[John-G]

I am trying to get an idea of what is required for my compay to acquire some blackberry devices and the BES software. I need a little help on the BES side. Does BES have to run on its own server or can it run on our Exchange server? This will make a significant difference in the price of the entire system. Thanks for the help.

[jnelson2000]

RIM's recommendation is to NOT run it on the Exchange Server. However, depending on the # of users, you can get way with having it run on a workstation with ample processor and memory. Even though RIM would recommend it, I ran our test version of 3.6 on a XP Pro Dell PC. Not sure if it changed to version 4.0. Either way, to do it right you would need:

1. P4 2GB or higher PC or Server (1GB RAM recommended for less than 100 users)
2. Server 2000 or Server 2003
3. MSDE 2000

Minimum required hardware and configuration:

For 500 users: Intel® Pentium® IV processor (2GHz or greater), 1.5 GB RAM, MSDE 2000 on the same computer
For 1000 users: Intel Pentium IV dual processor (2GHz or greater), 2GB RAM, MSDE 2000 on the same computer
For 2000 users: Intel Pentium IV dual processor (2.8GHz or greater), 4GB RAM, MSDE 2000 on the same computer
Note: For systems running over 1000 users, the recommendation is to deploy Microsoft SQL on a separate server. This reduces the memory requirement on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
Windows® 2000 Server (Server or Advanced Server Editions) or Windows Server 2003
Integrates with Microsoft Exchange 5.5 (Service Pack 4 or later), Microsoft Exchange 2000 (Service Pack 2 or later) or Microsoft Exchange 2003 mail server environments (mixed mode or native installation)
Microsoft Exchange 5.5 Administrator, Microsoft Exchange 2000 System Manager or Microsoft Exchange 2003 System Manager
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later

[BB_God]

As of BES 3.6.2 BES will not install on a workstation OS. BES typically requires a restart after applying a service pack. This would mean restarting Exchange. In the end, it works, you do have to realize the implications of installing BES on your Exchange server.