Looking for a limited set of tools for my helpdesk to help me manage the BES. Specifically would like them to be able to reset passwords, set activation passwords etc.

What do you guys use?

remote blackberry manager

^^^ Agreed.

Well you need to be on BES 4.1 so you can leverage the noted Administration Roles. There is likely some functions you might not want them to have and with BES 5.0 you can dice up the roles to make your own hybrid role.

The BES 4.1 Admin guide has a section on the roles and matrix for what each role can perform. Added bonus is no need for anyone to remote into the physical (or virtual) BES box.

Running BES 4.0 though.

One-time Upgrades
BlackBerry Enterprise Server v4.1, Service Pack 6 Version Upgrade $999


BlackBerry - BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange

Thanks

I don't remember having to pay $999 to upgrade from 4.1.5 to 4.1.6

Edit: Nevermind, I see where it would be $999.

You could just backup your SQL BESMgmt database, download SP6 and run setup.exe for free.

as far as i know, its a free upgrade if you are already on v4.1.xx but if you are on v4.0.xx then you have to pay to upgrade apparently.

Looks like your right:
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BlackBerry Enterprise Server Installation
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Incompatible version detected on the system. The setup program will now end.
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OK
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My comany gives us the option of using a BB or similiar device to access our company email/server etc. Starting in Sept IT is going to push to our BB's or activate software already embedded on our BB's, that will require us to enter a 4 digit PIN to unlock the phone after 30mins of non-use. is there a way of overriding this password requirement?

Tks in advance

Nope. There are techniques to remove the IT policy, but as long as your attached to a BES server the policy will be present. If you remove it you will also lose your BES connectivity.

I thought that might be the case, but can company IT create a policy that locks only email/internet while leaving phone & local address book active for incoming AND outgoing calls?

If you asking if the end users can tweek this, the answer is no. If you set the policy it will be refreshed on the device while they connect daily.

I am not sure if this helps you....
Having a policy that enforces a password will not affect the ability to answer an incoming call on a locked phone.
You will have to unlock to make an outgoing call.

H.

I have our Help Desk trained in BlackBerry Manager, for troubleshooting purposes and to trigger EA's.

The other thing that helps, we have pushed down EA to the user level, and have a detailed button press-by-button press document they can follow to get themselves setup.

We used to activate every BlackBerry...when we just had a few hundred...but with 600, we can't touch them all anymore and shouldn't have to.

There is a policy that also allows you to place outgoing calls when the BB is locked. So there is no concern on a password policy limiting the use of the BB as a phone.

Note though that is lost / stolen (and we seem to average a few a week) that the noted outgoing call policy does provide a way for calls to be made until the user notifies that said device was lost / stolen.

BerryStats (tool for helpdesk)...

That's why I'm working on it, so as to help helpdesk folks!