retroviz
02-13-2009, 09:07 AM
Hi there.
I have recently purchased a Blackberry Curve 8900 on the Orange UK network.
I am looking for some advice / suggestions on the best to retrieve email on my device.
Here is some information on my mail setup:
Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Exchange Server
Exchange Server uses POP Connector to retrieve email from an external host
Outlook Web Access is enabled (but only from specific IP Addresses)
I do NOT have a BES Server
After having a look through the forums I believe I have a number of options.
Use the desktop redirector software
Advantages
Easy to set up
Is configured against my internal exchange mailbox so internal emails are also retrieved
Disadvantages
Requires a PC/Server to be running all the time running outlook and the desktop redirector software
Delivery time of mail – slower than using my BIS address for example
It seems this is only one way synchronisation. Any emails sent on my bb device are not saved back to the Exchange mailbox
Use BIS
I have a couple of options here. I can use my bb email account or configure BIS to retrieve email from the external host.
I can forward at two levels.
1. Forward at Exchange level. This means I will get internal emails through
2. Forward at external host level. This means that I will not get internal mail through but does offer better performance since mail is not downloaded by exchange using the pop connector (every 15 minutes), only to then be resent.
Advantages
Again, this is pretty easy to set up.
If I forward at the external host level, performance is better since I am not having to wait 15 minutes for the Exchange server to download the mail.
If I forward at the exchange level I get internal emails
Disadvantages
It’s an additional mailbox to maintain
If I forward at external host level I do not get internal emails
If I forward at exchange level, delivery times of emails are increased
Again, I do not get any synchronisation with my exchange mailbox since any sent messages are saved to the external mailbox (whether this is the bb one or another external POP/IMAP account).
Using OWA
This is one I am not too sure about. I have OWA enabled on my exchange server, but only open my firewall for access from my employers IP address.
Having read on the forums I can access this from BIS which means I get direct synchronisation with my exchange mailbox.
I have a couple of questions:
• Will this just give me access to my Inbox, or can I access other folders?
• Can I access public folders (perhaps by setting up additional BIS accounts for those Public Folder addresses)?
• Do I get 2 way delete synchronisation?
• Do sent items get synchronised back to the mailbox?
• Can I access my mailbox personal contacts and the Global Address Book?
• Can I open up my firewall to specific BIS IP Addresses (e.g. from Orange)?
I can’t put any advantages / disadvantages to this method as I do not understand it enough.
It seems this will be the best solution as it seems to offer a few of the advantages of using BES such as direct connection to my exchange mailbox.
My main concern is that I do not want to open my firewall to “everyone” so need to know whether the BIS servers IP Addresses for Orange are published.
Just in case you ask
I imagine some people may ask why I don’t just point my MX record direct to my server as this will resolve the POP connector delivery time issue.
Likewise, some people may suggest to enable POP/IMAP on my exchange server and connect directly to that.
The main reason is that my external host has a number of security features (SPAM detection etc) that means mail is checked before it gets downloaded by exchange. Since I don’t have the resources to set up/maintain something similar, I prefer to use those facilities.
I would really appreciate some help as want to get it right the first time.
Perhaps people could comment if they have similar setups with OWA and how it works for them?
Thanks,
Ben
I have recently purchased a Blackberry Curve 8900 on the Orange UK network.
I am looking for some advice / suggestions on the best to retrieve email on my device.
Here is some information on my mail setup:
Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Exchange Server
Exchange Server uses POP Connector to retrieve email from an external host
Outlook Web Access is enabled (but only from specific IP Addresses)
I do NOT have a BES Server
After having a look through the forums I believe I have a number of options.
Use the desktop redirector software
Advantages
Easy to set up
Is configured against my internal exchange mailbox so internal emails are also retrieved
Disadvantages
Requires a PC/Server to be running all the time running outlook and the desktop redirector software
Delivery time of mail – slower than using my BIS address for example
It seems this is only one way synchronisation. Any emails sent on my bb device are not saved back to the Exchange mailbox
Use BIS
I have a couple of options here. I can use my bb email account or configure BIS to retrieve email from the external host.
I can forward at two levels.
1. Forward at Exchange level. This means I will get internal emails through
2. Forward at external host level. This means that I will not get internal mail through but does offer better performance since mail is not downloaded by exchange using the pop connector (every 15 minutes), only to then be resent.
Advantages
Again, this is pretty easy to set up.
If I forward at the external host level, performance is better since I am not having to wait 15 minutes for the Exchange server to download the mail.
If I forward at the exchange level I get internal emails
Disadvantages
It’s an additional mailbox to maintain
If I forward at external host level I do not get internal emails
If I forward at exchange level, delivery times of emails are increased
Again, I do not get any synchronisation with my exchange mailbox since any sent messages are saved to the external mailbox (whether this is the bb one or another external POP/IMAP account).
Using OWA
This is one I am not too sure about. I have OWA enabled on my exchange server, but only open my firewall for access from my employers IP address.
Having read on the forums I can access this from BIS which means I get direct synchronisation with my exchange mailbox.
I have a couple of questions:
• Will this just give me access to my Inbox, or can I access other folders?
• Can I access public folders (perhaps by setting up additional BIS accounts for those Public Folder addresses)?
• Do I get 2 way delete synchronisation?
• Do sent items get synchronised back to the mailbox?
• Can I access my mailbox personal contacts and the Global Address Book?
• Can I open up my firewall to specific BIS IP Addresses (e.g. from Orange)?
I can’t put any advantages / disadvantages to this method as I do not understand it enough.
It seems this will be the best solution as it seems to offer a few of the advantages of using BES such as direct connection to my exchange mailbox.
My main concern is that I do not want to open my firewall to “everyone” so need to know whether the BIS servers IP Addresses for Orange are published.
Just in case you ask
I imagine some people may ask why I don’t just point my MX record direct to my server as this will resolve the POP connector delivery time issue.
Likewise, some people may suggest to enable POP/IMAP on my exchange server and connect directly to that.
The main reason is that my external host has a number of security features (SPAM detection etc) that means mail is checked before it gets downloaded by exchange. Since I don’t have the resources to set up/maintain something similar, I prefer to use those facilities.
I would really appreciate some help as want to get it right the first time.
Perhaps people could comment if they have similar setups with OWA and how it works for them?
Thanks,
Ben