BES Licensing Thread

[BBAdmin]

There does seem to be the odd bit of confusion now and again to do with how BES licensing is designed, so I have created this thread to clarify how it works - which hopefully should help out with some peoples questions. Please post if you believe I have missed something off that should be covered and I'll add it to the first post. If this thread proves useful I may stickie it.


BES license components

Your BES server will contain three separate 'keys' at point of installation:

• SRP
• SRP Authentication Key
• CAL (Client Access License)

These will always remain unchanged, although you may add additional CAL's as you require additional users on the BES server.


BES Versions

There are five separate versions of BES:

Enterprise Edition

The Enterprise Edition of BES ships with a 20 user CAL and has no legal license limit. You will find there are guidelines as to the best practices on having high levels of users and of course you will be limited by the hardware specifications of your BES server computer.

SBE (Small Business Edition)

The SBE version ships with a 5 user CAL and can be expanded up to a maximum of 15 users through the addition of extra CAL's.

Express Edition

The Express Edition of BES is a free download from the BlackBerry website. This versions ships with a 1 user CAL. BES Express is basically identical to the SBE Edition as it can only be expanded to a maximum 15 user threshold.

BlackBerry Professional Software

BPS is intended to be the replacement platform for Express Edition. It is (currently) a free download from the BlackBerry website and you get a copy of the software, a licence and a one user CAL all free. BPS is graphically slightly different in terms of the UI from the other versions of BES. Most tasks are wizard based, making it simple for admins who are not familiar with the BlackBerry server platform. One of the key advantages of BPS is that it's the first version of BES which offers full RIM support when installed on the same server as Exchange or Lotus Domino (there is currently no version for GroupWise mail environments). This is a big cost saving in hardware and Windows licencing. The downsides with this are that some companies will have strict guidelines on running several mission critical applications on the same server, and secondly, BPS does not have a full BES feature set. To elaborate on this final point - users have full email and PIM reconciliation as you would get with a normal BES, but there is no MDS (Studio, not Service) which means it's not possible to build custom applications, but existing java apps can be pushed through the BPS software.

BPS can take a maximum user threshold of 30 users, and Small Business CAL's are the ones you should purchase if you need additional users.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications

The MDS Applications version of BES is a version of the server which has no wireless email facility. While this may sound odd, it is designed for organisations who do not require wireless email but do require the ability to access applications remotely from a low cost handheld device.

Note: There is no difference in the feature set, functionality or GUI of the BES editions with the exception of 'BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications' as this has no wireless email features


BES Update Key

BES Update Keys were designed for companies who purchased SBE Edition BlackBerry servers. One of the problems with BlackBerry adoption is that some companies believe they will only have a small device fleet (usually high level management) and it's not until after implementation that they realise they need to expand beyond the user base they predicted during their planning. Originally to overcome the 15 user hurdle companies would have to re-invest in the solution from scratch, casting aside any additional CAL's and purcasing a new Enterprise Edition BES which of course proved costly.

With this in mind RIM introduced the BES Update Key. This is effectively just a 5 user CAL, but when entered in to your BES License Manager it alters your BES version from SBE to Enterprise. Therefore, if you have a 15 user BES which is at its license threshold and you add a BES Update Key, you will now have a 20 user Enterprise Edition BES.

The update key is not a cheap option and will cost significantly more than a standard 5 user CAL, but it is still a cheaper option than discarding any SBE Edition BES you may already have in place and purchasing a new Enterprise Edition.


Purchasing CAL's

Purchasing the right type of CAL's can be confusing as they are not all the same and come in a variety of denominations. CAL's can be purchased in the following numbers, but availbility depends on your supplier:

• 5 user
• 10 user
• 50 user
• 100 user
• 500 user
• 1000 user

You must also purchase the correct type of CAL. If you have an SBE or Express Edition BES you will need SBE CAL's, and if you have an Enterprise Edtion BES you will of course need Enterprise CAL's - there should be a minimal difference in the cost of a (for example) 5 user SBE CAL and a 5 user Enterprise CAL (if at all).

Remember, if you had an SBE BES and have installed an Update Key you will now need to purchase Enterprise Edition CAL's.


Managing CAL's

If you have multiple BES servers in place and want to move licenses around for any reason this is possible. How you remove a license depends on your BES server version number, but in versions 4.0 and above you can simpley right-click the license in the License Manager and 'remove' or 'clear'. You can then add that license to another BES server. The key message to take from this is that a CAL, once entered, is not tied to your SRP in any way and can be moved in the futue if required.


I hope this helps!

BBAdmin

[hdawg]

I hate licensing; but I love this thread!

[jibi]

- BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications is the fourth version of BES.

- Helpful Hint: When adding a new CAL, simply copy the entire 5x6 CAL from email, document, etc. and paste it into the first field. It will populate at the appropriate break points.

[BBAdmin]

Cheers for this bud, updates made to the first post!

[jibi]

Possibly worth noting, although completely unverified, RIM may be doing some sort of CAL management and 'call-home' verification. I was told they have the ability to expire CALs (I'll report back at a later date on this), as well. Considering the SRP connection is completely encrypted, you can't really sniff packets to see what's happening on port 3101, so a 'call-home' feature is very much a reality that may or may not be happening behind the scenes.

Regardless, it's something to be open to thinking about. While the general perception of CALs is that they aren't tied to an SRP or they can be re-used multiple times without RIM knowing, this may not be the case. I'm assuming if a 'call-home' feature is enabled with their CALs, then the SRP it's attached to (at that time) can be tracked as well.

Paranoid food for thought.

[hdawg]

CALs expire; oh boy do they expire ... sucks when you've got 10 of them that all expire on the same day and 20 servers give you really dumb looks.

I still don't get why RIM doesn't do CAL lock-outs much the same as they do SRP lock-outs. ... same goes for the lack of enforcement everywhere with the hard CAL model.

[BBAdmin]

One thing is certain, RIM have a very poor system for managing licensing. Their excuse to me has always been that they don't want licensing to be a barrier to deployment (hence the introduction of BES Express and the demise of SBE) but that's a poor excuse as far as I'm concerned. I wish they would tighten up this side of things.

[hdawg]

My favorite is getting the question:

So, what happens when we go over our license limit?

... and the response is always:

You'd be running in an unsupported configuration and we would make a best effort to assist you, however if we needed to escalate to RIM for assistance they would most likely request log files, which would show a lack of licenses in your environment.

the retort: Yeah, but will it still work?

and the comeback: unfortunately, generally yes.

Its a bit difficult to keep people in line with their licensing if the seller of the licensing doesn't attempt to enforce it. Oh look, here's a CAL, let me put it in every BlackBerry Domain I have ... I just got free licenses; OY!

[BBAdmin]

It does my head in no end - not from a cash perspective because we're a service provider and we only care about the airtime and as a result we sell CAL's to our clients at cost price. It does wind me up though that RIM don't keep it tight and it does annoy me that people can add a bit over the licence limit.

[jibi]

...atleast they're not Microsoft

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by jibi

...atleast they're not Microsoft

Their licensing model makes life easy for me.

"You'll need to contact a Microsoft Rep. to find that out. I'm not qualified to discuss Microsoft licensing as it varies from organization to organization"

[jibi]

Lol!

[dekbh99]

Is there a rule of thumb of the percentage of cal licenses to actual users you can overscribe before it affects server operation

[hdawg]

no; I'd recommend sticking to a plan of having more or the same number of CALs as users.

[paynet2128]

Hold, the phone...Express edition is free!!! My RIMM rep made it sound as if it was a purchase item (he is a weasel anyways). I run 2 BES servers with only 120+ users, yes this is one of my secondary tasks. What I need is a test environment. It looks like Express will allow me this luxury...How will the DMZ Router react with a second BES server?

[d_fisher]

Originally Posted by paynet2128

Hold, the phone...Express edition is free!!! My RIMM rep made it sound as if it was a purchase item (he is a weasel anyways). I run 2 BES servers with only 120+ users, yes this is one of my secondary tasks. What I need is a test environment. It looks like Express will allow me this luxury...How will the DMZ Router react with a second BES server?

BES Express is free and you can have up to 15 users (I think) on it. It would make a perfect test environment.

[DavidAdams]

Originally Posted by d_fisher

BES Express is free and you can have up to 15 users (I think) on it. It would make a perfect test environment.

It only comes with 10 licences, the other 5 you have to pay for. ANd it seems they call it Small Business or Express depending where you look.

[BBAdmin]

OK, nobody seems to be reading the top post!!!!

There is no difference between Small Business and Express - the only difference is that Small Business ships with a 5 user CAL and Express ships with a 1 user CAL. Both can be updated to a maximum of 15 users.

[DavidAdams]

Originally Posted by BBAdmin

OK, nobody seems to be reading the top post!!!!

There is no difference between Small Business and Express - the only difference is that Small Business ships with a 5 user CAL and Express ships with a 1 user CAL. Both can be updated to a maximum of 15 users.

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

[BBAdmin]

My Small Business came with 10 CALs. Was i just lucky?

I would say so, although it sounds like you actually got a 10 user Enterprise!

[DavidAdams]

Originally Posted by BBAdmin

I would say so, although it sounds like you actually got a 10 user Enterprise!

Any way i can check?

Edit

Just checked and the Licence Management shows SBE Licence Type

[Irish Kev]

I am currently migrating users from one bes to another and I am using the same cals on both servers.

no issues so far

[mzamora]

Hi,

We have BES with 24 CALs in my company and we are going to implement the SMIME in the blackbbery's.

The SMIME CAL's are very expensive, the price is the doble of normal CALs.

Is there an upgrade from normal BES CAL to SMIME CAL's?

For example
One BlackBerry Enterprise Server S/MIME CAL: 199 USD

[hdawg]

Not that I know of ... You're best of contacting your reseller or RIM directly to see if they'll work out a nice deal with you.

[BBAdmin]

Not a clue on that one I'm afraid!

[grandad]

Express Edition

The Express Edition of BES is a free download from the BlackBerry website. This versions ships with a 1 user CAL. BES Express is basically identical to the SBE Edition as it can only be expanded to a maximum 15 user threshold.

Raises a couple of questions in this noob's mind:
Why would I chose it over BIS for a 1 user scenario, any benefits?
Also can it run on any server, like my Linux box, or does it need something specific?

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by grandad

Raises a couple of questions in this noob's mind:
Why would I chose it over BIS for a 1 user scenario, any benefits?
Also can it run on any server, like my Linux box, or does it need something specific?

You'd use this as it'll give you full sync of email and PIM data ... it does however add another component to your server architecture, so its a bit more complex.

It needs to run in a windows server environment ... people have gotten away with running BES on an XP machine, but it isn't supported.

[x14]

Originally Posted by grandad

Raises a couple of questions in this noob's mind:
Why would I chose it over BIS for a 1 user scenario, any benefits?
Also can it run on any server, like my Linux box, or does it need something specific?

The difference between BIS and BES is night and day with BES being the better product. BES only runs on the Windows platform.

[SkyPilot]

Can anyone please answer the following question?
How many SBS CALs are required to implement by BES which came with 20 CALs I currently would have 11 Blackberry users and only 8 SBS users.
Thanks in advance to all for their efforts here.

SkyPilot

[DarkWater]

Originally Posted by SkyPilot

Can anyone please answer the following question?
How many SBS CALs are required to implement by BES which came with 20 CALs I currently would have 11 Blackberry users and only 8 SBS users.
Thanks in advance to all for their efforts here.

SkyPilot

Not sure I understand the question. Could you attempt to clarify it?

SBS is limited to 20 users. You need an Upgrade/Unlock CAL to get any higher than that.

If a BES came with a 20 user CAL, then it is not SBS and has no cap.

[SkyPilot]

Originally Posted by DarkWater

Not sure I understand the question. Could you attempt to clarify it?

SBS is limited to 20 users. You need an Upgrade/Unlock CAL to get any higher than that.

If a BES came with a 20 user CAL, then it is not SBS and has no cap.

I am asking if I need 20 SBS cal to match the 2o bes cals I have
I am hoping to not have to purchase more SBS cals than I require as I will max out at 10 actual users but maybe 30 BB uisers in the end
Hope that clarifies it somewhat

SkyPilot

[hdawg]

Its still not clear ... are you asking how many Microsoft SBS CALs are required?

If so, you should contact your reseller, or Microsoft licensing rep to discuss your plan.

[DarkWater]

Originally Posted by SkyPilot

I am asking if I need 20 SBS cal to match the 2o bes cals I have
I am hoping to not have to purchase more SBS cals than I require as I will max out at 10 actual users but maybe 30 BB uisers in the end
Hope that clarifies it somewhat

SkyPilot

BES small business CALs cap out at 20.

If you know you are going over 20 then you should purchase the upgrade CAL to remove the cap. Recommend doing it before you move past 15 CALs.

[SkyPilot]

Originally Posted by hdawg

Its still not clear ... are you asking how many Microsoft SBS CALs are required?

If so, you should contact your reseller, or Microsoft licensing rep to discuss your plan.

I guess I need to contact microsoft
What I am asking if I need a Microsoft SBS CAL for every BES user
And also does BES itself use up a SBS CAL

SkyPilot

[hdawg]

You should contact Microsoft. Anyone posting here that doesn't work for Microsoft's licensing department will most likely give you incomplete or incorrect information. MS has too many licensing methods for the same product for most people to bother to properly understand them ... every time I've spoken about licensing I've regretted it.

[BBAdmin]

Updated the first post today with the addition of BlackBerry Professional Software. Sorry for the delay, all up to date now!!!

[SkyPilot]

Originally Posted by hdawg

You should contact Microsoft. Anyone posting here that doesn't work for Microsoft's licensing department will most likely give you incomplete or incorrect information. MS has too many licensing methods for the same product for most people to bother to properly understand them ... every time I've spoken about licensing I've regretted it.

Thanks
I am off to the badlands will post what they tell me

SkyPilot

[DarkWater]

Originally Posted by SkyPilot

Thanks
I am off to the badlands will post what they tell me

SkyPilot

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.

[djeddiebear]

New BES Admin here.

My company doesn't want me to be in contact with our Verizon Rep who handled the RIM licensing. I received a link to the Blackberry Enterprise Server 4.1 Mid Market Bundle for Exchange - 11 User.

I know I'll be going over 20 in the next few months. My question is, do I have SBS or Enterprise? I'm not exactly sure how this licensing works. How would I establish a contact at RIM? Just call them up and ask?

Regards,

Eddie

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by djeddiebear

New BES Admin here.

My company doesn't want me to be in contact with our Verizon Rep who handled the RIM licensing. I received a link to the Blackberry Enterprise Server 4.1 Mid Market Bundle for Exchange - 11 User.

I know I'll be going over 20 in the next few months. My question is, do I have SBS or Enterprise? I'm not exactly sure how this licensing works. How would I establish a contact at RIM? Just call them up and ask?

Regards,

Eddie

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.