BES Licensing Thread

[djeddiebear]

Originally Posted by hdawg

Which version of BES do you have (4.0 or 4.1)? I forget what the license screen for 4.0 looks like, but for 4.1 if you launch the BES Manager and go to BlackBerry Domain > Global Tab > Account (under tasks) > License Management you should see the License Type.

When in doubt T-Support will be able to tell you exactly what you have.

I have version 4.1. I did look there, and there it is! Thanks for the help. Looks like everything is running smooth now.

[funkyp56]

So we have Enterprise edition 4.0 with 40 cal (1-20 and 2-10 CALs)

I just read this thread about the free BlackBerry Professional Software 4.1 for Microsoft Exchange and am now downloading it.

Can this be installed on the same on the same server as the enterprise edition?

BTW, we are planning to upgrade the 4.0 to 4.1 (eventually 4.2) in the next 30 days.
Thanks in advance.

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by funkyp56

So we have Enterprise edition 4.0 with 40 cal (1-20 and 2-10 CALs)

I just read this thread about the free BlackBerry Professional Software 4.1 for Microsoft Exchange and am now downloading it.

Can this be installed on the same on the same server as the enterprise edition?

BTW, we are planning to upgrade the 4.0 to 4.1 (eventually 4.2) in the next 30 days.
Thanks in advance.

I don't think you can have two different versions of BES installed on the same server.
Also, there is no BES 4.2. 4.1.x is the latest.

[funkyp56]

Originally Posted by penguin3107

Also, there is no BES 4.2. 4.1.x is the latest.

LOL, I think I knew that.

So What are my options because I need to test 4.1 before converting our server. And putting my blackberry on the latest and greatest sounded like a good idea!

[x14]

If you have TSupport you can call RIM and ask for a trial SRP and CALs.

[BBAdmin]

If you have TSupport you can call RIM and ask for a trial SRP and CALs.

You don't need TSupport, you just need BBAdmin!!!! See below:

BlackBerry

[wusmani]

Originally Posted by DavidAdams

My bad, sorry for that. My Small Business came with 10 CALs. Was i just lucky?

No. You got the BlackBerry Professional Software, which comes with 10 licenses by default and you can go upto 30 users. Upgrading to Enterprise Edition can be done by installing a "service pack" which is free of cost.

[BBAdmin]

No. You got the BlackBerry Professional Software, which comes with 10 licenses by default and you can go upto 30 users. Upgrading to Enterprise Edition can be done by installing a "service pack" which is free of cost.

Just to avoid confusion this is entirely incorrect. BPS ships with 1 not 10 users, and if you want to update it to Enterprise Edition you'll need to purchase a "BES update key" which is basically a special 5 user CAL that alters all your existing CAL's from SBE to Enterprise Edition.

[hindgrinder]

I was just going thru my licensing when I noticed that 240 licenses were used yet I only have 231 users in the BES. I have a total of 301 licenses to use.

Is Rim using the 'New Math' when figuring out the licensing? lol..

Thanks

Mike

[BBAdmin]

Maybe something sketchy in your DB

[jlarry]

Hello ALL:
I have BES for Exchange ver 4.1 that I installed on a fresh server and migrated the data over onto early last year. I had a problem with the license keys were a few gave me a "incompatible with the current keys" tye error. RIM helped me(for free) by informing me that my licenses needed to be installed in a specific order because we origianlly started off with the SBE version and then upgraded via the unlock license/CAL. Well, I just got around trying to do this and it will not allow me to remove the last key. The option to remove is grayed out when I highlight the key. Miraculously this time when I contacted RIM they were not as polite and were quick to point out that I do not have TSupport. If anyone has seen this before please help me out. By the way the last key is a newer key since I can't install any of the old SBE ones, incase you were wondering.

-Joel

[DavidAdams]

Originally Posted by wusmani

No. You got the BlackBerry Professional Software, which comes with 10 licenses by default and you can go upto 30 users. Upgrading to Enterprise Edition can be done by installing a "service pack" which is free of cost.

