pilot group, applying the correct permissions on the Exchange 2007 server and on the indavidual users themselves is the only way to go here?

Cheers,
Aaron

I would try another account. I myself am having issues installing this tool.

I get errors when I start the service, that it cant start. In checking the application logs, I get.

The description for Event ID ( 10000 ) in Source ( BlackBerry User Administration Service ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: MAPILogonEx() failed (80040111) for profile: MY_BES_MAILBOX.

my mapi is not actually the one above. When I install the app, I am putting the login and have tried the mailbox name too with no luck.

Nevermind....I did this.

BlackBerryServer worked