[ningan]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum, wanted to upgrade our two BES servers 4.0.7 (Bundle 14) to BES 4.1.6 and move to new windows 2003 r2 sp2 on VM , need your comments and recommendations pl

Current setup of bes servers as below
bes1 on Windpws 2000 SP4, db on MSDE
BES2 on Windows 2000 SP4, DB on SQL2000 SP3

[freakinvibe]

You are going from a very old BES version to an old BES version. Is there a reason why you are not moving to 5.0.2?

[ningan]

all our other locations are running at BES 4.1.6 so we need to upgrade to same level now

[knottyrope]

I have the upgrade to BES 5, but I cant justify the new server hardware for the upgrade since none of the features of BES 5 are of interest to our users yet.

I will have to bite the bullet next year once we replace all servers and upgrade to Exchange 2010.

[freakinvibe]

There are different possible upgrade scenarios. Finding the best for you depends on various factors:

How many users?
Downtime allowed?
Need easy roll-back scenario?
Re-use hardware or new one?
High-availability?
Big bang or slow migration preferred?

So there is no definite answer without knowing your detailed situation.

Have you already read the Upgrade Guide? The different scenarios are described there with their advantages and disadvantages:

http://docs.blackberry.com/en/admin/..._427686_11.pdf

[ningan]

How many users?
We have around 240 users in each servers running on VM
Downtime allowed?
Yes, what will be down time for each server, will be planning to do one server first and next one after weeks time
Need easy roll-back scenario?
yes please
Re-use hardware or new one?
current servers running Windows 2000 Sp4 on VM, so planning create new VM with Windows 2003 R2 SP2
High-availability?
Yes
Big bang or slow migration preferred?
Big bang

[freakinvibe]

Then I would use the upgrade scenario described in

Chapter 9: Upgrading the BlackBerry Enterprise Server by using a new computer

You would not move the users over in phases, but in one go, which allows to use the same SRP.

[ningan]

thanks for your response
how about SW do we need to buy from RIM or can download from site, pl advise

[knottyrope]

you have to buy the upgrade

BlackBerry - Enterprise Server Pricing - Purchase BES software

if you buy 20 devices, your carrier might give it to you for free. Thats how I got my upgrade.

[ningan]

We have two BES servers, do we need to buy two upgrade SW one for each,pl advise we can see that download is available at link at BES site

[BB-Tech support]

Originally Posted by ningan

We have two BES servers, do we need to buy two upgrade SW one for each,pl advise we can see that download is available at link at BES site

My advice is for you is to get T-support code from RIM ( for example advantage customer).
When you have support contract with RIM, you are eligible for free upgrades, tech support calls, migration kits, etc)
Cant tell you for pricing but you can call rim and find out.
The point is that on public site you can download only upgraders(BESX_upgrader 4.1.7 whis alows you to upgrade from BES 4.1.0 to 4.1.7), if you login to your support contract page (https://blackberry.com/besc) there you can get full versions of all bes servers.
Migration kit second SRP and SRP authentication key.
When you request Migration kit RIM provides you with second (permanent ) SRP, old one becomes temporary for 90 days, then you can have all bes servers up and running and use transporter tool to migrate users from one bes server to another on new hardware.
Transporter tool works only for BES 5.0.0 and up

Its up to you.