Just checked mine is most definitely a Small Business Edition with 10 cals. Think it was a case of RIM doing a "promotional" download for Domino. If I remember correctly they called it a "Quick Start Edition" and was on a time limited offer, the offer expired 31 Dec 2007. Glad i downloaded it when i did.

[patricius]

Hi,

We would like to put our BES router into DMZ.

My question is do you need a seperate server license for the BES router?

[Dirky]

Is it possible to add a single license to an already existing BES Express with 1 (free) license?

thanks
d

[BBAdmin]

We would like to put our BES router into DMZ.

My question is do you need a seperate server license for the BES router?

No.

Is it possible to add a single license to an already existing BES Express with 1 (free) license?

Yes, but it depends on what type of licence you're adding.

[Dirky]

Originally Posted by BBAdmin

No.



Yes, but it depends on what type of licence you're adding.

To add another BES exchange user?

[awandkk]

My main question is if and how long can the two seperate BES servers "share" licenses? With the plan being to move the licenses when the migration is finished. I heard it is possible to "share" and it would work for 60 days. Any truth to that?

Thanks,
awandkk

[hdawg]

What kind of licenses? SRPs? CALs?

[awandkk]

Originally Posted by hdawg

What kind of licenses? SRPs? CALs?

CALs. That brings up another question. We have 130 licenses. The original ten licenses have a key that starts with bescal, the rest start with besx35. I did not put up this server and do not know it's history. Is this because it was upgraded to an Enterprise server? Sorry if it is a noob question.

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by awandkk

CALs. That brings up another question. We have 130 licenses. The original ten licenses have a key that starts with bescal, the rest start with besx35. I did not put up this server and do not know it's history. Is this because it was upgraded to an Enterprise server? Sorry if it is a noob question.

-0- days if you intend on staying in compliance with your license agreement.

RIM changed how they named their licenses from BESX35 to just BESCAL; thats all.

[awandkk]

Originally Posted by hdawg

-0- days if you intend on staying in compliance with your license agreement.

RIM changed how they named their licenses from BESX35 to just BESCAL; thats all.

What is the compliant process to migrate to a new BES server on a different platform.

My reasoning for the temporary use of licenses on multiple servers was relying on the fact that all the users will be migrated or removed from the Notes BES and I will move the licenses over to the Exchange BES. In essence removing the Notes BES within a couple months.

I have a feeling that if we were "required" to purchase more licenses for a migration, BES would be phased out instead. Money would be spent on new "Mobile" devices.
Thoughts?

[hdawg]

Contact your carrier / RIM representative. They are the only people that can give you the legal information you require.

[r00n]

Could someone explain to me what I can add on a BlackBerry Professional Software Express?

You get one free licence with the download from the RIM site. This should be a BPSX licence as Vodafone told me. Which change to a SBE or BES Licence at the moment you add another CAL.

Can I add SBE and BES CALs on a BPSX at the same time?
Can I add a BES CAL without any problems?
Does the SBE CALs change to Full BES CALs when doing an upgrade?

Hope that someone can make this clear to me... I can't find information about this on the Internet and the mobile provider isn't sure about their answers.

[BBAdmin]

OK, you get one free with the SRP, and space for more.

You can only add 1 user and 5 user CAL's to BPSX.

If you purchase an update key, all your CAL's will change to full enterprise edition.

Adding CAL's is simple, you do it through your license manager and don't have to reboot or restart services.

[r00n]

Will it tell me that the key is invalid at the moment I try to add a full bes licence? I heard some different stories and I don't know which one is true.

[hdawg]

If you try to add an invalid license it will tell you when you attempt to enter it.

[r00n]

I understand that. The problem is that I don't add the CALs myself but it is the customer who will try it. I don't want customer try things I should try myself. Is there someone who tried to add a full CAL to a BPSX

[awandkk]

Thank you for your quick responses, hdawg. I will contact RIM and post what I find out.

[MrTelephoneMan13]

Quick question for some of you BES admins. If a user has 'pending messages' sitting on the server; how can you push those messages to their BB device?

