[Jay247]

Hi guys,

I am hoping you can shed some light on the order of tasks to undertake for a BES 4.1 to BES 5.0.2 upgrade parallel with an Exchange 2003 to 2010 migration we are going to do.

The current infrastructure is:
All 300 users are currently on Exchange Server 2003 out of which nearly all users have Blackberry devices no more than 18 months old. The BES version is 4.1 and all components are on the one server, with the MSDE Database on the same server. There is no current database mirroring or DR Server for BES.

The proposed infrastructure which we have decided on is:
Upgrade (and mailbox migrations) to Exchange Server 2010,
The new BES server will be version 5 with SP2. We will have a DR Site (Lets say Primary site is London, and DR site is Calgary); There will be 1 BES Server in London and 1 in Calgary.

Both, Primary and DR, sites will have separate SQL Server 2008 on separate servers (so 1 SQL on each site). These SQL servers will host the BES Databases - with Mirroring (for High Availability) from the Primary site to the DR site.
So basically, the BES environment will be in an 'automated failover configuration'.

I have seen a document on the 'Knife Edge Cutover' migration for BES. But it lacks in detail regarding doing an upgrade on another server then configuring that server for High Availability.

Could you please help me with this solution, in particular these questions:

- What is the specific order of tasks to do the migration from 4.1 to another server on same site and then have a DR BES box configured on another site? (I think we will have to take a back up of the MSDE DB and import/restore it on the new SQL server... do we do the same for the DR SQL Server too?)

- Can we have BB users active on both servers (BES v4.1 and 5.0.2) at the same time or will we have to turn the services off on the 4.1 server and 'migrate?' them over to the new 5.0.2 BES Server in one go?

- At what point do we configure the HA mirroring on the SQL Servers?

- For anyone with experience on Exchange migration with BES, at what point would you migrate the user’s mailbox from 2003 to 2010 in regards to their BB device?


The end result we want is: all BES user accounts migrated to the new 5.0.2 BES solution and the BES servers to be highly available with SQL Server 2008 between a Primary and DR site.

Thanks in advance for your advice and comments (sorry if I’ve repeated myself!)

Jay

[Jay247]

hey guys,

can any1 help with the above please??

kinda really stuck of which way to start this...

[Jay247]

Hi Guys,

This is my guess/understanding of the order of tasks for the migration:

Obtain a SRP Key from RIM for a 90 day period (this is to input onto the new BES Servers)
On BES 5.0 Server (setup.exe):
Install all the BES components (administration, router, attachment, dispatcher, etc)
Create new Blackberry Configuration Database and Select SQL Server 2008
Input the Standby SQL Serverxxx8217;s details (SQL Server name and DB name)
Input the new xxx8216;Temxxx8217; SRP Key
Input details of the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server
Install and Configure the Transporter Tool on the BES 5.0 Server
Install the Standby BES 5.0 Server
Click Set up: use an existing BES configuration database
Install a Standby BES to set up HA' option
Select the Primary BES server that you want to assign this standby to
Migrate an Exchange 2003 mailbox account to Exchange 2010
Run the Transporter Tool for that User mailbox xxx8211; Source to Target

This way there are two BES domains (both domainxxx8217;s BES servers and SQL DBxxx8217;s are working). At the end when all mailboxes are migrated, the services on BES 4.1 can be switched off and the Temp 90 day SRP can be replaced with the original SRP key from the BES 4.1 Server.

Could some one please clarify if we are on the right tracks please??

thanks

[NTinlin]

Sounds right to me.
Very similar to what we are doing.
You'll need to copy your CAL keys from BES4 to BES5 before you can do any user moves.

Neill

[Jay247]

Originally Posted by NTinlin

Sounds right to me.
Very similar to what we are doing.
You'll need to copy your CAL keys from BES4 to BES5 before you can do any user moves.

Neill

Hi Neil,

How did you get on with your migration? I will installing BES and SQL next week and plan to start doing a few test migrations too..

I am slightly unclear on the migration order between the Exchange mailbox and the bes mailbox account.. Does one need to be migrated before the other?

Or are they compatible both ways (i.e. the Mailbox can be migrated to Exchange 2010 but BES account still in BES4.1 or can the BES account be migrated first to v5.0.2 and the mailbox still in Exchange 2010?)

any advice on that?

Thanks
Jay