[mcristallo]

Hey guys,

Due to some recent cutbacks, the responsibility of our BES server has fallen into my lap. Things seem to be okay in general. Adding users, syncing to devices, etc. There are some issues though that just seem to come back and I hope there is a stupid easy thing i'm overlooking.

One user gets everything sync'd just fine except Tasks. It won't sync either way. I checked that his profile is set to sync them, went to his office to enter new tasks, reloaded his profile, etc.

Another user loses BB Messenger functionality when we connect her to BES. It's a Sprint phone on a Verizon BES. Is that an issue?

We're barely touching on the ability of our BES. We physically connect each device to the server to assign them, we don't do any app blocking or administration. We're really in the stages of getting it cleaned up and working better. I'm trying to push upgrading to the newer BES and managing the devices, but its hard when the basic things aren't working correctly.

Any help you guys could give is much appreciated.

[dpeters11]

What version of BES and Exchange do you have currently? Are all other users able to sync tasks, and are they on the same Exchange server as the one thats not working?

[jameskemp]

I was in a simlar situation to you 18 months ago when I joined my company. I had little experience of BES and inherited a system that had barely been looked at in years.

The good news is once you have BES set up it doesnt take too much too look after it (well in my experience anyway and I'm running 140 users). When BES takes up your time is when you work on new functionality or control.

I can recommend a good read of the BES documentation, it covers most of the changes you will want to make.

For your question about sync of Tasks you need to answer dpeters11 question, for BB Messenger, I assume you are saying that BB Messenger works ok before the handset is on BES?

[mcristallo]

Yes, the BB worked fine with BB Messenger until being on BES.

We run BES 4.1.5.26 and Exchange 2003. I believe the BES software was received through Verizon because of our plan. We only use one Exchange server and other users work fine.

Most of our problems apply only to specific users. I assume this is due to the fact that we don't so any Administration on the phones.

Do most of you deal with company owned BB devices? Do you allow personal phones on your BES? Do you allow only one carrier and/or model? How do you deal with complaints about access restriction?

[juwaack68]

A BES is device and carrier agnostic. Doesn't matter what carrier you purchased it from - it can support BlackBerry devices from ANY carrier (around the globe).

I support 4 different BES servers with pretty much every carrier around the globe. We do NOT support personal devices on them, though. Too sticky an issue with people arguing about a device being theirs and having to have the same security restrictions (IT Policy) as the rest of the corporate devices.

[mcristallo]

In addition to my previous questions, does a device need to have Blackberry Enterprise Email on their account or will Blackberry Internet Email work?

[juwaack68]

A device must have an Enterprise BlackBerry data plan, not the BIS plan, to be activated on a BES.

[mcristallo]

That's what i thought. I've been telling users that and wanted to make sure i'm not wasting their money.

Any ideas on the two issues in my opening post?

[juwaack68]

I would probably first check out the IT Policy that the users have assigned to them to make sure the IT Policy isn't restricting anything.

Did these issues just start happening, or have these 2 users always had these issues?

Have you tried wiping the devices and reactivating them (if it were me, I'd wipe the device, and also remove/readd on the BES, then reactivate).

[dpeters11]

If you have only one Exchange server, and other users work fine with the same functions, then that to me rules out some of the common issues like CDO mismatch etc. I'd go with juwaack68's recommendation. I'd also tell it to remove the bes info from the users mailbox.

Also, you said that you were pushing to get the new version. Do you mean 5? I'm not sure I'd push for that specifically. What I might push for is Tech Support, maybe a level that gets upgrades. Unfortunately they changed the model so it can be more expensive now. But it might be worth being able to call RIM on issues. These forums are very helpful and we have some very experienced admins, but at least in my case there are times I need support at 2am and can't wait for someone to read my posts.

[mcristallo]

The user with tasks/contacts issues has always had the problem. It was recently setup. The user with BB Messenger problems started recently. No changes that i'm aware of happened and she already got a new phone and been talking with tech support at Sprint and they are saying its our BES.

Every user has the same IT Policy which is none. What does a device wipe involve? What is lost, what needs to be re-done? As i said some users have personal devices, so i have to be careful with them.

How do i remove BES info from a users mailbox?

What can i do without having the device in front of me?

[Mogsy]

To wipe a device go to Options, Security Option, General Settings and then right click or use the BB logo button depending on handheld, and choose Wipe Handheld -- you need to type 'blackberry' to confirm.

This will restore the unit to factory defaults. While your at it, i would use your carrier URL link to the Blackberry site to get the latest OS for the handheld, before rebuilding onto the BES.

For personal devices, your in a pickle (in my company no personal phones allowed), as they may have external links to POP3 mail, calendars, contacts etc....as well as business related stuff. Bes bet is to use the latest Desktop Manager (at least matching your OS version, though v5.0 has just been released), and do a full backup of the handheld. If you wish to update the OS, you download and install the file from BB website, and then use the DM, which will detect the new OS and offer to upgrade the handset for you. I usually do this only on the BES server and have the 4 or 5 different OS's loaded on it.