[besnewb]

Hello everyone,
I am hoping that someone can help me resolve issues that we have with our windows 2003 exchange server, loaded with BES 4.1 (I believe). The blackberry services won't run now.
I recently took over administration of this server and am new to Microsoft Exchange and BES, so I'm trying to learn about these as quickly as possible.

Here's what happened:
The server froze one morning, and couldn't be accessed at all directly or through remote desktop. The only option was to do a power off on the machine. Upon reboot, there were a number of errors in exchange and none of the blackberry services would start up. Long story short, after replacing a dll (jcb.dll) that a lot of errors were pointing to with a fresh copy from the win 2003 server CD, and doing a repair on the exchange database, we've been able to get exchange services running properly with mailbox stores and public folders available again.

However, the following is still happening:

- event log shows errors in MSExchangeAL with event ID 8231
Permanent failure reported by policy group provider for 'CN=Recipient Policies,CN=Name,CN=MicrosoftExchange,CN=Services, CN=Configuration,DC=Name,DC=com':'MAD.EXE', error=8000ffff. Taking provider offline.

just recently, we discovered that one of our domain controllers, which is also our primary DNS, ran out of virtual memory and had already crashed before the exchange server did. The computer was unresponsive so I rebooted it but haven't had time to verify whether its services are running properly yet. I'm wondering if this could have something to do with the exchange server problems.

At the same time, the following BES services are popping up error windows saying that they've encountered an error and can't run: controller, dispatcher and router

Trying to start them manually still fails, so our blackberry users can't view or interact with their exchange calendars on their devices now. This is the main feature we use BES for.

As I don't know much about exchange and BES (yet), would greatly appreciate if anyone can provide insight and/or point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance!

[KMSigma]

OK - start with the basics. Since the BES Services run under non-standard (a specific user's credentials) verify that this user is valid on the Domain and isn't locked out. This is a fairly common occurrence and can cause ALL kinds of headaches.

Assuming that's ok, then review the Application logs for the server when you try to start any one service. I like to use Controller because it has the most interaction with Exchange. If it's throwing all kinds of errors (specifically those about 0x8004005), it's a permission issue and you need to verify that your BlackBerry Service Account has sufficient rights to all mailboxes.

BlackBerry Services communicate with Exchange using MAPI and CDO, so verify that the mapi.dll, mapi32.dll, and cdo.dll (if they exist) are the same version on both the Exchange Servers and the BES Servers.

I have to say that it sounds like most of your problems are related to your domain controller. If that box is hosting a copy of your global catalog and is the default one for Exchange and BlackBerry, then you need to get the domain healthy before anything else.

If you have some logs of questions post them up and we'll be happy to take a look.

[besnewb]

Thanks for the info. Looks like the domain controller machine is working ok now. DNS service is running and works.


Still unable to start blackberry services (the BES software and exchange server are running on the same machine). Whenever I try to start any of the three that are giving problems, I get error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

Also, I noticed that if I try to run blackberry server configuration, nothing happens. The mouse pointer turns into an hourglass for a second and then nothing comes up.

Since the domain controller machine (dc1) started running properly again (I think), I have been getting 2 different messages about msexchangeal instead now (I'ved x'ed out the domain name).
They are:

event ID 8260
Could not open LDAP session to directory 'dc1.xxxx.xxx.xx' using local service credentials. Cannot access Address List configuration information. Make sure the server 'dc1.xxxx.xxx.xx' is running. DC=xx,DC=xxxx,DC=xxx,DC=xx

event id 8026
LDAP Bind was unsuccessful on directory dc1.xxxx.xxx.xx for distinguished name ''. Directory returned error:[0x34] Unavailable. DC=xx,DC=xxxx,DC=xxx,DC=xx

Is there a way for me to easily tell whether there's a problem with the global catalog? I ran exbpa on the exchange server and it seemed to be able to tell that a global catalog was on the domain controller. made 3 recommendations:
add /3GB to boot.ini
HeapDeCommitFreeBlock Threshold not set
Paging File larger than physical memory

It looks like all pf these have to do with optimizing memory related performance.

Regarding the dll's being the same, both the BES software and exchange server software are running on the same machine - I assume that means they're using the same dlls.

Any ideas on what to try next or any more information I should get?
Thanks for all your help

[TargetIT]

For starters, stop running BES on the same machine as Exchange. It's not supported.

[knottyrope]

Or at least tell us the version you are running.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...e-running.html

[besnewb]

It's 4.1.3 (Bundle 37) for MS Exchange. Thanks

[knottyrope]

Do you have a spare box? I would knife edge to a new server.

knife edge cutover
View Document

And worst case you may need to create a new service account after.
Might fix you before a knife edge but I would not have BES on exchange.

New service account.
View Document

Good luck

[besnewb]

Thanks for the info. Was able to get blackberry synchronization service running today after reinstalling MSXML. The service had been giving an XML parsing error and dll error on startup. Now it runs fine. Rest of services - still no idea how to get those working. Just getting a 1053 and no other info. Perhap there's more corruption. If nothing else works, looks like the knife edge will be the last resort. Don't have an empty box, but what about using one of the DCs? Would that cause problems?
Any other suggestions welcome
Thanks

[knottyrope]

Do not put on a DC if possible. Can you make a VM for it?

[besnewb]

64-bit VM is an option. Would be a fair amount of work. Think I can get away with just reinstalling the BES software on this machine instead? We are just trying to get up and running asap and then we can worry about setting things up the proper way after. I figure reinstalling would replace the corrupted files. Plus, it was working fine this way before the DC froze up.

[knottyrope]

Sure you can uninstall it reboot (Database will not be removed) and reinstall it.