[daggnabbitt]

[rcg]

[daggnabbitt]

[rcg]

[zabagar]

Hello -

I currently have a BES v3.6 as a 90-day trial and just purchased the licensed 4.0 version. We have about 10 users on the trial system.

I'm looking for upgrade tips and to find out if there are any "gotchas" concerning the upgrade.

The manual does include "upgrade information" & that looks fairly simple. But, what about changing the SRP identifier and authentication key? Currently, those are "temporary values" handed out with the evaluation copy. During the upgrade, can I just input the new numbers? Can I do it before the upgrade?

Also, I don't know what kind of disruption this will cause to my handheld users. Will they have to re-attach their blackberrys to my network? Most are remote users (out of state) and not physically on my enterprise network.

Those are a couple of my main concerns. Any help would be appreciated. My service provider, Nextel, has provided little to no information. I am very displeased with their lack of support.

-thanks,
rob

[bfrye]

You should be able to edit the SRP values and authentication key in the configuration editor. As far as outage, only as long as it takes you to upgrade (you can keep the same database), so maybe 15 mins or so...

[zabagar]

Oh, I know I *can* edit the SRP and Authentication keys, but I'm concerned about the consequences.

I heard a rumor that if I change those values, that my blackberry units will have to synch with the BES to update (update their service boom entries maybe, I dunno). My FEAR is that my out-of-state users will have to ship their units in to the main office in order to physically get them on the local network with the BES.

Have you ever changed those values or performed the upgrade from an earlier version?

[bfrye]

I have performed upgrades yes, and upgrades to the server do not require any intervention from the users. They rarely notice the short outage.

I haven't edited the SRP and authentication keys yet though, I will let you know in march if you haven't done it by then as that's when our beta trial is up and we'll be moving to perm keys. I wonder though if RIM will just mark up our existing keys as permenant keys instead of issuing new ones. That would seem the logical choice.

[zabagar]

I appreciate your response.

I will post regarding the outcome of my upgrade, on this thread.
I am moving from 3.6 to 4.0 and changing the keys from temp numbers to permanent ones. This will happen by the end of next week.

[Vycor]

I don't think you need to even hook-up a BB to your BES. I used to do that all the time, and it was a pain since i'm in an adjacent building to my BES server. I would have to walk over with a user's BB and sync it up. I found out when I got my own BB and had problems, I could run the desktop software and it would send my new PIN over to the BES automatically which was convenient. So give that a shot next time. Of course, we are all on the same LAN with exchange, so im not sure how that would work on a mobile user if they were not connected via VPN, etc...

[bfrye]

If you install the BB server manager software on your PC and link it to your SQL database, you can manage/install/etc blackberries from your PC and not have to hook them directly to BES.

Also, with BES 4, you don't even have to go that far. After upgrading the device to 4.0, you can activate it and do the same tasks wirelessly.

[TheBerryGuru]

When you change your SRP and Auth key to the permanent one your users will have to sync to get the new services books with the new UID in them.