Posting this to keep a copy in the Net for easy searching in future reference as well sharing. More than often, seen lots of setups not meeting the system requirements and failed the install of the standby BES with database mirroring option.

To support database mirroring for the BlackBerry Configuration Database or BlackBerry MDS Integration Service database, the following conditions:

• the database server must be Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP3 Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition (32-bit or 64-bit), Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition (32-bit or 64-bit), or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition (32-bit or 64-bit)
• the mirror database must reside on a different computer from the principal database
• the Microsoft SQL Server instances for both the principal and mirrored databases must be the same version and edition
• only use static port number 1433
• do not use named instances
• verify that the SQL Server Browser service is running
• turn off the Named Pipes option in the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client on the computers that host the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server instances

Link1: System requirements: BlackBerry Enterprise Server databases - Installation and Configuration Guide - BlackBerry Enterprise Server for IBM Lotus Domino - 5.0.2

Link2: Prerequisites: Configuring database mirroring or database replication of the BlackBerry Configuration Database or BlackBerry MDS Integration Service database - Administration Guide - BlackBerry Enterprise Server for IBM Lotus Domino - 5.0.2

Also the SQL services must be using a domain account and not local system or BAS will break upon failover

Nice one BBTech. Yes, just found that RIM has written this in KB21884.

Article Title: How to set up database mirroring for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server
Article Number: KB21884
Link: KB21884-How to set up database mirroring for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server

Hi noname
Thank you for your post.

I have to upgrade my BES Servers HA with DB SQL Mirroring to SP2 (V5)
What do you advise to me to make this upgrade.
RIM Upgrade Guide say that I can upgrade standby servers and make a manualy failover and then upgrade the other server.
But what about SQL database, if Ichange schema database with the first upgrade , What are the consequences with the server which is running and without latest version ?
Thank you for your help

That's a good question and a FAQ for me too. I would say that "RIM Upgrade Guide say that I can upgrade standby servers and make a manually failover and then upgrade the other server." only applies to our regular monthly Windows and other system maintenance and not BES upgrade. You can never 100% trust these guide as we have found too many conflicts and incorrect information before.

I still believe there will be chances of DB update failures by the active BES server due to the database schema change. Hence, I would take the most cautious approach for a Service Pack upgrade (which usually upgrade the schema) i.e. I would still schedule a downtime for both servers.

do any of you use sql witness database server, if yes do you have it on the same lan as your principal sql server or do you place it on the lan where the witness server is located, which can be on the same lan of course but for DR purposes is probably better placed at your DR site or another office location if you have one? i for now have placed it in my DR site as that seems the best option for now. woudl be interested to hear what you have done

Has anyone tested failing over to the mirrored SQL database? In our test environment, the Dispatcher component fails over fine to the mirrored SQL database but the MDS Connection Service and Collaboration Service complain about the following in the logs:

Connection to principal database server failed. Will try to reconnect. Exception : [com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: This driver is not configured for integrated authentication.]>

Has anyone seen this message before? As a result, we cannot from BB access internet through MDS; however, we are still able to log into Sametime on BB even though the error appears in log.

We are at Domino 8.5.1, BES 5.0.2 MR2, and SQL 2008 SP1. Our servers are all Windows 64-bit 2003 SP2.

pfulton06 :

If you restart MDS Connection Service and Collaboration Service after the SQL failover, will the error disappear?

No the error is still there after restarting.

Ok, then we fall back checks for SQL Mirroring support.

• Only use static port number 1433
• Verify that the Microsoft SQL Server Browser is running
• Do not use named instances

Your references:-

KB21884-How to set up database mirroring for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server

KB24268-How to configure Microsoft SQL Server mirroring for BlackBerry Enterprise Server