Hi Guys,

I have just been given a BES server to look after. Checking the server it's behind the BES software, it is running;

BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange, Version: 4.0.3 (Bundle 9)

I am trying to track down what is the latest version of BES?

I can see on the BlackBerry site that there is a service pack for 4.0 and 4.1.
BES 4.0 Service Pack 7
BES 4.1 Service Pack 5

Also what would the upgrade path be? Is it just a simple get the latest version and install it over the top or do you need to go to a service pack first.

Cheers

Craig

Craig, first off, welcome!

You can do a direct upgrade; just grab the latest version and go ... some questions and points:

1) If you don't have a TSupport contract that includes free software upgrades you can only upgrade to 4.0 SP7 for free. Upgrades to 4.1 are not free from 4.0; however 4.1 SP5 is the newest.

2) What OS are you running?

3) What version of Exchange are you running?

4) Are you looking to upgrade Exchange / or the BES server hardware any time soon (both considerations in scheduling a BES upgrade)?

Again, welcome!

Thanks for the reply.

1) If you don't have a TSupport contract that includes free software upgrades you can only upgrade to 4.0 SP7 for free. Upgrades to 4.1 are not free from 4.0; however 4.1 SP5 is the newest.

- No support about the support agreement, does it have to be with Optus or BlackBerry?

2) What OS are you running?

- Windows 2003 server. We have 2 blackberry servers, the 1st is running BES in the lan, the second is a BES router in the DMZ. Also the SQL database is running on an SQL server hosted on a different server.

3) What version of Exchange are you running?

- Exchange 2003 SP2 plus hotfixes

4) Are you looking to upgrade Exchange / or the BES server hardware any time soon (both considerations in scheduling a BES upgrade)?

- At this stage we are just looking at updating the BES servers.

We have a few issues with Sync'ing device. Emails are remaining on the devices after being deleted from the users mailbox. Also calendar appoints are not syncing correctly.

Cheers

Craig

You're welcome ... thanks for providing some more detail

Honestly, you may be able to get it through Optus; not sure how that would work, but I was referencing RIM TSupport.

Cool; that is all good. Interesting config ... its good to see someone actually deploy a remote router in the DMZ and have SQL split off properly.

Okee dokey

So, you're really going to want to get up to 4.1 ... a few reasons:

1) Supportability. RIM no longer officially supports 4.0. Granted if there is an issue and you call for support and pay, they will help ... but part of their solution may be "upgrade to 4.1"
2) Features. 4.1 will give you hard delete support. That will most likely help with some of the email reconciliation issues you're having.
3) Staying current. I'm a fan of not having production systems always on the latest and greatest, but 4.1 has been out for a while and the service packs have added some nice features / functions. Overall 4.1 SP5 is proving to be better than I had initially given it credit for.

Even though it may not be a free upgrade (see one-time upgrade) ... I think it'd be worth the investment; check out the feature comparison.

Best of luck!