[Pyjo]

Hello.
I'm looking for documentation about integrating BES with Exchange 2010 in a specific scenario; by now I did't find anything useful.
The scenario is the following:
2 Exchange 2010 Server on W2k8 R2 enterprise, three roles on each server (Mailbox, CAS, Hub). The mailbox role is configured with a DAG (Database Availability Group). Since the failover cluster component is installed on both server, the NLB feature cannot be activated (Microsoft doesn't support both features on the same server).
Is this a supported scenario for BES? Is it possible to configure BES to connect to a second CAS, if the first one fails? Is a hardware load balancer required?

Thank you very much.

[buluks]

Hi Pyjo,

BES connect to exchange with mapi profile. for compatibility you must using BES 5.0.1.

[Pyjo]

Thanks.
Assuming that I've installed a version of BES that is compatible with Exchange 2010, there is a way to specify a list of Exchange servers so that the BES tries to contact the first one and if the connection fails it moves on the next one?

My problem is that Exchange 2010 supports MAPI connections on the CAS server, and the Outlook client automatically discovers a CAS on the network; then the CAS locate the mailbox server and retrieves mailbox content. But I still need to understand how the BES fits in this architecture.

[knottyrope]

BES uses AD with LDAP to find the mailbox.

[Pyjo]

Originally Posted by knottyrope

BES uses AD with LDAP to find the mailbox.

Exchange 2010 is quite different from Exchange 2007 in this aspect.
In AD there is no more a reference to the Exchange mailbox server that hosts the mailbox of the user, but a reference to a database that may be replicated on many servers, and is active only on a single server (this the new DAG feature). I don't think that AD maintains information about the active copy: this information is retrieved on the fly by the CAS when the client connects to it.

So I can't understand how the BES can dynamically find the active copy of the mailbox unless it connect to the CAS; and then I wonder how the access to the CAS can be configured as fault tolerant.

The installation guide I downloaded (BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server_for_Microsoft_Exchan ge-Installation_and_Configuration_Guide--819071-1029033521-001-5.0.1-US.pdf) states simply:
7. In the Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box, perform the following actions:
a. In the Microsoft Exchange server field, type the name of the Microsoft® Exchange server.

So it seems that there is room for only one Exchange server (the CAS, I suppose). If that server goes offline, how the BES will connect to the mailboxes?

[RadHaz75]

BES 5.0.1 MR1 now talks to the CAS, since nothing in E2010 talks directly to the mailbox servers.

This is why you make the CAS HA, behind a hardware LB and then point all traffic to the LB. Then if one CAS goes down, the LB takes it out of the pool and the client (in this case BES) says hey, i got nothing, let me recheck and it is then pointed to a diff CAS through the LB.

[Pyjo]

Originally Posted by RadHaz75

BES 5.0.1 MR1 now talks to the CAS, since nothing in E2010 talks directly to the mailbox servers.

This is why you make the CAS HA, behind a hardware LB and then point all traffic to the LB. Then if one CAS goes down, the LB takes it out of the pool and the client (in this case BES) says hey, i got nothing, let me recheck and it is then pointed to a diff CAS through the LB.

Thank you very much.
So there is no way to achieve fault tolerance from the BES side, without the intervention of some LB module.
But is the use of Microsoft NLB supported, or discouraged?

[RadHaz75]

Originally Posted by Pyjo

But is the use of Microsoft NLB supported, or discouraged?

from what i understand, technically supported but discouraged. they appear to be moving away from that.