Help with BES Migration & Relocation

mast3r

mast3r

mast3r

Soldato
Joined
28 Jan 2007
Posts
2,557
Location
Wilmslow, Cheshire
Hello all, i hope that you guys can help me out! (Again)

Here is the scenario:


We have a client with a site here in England, UK and a new site over in Guernsey, Channel Islands, The site here in England has a Small Biz Server 2003 with Exchange 2003 and BES 4.1.7.18 installed on an XP Machine on the Domain.

The new site (in Guernsey) is going to become the primary and i have been tasked with migrating the current BES over to Guernsey, We have a Small Biz Server 2008 R2 (64bit) with Exchange 2007. We have bought the latest BES Software, 5.X. <- Full version, NOT Express.
We have 8 Users with the following devices - 8100 x3, 8110 x4 & 8310 x1.

The email domain will remain the same, the external IP will change, there is a third party spam filter (postni) Which sits between the domain and the exchange server

I have spent a good few hours trolling the net for a single documented solution but have been unsuccessful with my question:

How do we migrate the existing devices over to the new server? the devices will be here in the UK so we will not be able to plug them directly into the new BES, we can set up a VPN to the new BES if needed.

Ideally we could do with the handsets being left as they are now, IE, not loosing any SMS, Contacts (they are brought down from exchange right?) or pictures etc.



Many thanks


Martin
 
to be honest, with only 8 devices I would just do 'Over the Air' activations. Generate some new passwords and get them to re-activate the devices. From what I remember as well, you want to keep the BES and Exchange boxes installed on separate boxes.

You shouldn't loose any data through the re-activation either.
 
How! ? lol

I have only ever used BES to add a new device and that was via a USB Cable, i have never done anything more.

Could you help any more pall?
 
as long as the bes servers on the same domain they should recognise each other so you can replicate the database between the two. Once you've done that you should be fine, only exchange related data (email, contacts, calendar) will require your BES to be up
 
Done something similar (migrated from free BES to full BES).

Firstly you need to be aware your data package on the phone will probably be for BIS and its need to change to BES otherwise you won't be able to do the over the air activation or get e-mails or pretty much anything. Over the air activation is pretty easy - it's basically setting up the e-mail account on the phone - entering the users password and it will pull down all the policies and reset the phone and set it up for that user.

Basically I'd say with that few users I would just add them to the new server and over the air activate them - the policies are going to be a nightmare as you've gone from 30 odd on the the free BES to 240 odd and some will need configuring.

It's not a massively hard task to just create new accounts you can migrate them but this usually ends up causing more problems than its worth and a fresh install is always welcome.


M.
 
Ok, thanks.

We are not going to be on the same domain as mentioned in my opening thread, New Domain, new Server, new software, new exchange, same users, same handsets and same providers.
The Email Domain name will remain the same thats it.

Currently on 4.1.7.18 FULL BES not free, and will be going over to BES 5.? FULL.

Does this change anything.
 
Not really, just over the air activate them to the new server once the email domain has been moved over to the new kit I'd have thought.
 
Even simpler. As per previous poster. Create new user on new BES server and create an activation password (something simple) get phone enter address and activation code, phone will restart and job done.



M.
 
I'm assuming here you have already migrated the mailboxes over to the new site? Obviously when BES activates it needs a mailbox to activate against, so the users need to be established mailbox users on the new site as well.

If the users are worried about losing data during the moves you can backup the Blackberry devices with the Blackberry Desktop Manager software so in worst case scenario all the data on the device is backed up somewhere!
 
Thanks for the help guys,

I will be moving all of the mail stores and relevant data off their old server at 4pm tonight and ill be flying out to the new site at 8am tomorrow to restore the mail stores.
The MX records will be change to point to the new Server tonight too.

So fingers crossed it will go to plan.
 
Easy as pie then, once the new exchange and BES are setup on the new site just activate the devices against that new server.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom