OTA Activation not working with BES 4.0
 

We're running a BES 4.0 server with GroupWise. I manage the server. In the past, I've connected new BB handsets via usb to the BES server to activate them, and then they work.

I installed the Zen theme tonight and I am trying to do the OTA activation, but it is not working. I have access to the BES server, and I set my activation password to 'something' and then went to my BB and typed in my work email address and the same 'something' as the password, but it will not activate.

I also tried to have the BES server send out the activation password, but I never got the email.

Is there something that needs to be done on the BES server to enable OTA activation?

Please help if you can.

Thanks,
Rob

Other than setting your activation password nothing special needs to be done for OTA activation. However, i would check your spam filter. This seems to be the biggest pain for our users during wireless activation. We've since allowed global rules for all the activation messages to go through to avoid this step.

Here's a highligh of what happens when you request an OTA activation.
- Your bb sends a message to rim's noc that you want to activate OTA
- rim sends an e-mail to the user that's attempting activation (read: don't mistype your email address)
- your bes is monitoring each user's mailbox, so if when it detects the message it will start the activation proccess (assuming the act pw is valid)
- activation begins

So if your email system does not get the activation email for whatever reason (incorrect email address, spam filter stopping it, delays to to mail server problems) you will have difficulty wirelessly activating.

So, in theory, I should see an activation email in my inbox?

This information is helpful. I will check the spam filters to see what it up.

Thanks,
Rob

Just to add to wakko's response, we had a similar issue with one of our devices and the problem ended up being that the user had a server side rule that automatically directed emails out of the root inbox folder into a subfolder. While you are checking all of the things wakko listed, you might want to also double check that there are no server side rules that would move the email from RIM out of the root inbox folder.

It was the spam filter. Now that I have forwarded the messages, a new issue has come up. After a second or two the BB shows this error: "An error occurred. Please contact your System Administrator".

I can do it tomorrow via USB, but getting this to work over the air would be a great benefit.

Rob

I would check the bes log with MAGT in the file name. Look for OTAKEYGEN and the lines surrounding it. A typcial activation would say something like OTAKEYGEN key_accepted. but in failure cases you can see aborted or incorrect password messages.

Here is a snipit from the log. There is an 'abort_transaction' in there. What could be causing this?

Thanks,
Rob



[40000] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xCE0} {Robert Rosen} ParseWorkQueueItem() EntryId=453920, WorkId=100, eventType=6, messageType=0, SRPTag=5442
[40435] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xCE0} {Robert Rosen} Queuing new mail through notification. EntryId=25076. Msgs Pending 0
[40282] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xCE8} {Robert Rosen} Queuing DATA from , Tag=1844359724, EntryId=25076
[40700] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xCF8} {Robert Rosen} Receiving packet from device, size=77, TransactionId=-662303359, Tag=1844359724, content type=OTAKEYGEN, cmd=0x3
[40000] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xCF8} *** OTAKEYGEN *** receiving ABORT_TRANSACTION, transID = 1432736257
[40279] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xCF8} {Robert Rosen} SubmitToRelaySendQ, Tag=1844359724
[40000] (04/23 17:29:36):{0xC48} [BIPP] Send status DATA_ACCEPTED, Tag=1844359724

Hi,

did you try to reset the activation pw?
maybe it has expired in the meantime

that helps often on our side

cheers
herbert

After a failed OTA EA (Enterprise Activation), it doesn't hurt to do a wipe on the device, remove the user from BES, add the user back to BES, and re-initiate the OTA EA. I had to do this today to get one to work...

If it's new device/activation it definitely doesn't hurt to wipe it out, but we usually have some people needing to re-activate for one reason or another.
Personally, I try to avod a full wipe on the device since we have users wanting to keep historical/personal information on their bb's, I do however recommend deleting the the Desktop[*] service books before re-activating

It doesn't look like an activation password expiration since it should give an invalid password error or something similar. But it definitely won't hurt to reset it to something different.

It also may be worth a shot to restart the bb controller.

If all fails - just hook it up to your Server via USB and you will have it working in just a few minutes.

As the one person said above, make sure you update the password so it has not expired before attempting this.

I hope this helps!

With GroupWise, I would also suggest to clear out any Activation emails that are in the mailbox and/or the trash folder to make sure that the BES isn't picking those up instead.

May also want to give the BlackBerry Policy Service a restart.

Zro