[dcpuser]

I have currently 2 BES servers each with their own database (retiring has 60 users, new guy 100 users). What i'm planning to do is migrate all of my users from the 60 license to the 100 license (both sides have about 3 or 4 free licenses...). Would the following work?

Create a third database
DBmerge and consolidate the 2 databases for both BES servers to the new guy
Drag and drop users from retiring BES to the other
Shut down the retired BES

?

EDIT: Should also add, these 2 BES servers are running off of 2 different Exchange servers (but are on the same domain) so 2 different besadmin accounts.

[hdawg]

make sure both bes servers are at the same version (and service pack) when you do this.

Yay dbmerge!

make sure you plan a nice 4-6 hour outage for this.

[dcpuser]

Yikes. I was hoping it was 1-2 hours. So the alternative would be to move a few users at a time (and move a license pack as I free up more) and activate them on the new BES, correct?

[hdawg]

depending on how long you've had your bes' up and running (and how fast the server running the dbmerge is) the time could be less. Give it a trial run... take a copy of the database and give it a whirl... that'll give you a realistic timeframe for your environment. My numbers were on 400 users for servers 2.5 yrs old ...

[dcpuser]

I'll probably give it a test run. One other !, even if I do this we are still maintaining 2 exchange servers (same domain) and will have users on both that will be on the BES. Is this possible?

[hdawg]

yes absolutely 100% possible and supported. Just need to make sure BESAdmin has the appropriate permissions ... while it is best to isolate BES users to as few Exchange servers as possible ... 2 servers with 160 users is nothing to worry about.