[robbforce1]

I have 3 Blackberry Enterprise Servers running 4.1 (no service pack) with a remote SQL server. I need to replace the hardware that is currently in place with 3 new servers. At the same time we want to move to 4.1 Service Pack 3.
We want to keep the same host names, ips, etc...

We plan to take each server down one by one and bring up the fresh builds. Does any one see a flaw in doing this or anything that I may want to consider?

[hdawg]

If you want to do it this way I'd recommend upgrading to 4.1 SP3 first (rather SP4) and then cutting over to new hardware.

You'll effectively do a knife-edge / hardware swap migration. If you search BlackBerry Technical Solution Center you'll find step by step complete procedures for moving after the upgrade.

[jrebeiro]

You have to update to 4.1.3 first. When doing a cutover the new instance has to be the same exact version. If you are going to new hardware I like to keep it clean and would rather install 4.1.3 HF1 straight without any upgrades on the new box.

Why are you not going to 4.1.4?

[robbforce1]

We do not want to spend the time upgrading our current servers as they are going away as soon as we can get them out. We are going to clear all users off of one server and bring a fresh 4.1 up in it's place. Then clear all users off of another server and move them to the new server. We will repeat the process for the last server. After all the users are on the new servers and the old servers are gone we will upgrade to 4.1.4.

Can I install SP4 alone or do I have to install SP1, 2, and 3 first?

[hdawg]

If you have a tsupport contract and can download full versions you'll be able to get 4.1 with SP4 integrated; otherwise its install 4.1 and then apply SP4.

[jibi]

Originally Posted by robbforce1

We do not want to spend the time upgrading our current servers as they are going away as soon as we can get them out. We are going to clear all users off of one server and bring a fresh 4.1 up in it's place. Then clear all users off of another server and move them to the new server. We will repeat the process for the last server. After all the users are on the new servers and the old servers are gone we will upgrade to 4.1.4.

Can I install SP4 alone or do I have to install SP1, 2, and 3 first?

Just to clear this up a bit, as it seems you are missing the point on 'least amount of downtime', you will want to upgrade the old environment first for a number of reasons. As mentioned above in a couple posts, a knife-edge cutover is the best and easiest process to take.

(This will assume you are using a shared backend SQL database)

1 - Upgrade current environment to BES 4.1.4 (maximum downtime will be in the neighborhood of 5-10 minutes, although it really just depends on how powerful your database server and LAN connections are for the initial DB upgrade)
2 - Build new servers and install BES 4.1.4 with same information from coinciding servers; set services to manual and do not start them when prompted
3 - Shutdown services on primary servers and set to Disabled
4 - Start services on new servers and set to Automatic (maximum downtime for Steps 3-4, will be less than 1-2 minutes)
5 - Once functionality has been confirmed, turn off old servers

You could switch step 1 to take place after step 5 and building the new servers with BES 4.1.0 (in step 2), but in the spirit of keeping the installations clean, it's recommended you do any necessary upgrades PRIOR to the cutover.