[sigreti]

I know that RIM requirements state that you need a separate server to run BES but is that REALLY true??? Is it possible to install BES on a Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 and have it run properly? This is for a small organization, only 4 Blackberries - I would hate to have to purchase a separate server just for BES.

[CanuckBB]

Likely possible but not recomended.

Hardware wise, for your size, any workstation class machine will do. I have 9 BB and rn on a standard P4, 256MB, 40GB IDE HDD. I run W2K3 on it, but I think the BES can run on XP.

[JRV]

Microsoft has, for as long as I can remember, warned us not to run MAPI clients on an Exchange server. BES is a MAPI client.

[exchangemymail]

why not outsource the bb users to a hosted exchange/bes company?

[Scot43]

If you check with RIM Tech Support, they have a document that explains how to do this. It is possible and it does work. I started that way and have since moved it to a standalone box. One of the big concerns is that if there is a need to reboot, you have to bring bown the whole SBS box with the all in one approach. Also, be prepared to throw at least 2gig of RAM on the box running BES and at least 1.5 gig on the one running SBS premium. This is from experience, i had some strange lockup's and the additional memory has remedied all of them....

[madkittykat]

Originally Posted by Scot43

If you check with RIM Tech Support, they have a document that explains how to do this. It is possible and it does work. I started that way and have since moved it to a standalone box. One of the big concerns is that if there is a need to reboot, you have to bring bown the whole SBS box with the all in one approach. Also, be prepared to throw at least 2gig of RAM on the box running BES and at least 1.5 gig on the one running SBS premium. This is from experience, i had some strange lockup's and the additional memory has remedied all of them....

I have to say that as someone who is new to blackberry I havent found RIM particularly helpful on this matter, I have sent email after email and they dont seem to answer the question.

[bertiebassett]

Originally Posted by sigreti

I know that RIM requirements state that you need a separate server to run BES but is that REALLY true??? Is it possible to install BES on a Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 and have it run properly? This is for a small organization, only 4 Blackberries - I would hate to have to purchase a separate server just for BES.

hi

$300 bucks on ebay for a secondhand desktop PC if you don't have one spare., pentium 4 with 512 of mem should be ok for 4 users. Load it with XP SP2, install Exchange Management Tools and the w2k3 server adminpack.msi

That's all you need and provided all the permissions are set correctly getting 4.1 to install is pretty straightforward.

for 300 bucks why take the risk on causing issues with your SBS?

[bigdongers]

I didnt know you could install the BES on a XP machine. cool!

[slygeek]

I already tried installing BES on an XP machine...

within the workgroup not even a member on a domain..
but it works..



sly

[MedEdGuy]

You could also consider running MS Virtual Server 2005 on the SBS box, and load the BES software on a virtual machine. Just make sure your SBS has plenty of memory.

[CanuckBB]

Originally Posted by MedEdGuy

You could also consider running MS Virtual Server 2005 on the SBS box, and load the BES software on a virtual machine. Just make sure your SBS has plenty of memory.

I wouldn't. SBS is a different animal. I would hesitate to load anything on SBS that is not written for SBS.

[geek101]

RIM supports installing BES on a SBS up to 15 users. After that its recommended that you move the BES software to another machine.

Windows XP is not a supported operating system. Good luck trying to get support for that, first of all it will be a pain to install and then no consultant or support rep is going to talk to you if you have windows XP or virtual machine software running.

Refer to
Virtual Machine software is not supported for BlackBerry Enterprise Server installation
Last Updated: 15 September 2005
Article Number: KB-04405

[curttel]

For a small office config (5 BB users) i recently setup BES on XP Pro running within a VMWare VM that runs on SBS 2003.
I have a Dell SC430 Server with 2GB of RAM.
Everything working great so far.

[ld-runner]

i can also confirm that BES runs perfect within a Virtual Machine on a ESX server. As a matter of fact, i have it running on a 550 PIII with 512 MB ram. No issues at all.