Hi gang. N00b to BBF and BBadmin basically. So I'll give ya all the info I can...be gentle if it's not enough... Honestly, i checked the FAQ too.

WIN Server 2003,STD, R2, SP2..
BBerry 5.0.0.MR2 (Bundle 244)
Device Communication 1.2.0.16
Carriers: Various, AT&T, Verizon, TMobile ...the lot.

Small environment of ~15 BBerry users. Different models, mostly 8830's and "up"

Issue: Randomly (we think) users are getting dropped and not receiving mail. Dropped as in, their PIN number seems to dissappear from our server. (Initializing)? and setting and the E/A password, and perfoming yet another Enterprise Activation always resolves the issue. What a PITA?!

So, am I missing anything here? This simply can't be right. I came from a BES-using company with 250 users and rarely had any issues (PEBKAC maybe) and yet here, with maybe 15 users, from all over the USA by the way, with various carriers, it's a struggle.. maybe 4 to 5 times a week.. and currently it does NOT appear to be carrier specific...

Help Obi-wan Bbbery, yer my only hope!

M

You say,
after a sucessfull activation of a device, the status of some user changes from running to initializing ?
If this is the case, my best guess is, you have a problem with your sql database.

Yes:
I have clients running for up to 2 or 3 weeks, then suddenly drop into INITIALIZING status, where I need to Reactive them via Enterprise Activation.

Again, we "think" it's random users, random carriers, but since this is relatively new to us, we're simply not sure yet... no real pattern has emerged yet.

As a newbie to the world of BESadmin'ing, can you be tad more specific when you say "problem with SQL" if I may? Do you mean Corruption? Version? Configuration? P.E.B.K.A.C.?

Thanks for the reply!

Have you checked the IT Policy assigned to these devices?
Perhaps there's a policy setting applied which says:
"Wipe the device if..."

For example, the device could be be set to wipe if the battery level gets too low.... wipe if the device hasn't received a policy update in X number of hours... etc.

On the BES, look at all the IT Policy settings in the Security group.
(IT Policy > Security)

I dont have a better idea then checking all aspects of your sql server - i never hat this kind of problem.
But since the BES relies on data stored in the SQL database, this is the first thing I would checj.
But the previous posters Idea is also worth considering.

Have you checked the logs of the BES and the system for anything strange ?

First:
Wipe? Not security wipe.. I just meant the emails stop being delivered to my users until we reset them and redo the Enterprise Activation (Sorry if there was confusion). they only see old emails, and nothing new is delivered.


Ok so I checked out the Policies...I think...
"Bberry solution mgmt" then
"Policy" then
"manage IT Policies".... right? (Hopefully yes, it's all I could find at the moment)

Anyway, the ONLY policy, outside the defaults is a policy called "STEVE" "O great and powerful Steve! What do you want?" /end OverTheHedge quote Ya, sorry. This policy is only rolled out to the other admin..

So far it appears nothing much has been touched yet, just a few settings like, users cant upgrade, no 3rd party apps, Folder reconcile is ok, app loader not visible...

Still searching, and thanks for the suggestions..sadly I do not have access to our SQL server... I'm not even sure how they are tied together at the moment..
EDIT: Will start looking at the logs now, though, I'm not sure what qualifies as "strange or unusual" here ('cept maybe myself)
M

OK, so this is quite confusing. Here's why:
If BES is reporting that the device is in an "Initializing..." state, it means BES thinks the device has been security wiped.

If you're saying that the device has NOT been security wiped, but rather simply stops receiving new messages... then you have quite a serious problem.

I would agree with the other replies that indicate your SQL database probably has some corruption.

Call RIM t-support and get their help, soon.
If your DB is corrupt, you're at serious risk of this problem getting bigger, and unfixable.
The SQL database is the heart of BES, and if it fails... you're finished.

i would check with your mail server as well. when a user has a blackberry on a bes, meta data is stored in their mailbox. if something happens to that data then it could cause the issues you are experiencing.

also, if a user has desktop manager installed, it could be hooked into their mailbox (depending on how it was setup). if another user comes along and plugs their bb into that persons computer while desktop manager is still running (maybe to charge the device) it could overwrite the settings and cause conflicts with pins and such.

To check the sql-server, maybe:
make a complete backup of the SQL servers BB database, either, using the SQL server enterprise management tools, or, if you run an MSDE2000 use the dbamgr2k,
then make a restore.

Or: delete the users in question, or, delete one user which ist most likely a frequent victim, and, remove the Blackberry information from the Exchange account.
Restart the BES server, again, add the user, and monitor what is happening.

Thanks for the replies gang:

You know this issue hasnt happened once since I posted right? :censored: ;) It will though...

@Penguin. True. No clients are getting their devices wiped out, only stop getting new mail, and yes, the server reports "initializing". We will be reaching out to BBerry support some time today hopefully.

@RadHaz. My clients are all Domino(Notes 8.x) based, Exchange does not exist here. Also, none of my clients have Desktop Mgr installed to my knowledge. (*However- each is an admin, nothing to stop them, but I doubt they'd add it)

@nobody. We can back up either way, do you have a preference? Should we? The other Admin may have already tried R/R the user, I''m not sure, but sorta recall having this conversation with him. I'll be sure and check it out.

ALL: As a fellow admin of two forums myself, I'm really impressed here on several levels. Kudos admins/mods and users at large. BBF are my new BFF ahahah (oh that was sad)

If you have an Enterprise SQL server its better to use the built in backup and restore tools. A backup and restore should not hurt - however, if, for some reason it is not working afterwards you then know, you have a problem - dont shoot me if this happens.
You could stop the sql server, and make a file based backup of the complete sql server tree including all files to have additional safety before making the dump and restore of the sql server.

But, as RadHaz75 pointed out, it is also possible that the Exchange account is the culprit.
The Exchange Server stores a ton of hidden information in the mailbox of the user. If this gets corrupted, the BES might also see the user as new.
There is a Software called MFCMAPI, download from:
MFCMAPI
With this, you can have a look inside the mailbox. However, I dont know what to look for. But you could have a look now in a working BB users accound, and compare that to the situation when It stops working.

I have a similar problem with my BB infrastructure. and the scenario is similar, BES 5 with domino 8.x with 30 users... and randomly the user pin is dropped.