Hi forum,

I'm moving our BES to a new server (4.1 on both old and new). I was planning on requesting a temp SRP from RIM, and installing that on the new server in order to migrate users over, and then converting the temp SRP to the perm SRP on the new server once I shut down the old server. My question is whether I need extra CALs for this as well? I don't have any CALs to spare. Will I need temporary CALs on the new server, or can I re-use CALs on a different SRP while I do the migration?

Thanks in advance.

As long as you are using the same database for all your BES servers, your CALs should be covered.

I'm using MDSE (not SQL server), so I assume I'd be setting up a new MDSE instance on the new server. Does this mean I'm not on the "same database?"

Technically you can use the same CALs in the different databases on both servers without any problem.

Legally each BES should have its own CALs.

Why not just re-install the current BES installation on the new server? Making sure that the SRP does not connect to the RIM infrasructure concurrently on both BES's?

OK, it's going to give you a bit of downtime but it's less messy than using a temp SRP. If goes to plan you should be able to reume service within 30 minutes.

I'm shooting for easy here (a little downtime isn't a big issue), so maybe I'm off the mark. I was avoiding the "knife edge" approach because I need the new server to have a new Windows Host name (due to other services that are also hosted on the same machine), so I didn't think that would work.

I was assuming that I needed both servers active in order to "Move" users (using the Move option in the Blackberry Manager). Is it possible to "Move" users without a second SRP? I guess I'd have to have only one of the two servers started (so only one SRP is active).

If I'm headed in the wrong direction, any advice would be welcome.

Thanks in advance....

As long as the BlackBerry Server logical name stays the same you are OK using a different hostname. When you install the BES it picks up the NETBIOS name of the server you are installing on in one of the install screens and you can simply change this to the BlackBerry server name that you want it to be. (The BlackBerry Server logical name is the one that is next to the green icon in the BlackBerry management console).

In order to move users you need two SRP's and both servers need to be pointing to the same configuration database for the move to be seemless. I.E. the 2nd server will send out its service books and assume control of the user.

Here's a method I use sometime when migrating BES's.

1. Get a second SRP ( these are easy to come by these days by simply getting a PIN code from one of your devices and going to BlackBerry )
2. Set up a 2nd BESAdmin user/mailbox in Exchange
3. Give your current BES Admin account full rights over this new mailbox
4. Log in using the original BES Admin acount on the new server and install a 2nd BES with the SAME BES logical name as the other server but using the 2nd SRP, pointing the the 2nd BES Admin mailbox and a different configuration database.
4. Add a test user and make sure everything works OK
5. At the point of cutover turn off BES 1 (and set the services to disabled), move the database so that BES 2 can use it, repoint BES 2 MAPI profile to use the original BES Admin account and the server config settings to the moved database and hey presto........ The new BES thinks it's actually the original BES and uses the original SRP and has all your IT policies and MDS settings etc.

Just don't turn the original back on again....!!!!

OK, so you need a 2nd SRP to get the 2nd BES installed and tested but if done properly your actual downtime is as little and 5 minutes. It also means that you don't actually add the users to the 2nd BES and then back again. They always belong to the original BES.

I've used this method on a BES with over 500 users and it works a treat.

There are other methods of course so if this one doesn't suit then tell us what you would prefer and we can help.

Sfez

Knife edge is the easiest if you can have the downtime.

If you want to do a migration with a temp SRP, it will not be supported.

Looks like the knife edge approach is the way to go. I few questions on that:

- I can only find instructions for 3.6 and 4.0, not specifically for 4.1, so I assume I'll follow the 4.0 instructions. Any 4.1-specific gotchas?

- Searching the forum, I saw some indication that there "might" have to be a few fields in the database that I would have to manually change if I changed the NETBIOS name of the machine (even though I kept the BB server name the same). But then someone else thought that 4.0+ fixed that. Anything I should watch out for there?

Thanks again.....