BES How-to

[jbglenn]

Hi I am interested in setting up a BES. The only thing this BES will be doing is handling pgp encrypted emails. What is the best route to go about this and are there any good how-to's to get going?

I understand there's 3 different ways to go. Novell Groupwise, Microsoft Exchange, and Lotus Domino.

Which of the 3 options would be best suited for serving mail only? If I took the exchange route, which version of Exchange would be best suited for serving mail only?

Considering the compatibility layers for BES one could go all the way back to Windows 2000 Server but I'm not completely sure which versions of Server / Exchange / SQL / BES would be best to serve a Mail only BES. I would also like to incorporate PGP or GPG encryption for my emails.

I admin Linux (debian based) servers as well as OS X servers but I don't know much about Windows Serverbut I learn quick.

I also intend to pay for all licenses of required software so something semi-cost effective would be nice, if that's even possible in land of microsoft.

Please help. Thanks BB pros!

[Tiassa]

You can run the Domino server (but not the BES) on Linux. For a few users (less that 30 or so) I'd look at the the Domino Messaging Express licensing, a single per user fee and that's it, you can have as many servers as you'd like (so you could run all the Domino stuff in Linux except for the BES). I'm curious as to where the PGP part fits in, Domino has very good native encryption built in as to BlackBerries, I'm puzzled about the need for the extra level of crypto. Also installing the Domino BES doesn't require any user licenses from MSFT.

[jbglenn]

Thank you for the response Tiassa.

So if I setup the Domino server in linux, how do I setup the BES? It sounds like I would setup the BES on a Windows 2003 server and tell it to connect to the Linux Domino server? I'm considering running 50-150 blackberry's off of said server but strictly email only. The PGP encryption was for the emails to not be read by any other then the intended party, but if Domino supports some type of encryption like that, then that will work just fine. So far this looks like a very good solution because Exchange is a major headache from what I've played with so far. Thank you.

[Tiassa]

OK with 50-100 users, it makes sense to have the BES running on its own server, that could be a W2K3 server and you could run the rest of your environment on Linux. You would have a Linux Domino server (which would be your principal mail server) and a W2K3 box running a 2nd Domino Server and the BES. Properly set up the 2 Domino servers will see one another and route mail seamlessly, and the BES will handle the Blackberry part.

[jbglenn]

Ok I was saying having the BES running on a Windows 2003 box because I can't run it in Linux. Do I really need a second domino running on it as well? or will BES not even setup without a domino on it. If that's the case why run Domino on a linux server at all? Should I just run Windows 2003 w/ Domino + BES ?

[Tiassa]

You need a Domino server running on the same box as the BES, that is how the BES "knows" who the Domino users are. It is up to you obviously, but to me it makes sense that one would want the BES doing nothing else but being a BES, and have your main Domino server running on Linux, since you are a Linux guy.