[Krycek]

Has anyone succesfully gotten this configuration to work? I know it's not supported, but I'm sure it can work. I have it installed like this but it currently isn't working, as the SRPClient is not wanting to talk to localhost.

I'm sure this is something alot of small businesses would like to do...so maybe we can get a thread going on how to do it, the downfalls, and tips.

[corey@12mile]

It will work, just don't tell RIM that it's like that if you ever have to call them. Don't run the attachment service for BES if you setup something like this unless you got dual CPU and lots of RAM.

[bfrye]

And there already is a thread that touches on it

http://www.blackberryforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=3100

[Krycek]

Hehe yeah...my thread. It was a bit different though and I thought maybe I could start a resource here as to how to do it...for people so inclined.

[stevew]

VMWARE dude...have it running on 2 BES's for at least 1 year. Works like a charm....never have to reboot! :D

[Krycek]

Yep...gonna have to try it out. Thx!

[corey@12mile]

You can run multiple instances of BES on the same physical machine without having to run VMware, this is how you get 2000 exchange clients onto a single box, with the 500 connection mapi limit.

Not only do you have to supply enough disk space for 2 or 3 copies of Windows Server to run, you need the CPU and RAM for 2 or 3 machines as well... On top of all that, you need SRPID's and licenses for each instance of BES you are going to run.

I would really use the built in capabilities of IIS, Exchange and Active Directory to split up the internet domains and run a single BES server. It's not that hard to setup, Microsoft has how-to step by step guides for everything on their website, you just have to find them.

Right now, I have 4 internet domains on my smaller servers with at least 1 BES user on each domain and 2 of those domains have BES and Goodlink users tied in together.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by corey@12mile

You can run multiple instances of BES on the same physical machine without having to run VMware, this is how you get 2000 exchange clients onto a single box, with the 500 connection mapi limit.

Not only do you have to supply enough disk space for 2 or 3 copies of Windows Server to run, you need the CPU and RAM for 2 or 3 machines as well... On top of all that, you need SRPID's and licenses for each instance of BES you are going to run.

I would really use the built in capabilities of IIS, Exchange and Active Directory to split up the internet domains and run a single BES server. It's not that hard to setup, Microsoft has how-to step by step guides for everything on their website, you just have to find them.

Right now, I have 4 internet domains on my smaller servers with at least 1 BES user on each domain and 2 of those domains have BES and Goodlink users tied in together.

If I am correct, he was asking about how to run Exchange and BES on one box, not multiple BES's on one box. Given that the processor and ram requirements are quite high to do this effectively, VMWARE Pro is the perfect solution. You don't have to screw around to get it to work either, just install it and go. It was a breeze for us to get up and running and no special box was required either. We are running this on a 2.2 P4 with only 512MB of ram. No dual processor, 20 users and also running ORF anti-spam as well as a NAV corporate client. We are running this on a WAN with no performance hit either. Because VMWARE treats each OS as its own seperate CPU, the performance is virtually the same as if we were running 2 seperate boxes of the same power. Doing it without using VMWARE or a similar solution is just a huge time loss IMO, it will run for sure, but at what IT cost and at what performance hit? In one case, we downsized a client from 64 physlcal servers to only 2, using VMWARE. That client is now running more efficiently and at lower cost than using the 64 server solution. The other thing is the ability to just drag the entire flat VMWARE file from one box to another should you have to in case of total disaster, takes only a few minutes. This is a much more serious approach to the problem, don't you think?