[enzomn]

What are the pitfalls or is it a smooth upgrade? We only have 23 users running on it right now. Server is 2003 and Exchange is 2003 also

[rpfeffer]

Curious about this as well. Any experiences or thoughts welcome. I've read many horror stories about the 4.1 install if you are going from 4.0 -> 4.1.

[phonemonkey]

Horror story (on a test server) with 4.0 SP3 -> 4.1. Email was fine, but MDS wouldn't install properly or work at all, even after attempting a totally clean install (no upgrade from 4.0). The problem turned out to be that 4.1 doesn't like using a named instance of SQL. RIM knows about it (now?) and it's been discussed here a bit too, but I don't think there's any fix yet.

IMHO, 4.1 really should be called 5.0 given how much has changed with the UI and server components. I'd just wait for 4.1 SP1.

[Nirshaamah]

I would not touch a live system with upgrade.
We have 5 BES with ~2.500 user here and we install a lab environment to test the migration.

[noname]

Yeah, I would not rush for an upgrade yet. MDS installation is a nightmare! Hopefully the RIM folks will have KB articles soon on this...

[akmal khan]

I have the same problem with upgrading my BES server from 4.0.4 to 4.1
its giving me the error of MDS if any body gets it done connect me too for solution.

[stevebb]

I've done 2 test upgrades with small number of test users.
The majority of MDS problems seem to stem from people using what I'll call "nonstandard" sql configurations... If you are using a named instance, or using non-standard ports to access your SQL server (a port other than 1433 for SQL connections) you are going to run into problems- and I am pretty sure there are T-support articles on those issues.
We have a pretty standard set up (standalone SQL 2000 server dedicated to BES DB). We are lucky...
I am rolling the dice on a full scale upgrade 4-21-06 and will post methods/results when complete. (we have 5 production BES's with 5000 users total).

Steve

[kram]

I currently have 4.1 running on a test server using MSDE. The first install went flaky and errored out. I did a reinstall and it worked. I am sitting on a task from my boss to get production running 4.1 by today. However, we're running production on a named instance. If anyone hears anything about a fix or way to get around problems with a named instance I would greatly appreciate your information.

Thanks.

[SteveA]

I took a big risk. Went through all the documentation not once, not twice, but thrice.
Made sure that the nightly backup was successful, then manual backup of the DB. Installed all necessary requirements outlined in the documentation.

Extracted the 4.1 locally and ran the setup. Everything was working and online in 30 minutes.

I've got just over 70 users, 80% travel internationally. Unfortunatley the company has not invested in a test environment, despite my requests. These are the risks they have to take should it hit the fan.

SteveA

[kram]

The KB article is KB-04954, however there is no ETR. Does anyone know if the new MDS service uses its own database or does it append tables to the current blackberry database?

[topher145]

The new MDS creates two new databases. MDSS and MDSS_DIS. Here's my tale:

http://blackberryforums.com/showthread.php?t=31480

[stevebb]

Just wanted to post an update on the upgrade as I said I would...
We ugpraded 5 servers from BES 4.0 SP2 to BES 4.1 HotFix1.
Stopped all BES's (it was a monthly maintenance window and we are allowed to be down then).
- Run CreateDB to upgrade the Database (we use MS SQL on it's own SQL server)
- Upgrade 1 BES
- Test
- Upgrade the remaining BES's.
(that's the short and sweet details).
Anyway, it worked fine... About 4800 users on all the servers... we had some users have issues (needed to generate a new encryption key) and I'm not sure the cause of that... but only about 10... 10 users in 4800 is a success in my book...
Steve

[Korbyn]

A work around we came up with for the named instance issue, install the SQL Client utility on the BES, and create an Alias pointing to your SQL instance. We had the double whammy of a SQL cluster (Named Instances only) plus a non-default sql port. Worked like a charm with the alias in place.

[kram]

Korbyn - Nice idea. I found this work around from RIM. KB-05008. It is their workaround to the named instance problem. We also implore sql clustered servers and I'm still nervous about this upgrade...