[BBAdmin]

Quick question for some of you BES admins. If a user has 'pending messages' sitting on the server; how can you push those messages to their BB device?

You can't. The device is probably switched off or experiencing a network issue. One it regains this it should filter the messages through.

This isn't really the right thread to be covering this problem, so if you still experience issues later I suggest you start a new thread in the BESAdmin subforum.

[hayabusa]

RIM also now has the option to obtain an enterprise site license. What this means is that they give you a CAL key that can be placed on each instance of bes server you have that unlocks your CAL manager. You then take screen shots of your CAL manager on a fiscal basis and true up license if you need to. We have just currently moved to the Enterprise Site license since we were growing at about 130 users per month. The only stipulation is that you must have already purchased 1000 cal from them and be on 4.1.2 or greater. The purchase includeds an additional SRP instance as well

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by hayabusa

RIM also now has the option to obtain an enterprise site license. What this means is that they give you a CAL key that can be placed on each instance of bes server you have that unlocks your CAL manager. You then take screen shots of your CAL manager on a fiscal basis and true up license if you need to. We have just currently moved to the Enterprise Site license since we were growing at about 130 users per month. The only stipulation is that you must have already purchased 1000 cal from them and be on 4.1.2 or greater. The purchase includeds an additional SRP instance as well

Is anyone currently using this model? We use this in our hosted environments where we have 10,000 user CALs ... but it isn't unlimited. We have several customers that could benefit from this.

Any public information posted on this?

[K_NAPP]

I am planning on bringing up a second BES for disaster recovery in VM. Since I will have a second server available, I am also planning on using it for load balancing, if I've got it I might as well use it. My question is... Can I have two BES sharing one license file dynamically? Or to rephrase... Can I manage all the same licenses from BOTH BES in one place? I have enterprise BES with seperate SQL DB, about 500 users. BES is working great at the moment, load balancing not probalby necessary but what the heck.

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by K_NAPP

I am planning on bringing up a second BES for disaster recovery in VM. Since I will have a second server available, I am also planning on using it for load balancing, if I've got it I might as well use it. My question is... Can I have two BES sharing one license file dynamically? Or to rephrase... Can I manage all the same licenses from BOTH BES in one place? I have enterprise BES with seperate SQL DB, about 500 users. BES is working great at the moment, load balancing not probalby necessary but what the heck.

What version of BES are you using?

By license to you mean SRP or CAL? You need an SRP for each active server connected to RIMs NOC. CALs can be shared in a common configuration database.

[K_NAPP]

Running Enterprise Edition ver 4.1.4.26. The question was in reference to CAL's. You've answered my question though. Thanks! That will make things a lot easier. Since I've already got a SQL DB running, is there anything I need to do to get the CAL's shared or is that just by default?

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by K_NAPP

Running Enterprise Edition ver 4.1.4.26. The question was in reference to CAL's. You've answered my question though. Thanks! That will make things a lot easier. Since I've already got a SQL DB running, is there anything I need to do to get the CAL's shared or is that just by default?

You just need to make sure when you add any additional BES it connects to that database; it'll see the licenses and use them.

[qc_metal]

FYI: I thought this might be a useful link - - I had an issue where I entered SBE licenses during a migration and wanted to use Enterprise licenses instead on the new server:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...licensing.html

i.e. - you don't need the expensive update key to use your enterprise CALs - just so that you remove the SBE CALs in order for it to work.

[RunCrashBoy]

Originally Posted by DarkWater

You don't need any Microsoft licensing to support users on Research In Motion software.

Besides, any user you add to the BES is already a user in the Windows environment.

If MS tries to pass of licensing for BES users, they are conning you.

I think we're buying them. Where can I read more about this?

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by RunCrashBoy

I think we're buying them. Where can I read more about this?

Buying what?

[Grundignz]

We are currently running one BES 4.1.4 server with about 200 users talking to 2 different exchange servers we are now looking at implementing a second BES server local to the second exchange server rather than across the WAN.

Each server will have its own local database.
I want to be able to remove the CAL's from the first server and add them to the second server as we migrate some of the users across. Do we need to buy another license for the second BES?