Hi,

Heres my current setup.

Windows 2000 sp4 running ESM 2000 and BES 4.0.4.9

Exchange 2003 email servers

We've just completed our upgrade from exchange 2000 to 2003 and although everythings is still working ok i'm keen to upgrade the server software to bring it in line.
My original plan was to do an in place upgrade of 2000 to 2003 and then upgrade ESM to 2003 as well. Rename the server (our naming convention requires the operating system version to be in the name)
However, i've now read that renaming a BES server isnt a good idea as MSDE stops working. I've read its possible to get it working again if you reinstall MSDE but it doesnt say if any data is lost etc?
Does anyone have any advice on what i'm planning to do?

Thanks

Personally, I don't believe in in-place upgrades as a solution for Windows-based OS's... it's just a personal belief that's left over from the Windows 95 days, so it may not really be a valid point anymore.

If I were you, I'd just export the database, save your BES logs directory (not required), export all necessary keys and information and userlists from the BES (again, not required). At that point, just format the darn machine and rebuild it from scratch to the same version BES. Import the database back in and voila. You will need the same BES virtual instance name (what's displayed in BlackBerry Manager), but you won't necessarily need the same physical server name. You'll need to use the same SRP ID and Auth Key, as well as the same service account.

This could be done to new hardware, as well ...although if that's not available, then no worries. With the summarization above, you'd be looking at around 1.5-2 hours of complete downtime ...not much more than if you just decided to do an in-place upgrade, except you'd not be left with various other artifact house-cleaning work.