[bertiebassett]

It may have escaped your attention but support from RIM for version 4.0.x will be stopped by RIM from 31st January 08. See this for more information BlackBerry

Implications - BES will continue to run but if you run into issues you might well be told "upgrade" to solve the problem. There will be no further service packs, MR releases or similar released on 4.0

Consequences - trying to explain to CxO that ahem his shiny BB won't work anymore, and erm no you can't fix it quickly.

What to do - Get some budget/resource/timespace to focus on upgrading to 4.1.4. Read the RIM documentation, and then do some searching on this forum as it's been covered many times. Upgrade to 4.1 was a chargeable one from RIM so lean on carrier rep to get a freebie upgrade.

Timescale: Hard to say for sure but upgrading from 4.0 to 4.1 should take no more than a coupe of hours for a single BES (& DB Instance)

Precautions: Backup, Obtain original installation media, take manual records (or put on another server) details of SRP ID & Auth Code, and CALS

User Implications: None for 4.0 to 4.1 but their user experience will improve especially if using a 4.2 OS device, as will permite enhanced PDF, PPT and audio file opening

IT Implications: Different look and feel of the front end, different ways of achieving same outcome. More IT policies, Group based administration. Role based BES usage - permit the helpdesk guy to do basic checks/fixed without givine them full BES access.


Mods - can you sticky this for 3 months - there's lots of people posting on here that seem quite new and a lot of them don't seem to have heard of the EOL in 3 months.

[John Clark]

Originally Posted by bertiebassett

Mods - can you sticky this for 3 months - there's lots of people posting on hear that seem quite new and a lot of them don't seem to have heard of the EOL in 3 months.

Good idea. Done.

[BBAdmin]

Useful update, thanks.

[hdawg]

Get crackin you hold-outs! Nothing like rushing an upgrade 2 weeks (or days) before support expires

[bertiebassett]

Originally Posted by hdawg

Get crackin you hold-outs! Nothing like rushing an upgrade 2 weeks (or days) before support expires

Don't - reminds me of 2.2 to 4.0 migration a couple of years back for a customer. 3 days before Christmas..and in the UK we 'stop' from 12th Dec to 12th Jan to all intensive purposes.

thanks

Greg

[juwaack68]

Excellent post! Too bad we can't make it a different color and a flashing color....

[mahoward]

Remember too that you don't need to install the extra "MDS Services and Components" piece to get full MDS functionality as it exists in 4.0.

Selecting the "MDS Services and Components" only increases the complexity of the upgrade as it creates a new SQL database, and if you need it, it can be added on later on a separate server.

So for simplicity's sake, choose "BlackBerry Enterprise Server and Components". I promise, it will include the 4.0 MDS functionality, only now in 4.1 it is known as "BlackBerry MDS Connection Service".

[guppy413]

Yes, I fell for that one the first time I upgraded from 4.0x...you can fix it by re-running the setup. Your MDS Service stays in the BES database, though inactive, until you take some steps to get rid of it. I still see it in BlackBerry Manager.

[jibi]

Just finished up the last of my BES 4.1 upgrades in our domestic environments last night. 4 BES servers back in September and 8 more BES servers last night. Now time to get the international BUs to upgrade theirs and we'll be 100% upgraded (2 already done and 5 more to go).

[rliebsch]

I so lagged. I was hoping I'd be able to drag heel until 5.0 came out. Once I got the bugs ironed and the HW updated...

I guess I'll have to put off my procrastination until later...

[hdawg]

I wonder if RIM is going to be offering discounted upgrades for people going to 4.1 and pre-purchasing 5.0 ... the methodology behind this would in theory be someone would stay supported through the time between 4.0 support expiring and 5.0 being released.

[bertiebassett]

Originally Posted by hdawg

I wonder if RIM is going to be offering discounted upgrades for people going to 4.1 and pre-purchasing 5.0 ... the methodology behind this would in theory be someone would stay supported through the time between 4.0 support expiring and 5.0 being released.

Funnily enough I had a similar thought...

So as of today customers have to pay $$$ for 4.1 whilst they might be happy running on 4.0 just to get round this support hump and then in 6/8/10 months time if they want to go to 5.0 they'll be paying fot that as well??

[CO_BBTechie]

[quote=bertiebassett;724960]It may have escaped your attention but support from RIM for version 4.0.x will be stopped by RIM from 31st January 08. See this for more information BlackBerry

I jumped on this one to make sure we weren't caught with our pants down. My Verizon rep assures me that this information is not accurate.

Here is what she had to say about it: "Asked RIM about this and here's there answer...4.0.X support xxx8211; RIM doesnxxx8217;t plan on ending support in the foreseeable future for this product. RIM still support 3.6 and older.
Lisa Francis
Data Solutions Manager"

Never mind... After researching a little bit, I think I've found what you found. Somebody doesn't have their facts straight. I think I'll have to go back to Verizon and get something in writing!

[bertiebassett]

[quote=CO_BBTechie;740283]

Originally Posted by bertiebassett

It may have escaped your attention but support from RIM for version 4.0.x will be stopped by RIM from 31st January 08. See this for more information BlackBerry

I jumped on this one to make sure we weren't caught with our pants down. My Verizon rep assures me that this information is not accurate.

Here is what she had to say about it: "Asked RIM about this and here's there answer...4.0.X support xxx8211; RIM doesnxxx8217;t plan on ending support in the foreseeable future for this product. RIM still support 3.6 and older.
Lisa Francis
Data Solutions Manager"

Never mind... After researching a little bit, I think I've found what you found. Somebody doesn't have their facts straight. I think I'll have to go back to Verizon and get something in writing!

What you're expecting your carrier rep to give you the right answer?

I must admit I've modified the 'implications' section of the original post to reflect what will happen in practice (as confirmed to me by RIM earlier this week) - by 'end of support' what RIM means is that they won't do any further patches, updates, MRs or SP's on 4.0.x so if you get a weird problem the answer might well be upgrade to 4.1. It doesn't mean that they won't pickup the phone and answer the call... but you might have to do an 'emergency upgrade' to fix a problem - not a situation I'd like to be in myself...

But if you see what you get in 4.1 over 4.0 - it's a good step forward for both the IT guys and the end-users and SP5 promises even more goodies

[rliebsch]

well in my shop, i hear rumor that Tsupport would be a viable option. I'd pay for Tsupport, get 4.1 and get 5 when it comes out under the support contract.

[CO_BBTechie]

Tsupport does seem to be the angle we're going to take. For Tx2 we're looking at about ~$2500 for 12 months, as we have only 80 devices on 1 server. Verizon further clarified the intent of their statement as:
I checked below and the definitions below state Support End date in terms of software development for that version of BES which includes hot fixes and additional releases so I just want to make sure we are all on the same page when talking about support.
Our RIM representative was speaking to support in terms of technical support from RIM. I apologize for any confusion.


In any event, I think people around here just assumed we had tech support and were not aware that only 60 days was included with the server install. So, we will be looking to purchase Tx2, then upgrading to the latest release from there. Great initial post thought, quoting it certainly raised some eyebrows around here and seems to have unlocked some money for me to purchase a Tsup agreement easier than would have been possible otherwise.

[daniel.semmler]

What happens when we go over our BES license limit? Noting that you will receive the following message:

Additional Information
The following are sample BlackBerry Dispatcher Log lines when a BlackBerry Enterprise Server - Small Business Edition Key CAL is exceeded:

[50078] (10/19 01:11:16.765):{0xE50} Number of users exceeded the maximum allowed by the master license key

[50105] (10/19 01:11:16.796):{0x3B8} Stopping BlackBerry Dispatcher

More specifically how many devices can be added to the BES before the BES will no longer allow any additional devices to be added? Currently one particular BES is allowing 68 devices with only 61 licences.

[hdawg]

Welcome to the forums! ... this message indicates that your BES has effectively shut down. Without the dispatcher running nothing can be encrypted / decrypted.

Doesn't SBE have a limit of 15 users?

Is that a sample from your logs ... I'm confused?

I've seen a BES run successfully being 700 licenses short ... but can't see how this would relate to the setup you've posted.