[iss01]

Hi,

I'm the blackberry admin for our company. We approx. have 30 blackberry users running on 1 BES 4.0.6.12 windows 2000 server. Our environment has 1 MS Exchange 2000 server. We a running in a MSDE environment. Current BES server installed on physical hardware. 1 SRP License.

We only have the Full BES 4.0.0 License and an upgrade license to BES 4.1.2.

At the end of the upgrade, we would like to to have a BES 4.1.4 server running in a VmWare environment.

This is what I'm looking at doing:

Perform on current Server (Windows 2000 Server):

1. Backup Blackberry DB.

2. Move the BlackBerry DB from MSDE to MS SQL Server 2000.

3. in-place upgrade of BES 4.1.2.

Create New Server:

1. Create Windows 2003 Server Virtual Machine

2. Install BES 4.0 from Original CD

3. Install SP6 for BES 4.0

4. Perform In-place upgrade 4.1.2.

5. Perform Knife-Edge Cutover from Physical to Virrtual BES Server.

6. Perform in-place upgrade to 4.1.4

7. Move BES DB from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005.

Does this sound ok?

Is it possible to install BES 4.0.0 on a Window 2003 Server in a Exchange 2000 environment using SQL Server 2000?


Regards,
Iss

[hdawg]

This is what I'm looking at doing:

Perform on current Server (Windows 2000 Server):

1. Backup Blackberry DB.

2. Move the BlackBerry DB from MSDE to MS SQL Server 2000.

3. in-place upgrade of BES 4.1.2.

Create New Server:

1. Create Windows 2003 Server Virtual Machine

2. Install BES 4.0 from Original CD

3. Install SP6 for BES 4.0

4. Perform In-place upgrade 4.1.2.

Instead of doing this, you should move SQL and then knife edge 4.0.6 > 4.1.2 from your current server to the new virtual server and then upgrade to 4.1.4 MR2 or MR3 (whichever you'd rather). Once you upgrade to 4.1 you're better off not installing 4.0 again.

Even better, if you've got the installer for 4.1.2 you should be able to get the installer for 4.1.4 so you don't have to do multiple upgrades.

7. Move BES DB from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005.

You could then do this ...

Is it possible to install BES 4.0.0 on a Window 2003 Server in a Exchange 2000 environment using SQL Server 2000?

Yes

[iss01]

Thanks for the response.

I don't prefer doing it the way I outlined. The reason why opted to do it that way was due to licensing.

We only have 1 orginal BES 4.0.0 CD and a Blackberry BES one time upgrade to 4.1.2.

Is it possible to install BES 4.1.4 directly to VMware and then do a cutover. That would be ideal.

Thanks,
Iss

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by iss01

Thanks for the response.

I don't prefer doing it the way I outlined. The reason why opted to do it that way was due to licensing.

We only have 1 orginal BES 4.0.0 CD and a Blackberry BES one time upgrade to 4.1.2.

Is it possible to install BES 4.1.4 directly to VMware and then do a cutover. That would be ideal.

Thanks,
Iss

Ahh ... if thats what you've got then that's what you've got ... I guess if it were me, I'd then install 4.0.0 on VM (point to a new bogus database name, I forget where in 4.0 the database schema changes happen), then apply SP6, then do the change database wizard and point it to the already existing 4.0 SP6 database, then upgrade to 4.1.2, then apply 4.1.4.

That said, I've never heard of an installer that lets you go from 4.0 to 4.1 that won't let you just install 4.1 directly ... but licensing is something I try to avoid at all costs. You'd need to do your cutover regardless as a part of the move, you don't want to install and then cutover.

[iss01]

I guess sometimes you don't have any options.

I'm currently confirming wth my carrier to see if there is a way I can streamline the whole process. That said, if I don't have any other option.

Is there a knowledge base atricle on installing BES 4.0.0 on a windows 2003 server in an exchange 2000 environment?

Thanks,
Iss

[hdawg]

There's no specific KB Article for it but you can use this documentation to help

[jibi]

As Dawg mentioned, no documentation on that configuration, but when I went through the same thing, you install ESM 2003 SP2 on the BES and it will work fine in backwards-compatible mode with Exchange 2000. CDO just needs to meet or exceed that of the Exchange environment (although there sometimes are quarks in CDO from version to version).

[iss01]

That means I will need to get my hand on a an Exchange 2003 CD, right? We were planning on going straight from Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2007.

Thanks,
Iss

[hdawg]

Correct, magic chart says you gotta do 2003

[iss01]

I have good news. I attempted to get a Trial - Blackberry Server 4.1 license from my carier and have succeeded. I now have a second SRP as well. I plan to use the second SRP in our dev/test for our exchange 2007 transition.

I have also downloaded the full version of BES 4.1.4 through the Trial BES License. I was advised that I can use it for the production migration. all I have to do is change the SRP to my original one.

Now I'm looking at doing the following:

1) Backup BES DB

2) Move DB from MSDE to Remote MS SQl 2000 Server

3) Create new Windows 2003 Server VM with BES 4.1.4 installed on it.

4) Do I knife edge cut over from BES 4.0 to BES 4.1.4.

5) Move BES DB from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005

Does this sound sane?

Thanks,
Iss

[hdawg]

Sweet! You actually want to combine #3 and #4 ... You want to have the new server prepped, and then shut down and disable services on the old server. Then install 4.1.4 on the new server (providing the same BES Server Name) pointing it to the old database (which will upgrade it too). After that, you can do the migration to SQL 2005.

[iss01]

Thanks fr your help guys. I'll let you know the outcome.

Iss