[roccitman]

[omslaw]

I am installing new hardware for my BES. Currently, it is 3.6 SP2. I will be installing new HW and installing BES 4.0; the Windoze name will be different.

What's the best way to go about this? I was sent the 4.0 software, but no new keys.

Do I just re-use the old keys?

What about the existing users? How do I handle them? How do I get them to the new server?

Sorry about the questions...pretty new to this...


--Omslaw

[arconsulting]

Since you are using the same SRP id, the *MOST* important thing is to make sure the BlackBerry services on both machines are *NOT* running at the same time. If you do this, you will invalidate the SRP and need to call RIM.

What database are you using? MSDE or SQL Server?

Since most BES data is actually stored in Exchange, the upgrade is fairly simple.

[omslaw]

Well, that's where I'm a little confused.

I've been evaluating BES (3.6 SP2) for the last month. Since it was not known at the time whether we would actually get the Blackberrys, the BES was just installed on a PC with the MSDE database. I have the SRP and eval keys...

Now, we've decided to go ahead with the Blackberrys, my vendor has given me a link to download BES 4.0. So, I have BES 4.0 file...but no new keys. Also, since the test BES was on a PC, I now want to install the production BES on a server with it back-ending to my production SQL server.

How do I need to go about that?

Do I shutdown the services on the test box and install new box with old keys? Aren't they eval keys? What about the database? Does that need to be migrated?

Thanks!

--Omslaw

[arconsulting]

Given that you are a) moving boxes, b) upgrading to 4.0, and c) switching from MSDE to SQL, I'd suggest you just:

1 - Turn off the v3.6 server.
2 - Install v4.0 using SQL as your database.

Most of the data for the BES is stored in Exchange.

Regarding your keys, you need to find out what you were given. The eval keys are time limited (120 days?).

[bfrye]

You can migrate a MSDE database to your production SQL server. There's a howto on the MS site somewhere. I used it to migrate and upgrade our 4.0 GW BES to a new server because we were running in a similar situation as you (running BES on a PC to test ,then migrate without affecting users).

Basically, we migrated the database to the new SQL server, then installed BES on our new perm server, then pointed the database to the production SQL server. It was quite simple actually and aside from about an hour's outage, users did not see any noticable effects from the migration.

[omslaw]

Thanks for the tips, guys. It should help me out. I think I will just shutdown the existing 3.6 and install new.

I've got a call into my vendor for clarification on the keys. They originally told me that if I install (upgrade) with the 4.0 that they gave me , that my eval server will be converted to live. I don't understand how, since RIM knows that my key is an eval!