BESx activation email with etp.dat never hits my exchange

[mickey78]

Hey guys. I'm new to BESx. I just finished installing the server, everything went well. I have followed the RIM tuts to do that. Then I create my first user. The system tells me that an email containing etp.dat should be sent from RIM. I check my exchange logs, and the email never hit my server. Do you have any idea why? and what should I look for to get help?

Thanks.

There is no filter whatsoever between me and them. And I can receive from anyone else.

[webmeister]

Originally Posted by mickey78

Hey guys. I'm new to BESx. I just finished installing the server, everything went well. I have followed the RIM tuts to do that. Then I create my first user. The system tells me that an email containing etp.dat should be sent from RIM. I check my exchange logs, and the email never hit my server. Do you have any idea why? and what should I look for to get help?

Thanks.

There is no filter whatsoever between me and them. And I can receive from anyone else.

Hmmm. Wondering if your BESx server is connected to the RIM data centre. Can you check your firewall logs (assuming that the BESx server is behind it) and determine whether you're connected across it to RIM? You should see a connection to TCP port 3101 across your firewall. If you're not connected to RIM, then your BESx, which acts as a broker or intermediary between RIM and your Exchange server, will not queue that message to your user when you activate them. That would explain why you don't see the email message in your email server's logs.

[silly_walk]

The BES has nothing to do with the email arriving from RIM. It only treats the email when it hits a user's box.

Are you reading the text you see on the screen after you create the user's activation password? It's a little unclear why they chose to phrase it the way they did; the email with the ETP only gets sent when you do the Enterprise Activation on the phone. That's when you need to be sure that it's not getting blocked. Did you start the activation process on the phone itself?

[webmeister]

I made a mistake which was pointed out by someone on my ignore list ;-) Credit where credit is due....

The enterprise activation email from RIM's infrastructure is sent to your messaging server (Exchange, in your case). The BESx server monitors this mailbox and retrieves the enterprise activation email immediately in order to continue the activation process.

Link here: BlackBerry - BlackBerry | Enterprise Activation

Similarly, once activated, BESx continues to monitor activated users' mailboxes and will notify RIM's infrastructure when a new email has arrived and push the notification to the BlackBerry through RIM's infrastructure. Since the path is end-to-end encrypted (BESx<---->RIM<------>BlackBerry), users of the same BESx (ie: like a corporation) will enjoy secure transmission of all messages between their BlackBerrys. My BESx sits right on top of my Exchange server, being hosted on the same device, but some other implementations will see the BESx as a separate server.

Anyway, if anyone spots any N00b-ish mistakes in my hopefully not over-simplified explanation, please chime in. Fact remains that if you aren't getting those enterprise activation emails and you aren't seeing them in your logs on your Exchange server, then chances are pretty good that your BESx server isn't communicating properly with RIM's data centre, so RIM sees no reason to send an activation email. Good place to look first.

[silly_walk]

Originally Posted by webmaster

Fact remains that if you aren't getting those enterprise activation emails and you aren't seeing them in your logs on your Exchange server, then chances are pretty good that your BESx server isn't communicating properly with RIM's data centre, so RIM sees no reason to send an activation email. Good place to look first.

Sorry, but no. Any Blackberry on the planet that has the BES plan can try to activate any email address on the planet (barring maybe public mail like Hotmail, Gmail, etc.), and will send the activation email containing the ETP file to whatever address you specified. The activation process on the BES is key here; if it never hits a mailbox that is under the watchful eyes of the BES, the email will sit in whatever mailbox it just tried to activate, and never be treated by the BES that isn't looking for that email anyway.

OP: We still need to know if you've actually completed the Enterprise Activation screen by typing in an email address and the password specified on the BES. This is the only way the email containing the ETP will ever get near your Exchange server.

[webmeister]

Yet again Stupid_walk, in your horny headlong rush to try to prove me wrong, you've missed the central point which is that he's trying to activate on his own Exchange server which is what I'm focusing on. Who cares if RIM's servers will spew out activation emails to any account you specify? If his Exchange server doesn't see the email message then he's got a problem, right (?), whatever that trigger might be. If the RIM data center servers never see the activation request from the BES, it's because there ain't no way to get there from here. Capiche?

You sure you're not the ex IT manager from San Francisco? Maybe a close relation.

I did say I was a N00b at this and I'm trying to help. You can do the same. It's a lot easier to offer negative comment than constructive criticisim. Now stop the Hatfield and McCoy thing and offer some help if you're so smart.

[silly_walk]

Originally Posted by webmaster

Yet again Stupid_walk, in your horny headlong rush to try to prove me wrong, you've missed the central point which is that he's trying to activate on his own Exchange server which is what I'm focusing on. Who cares if RIM's servers will spew out activation emails to any account you specify? If his Exchange server doesn't see the email message then he's got a problem, right (?), whatever that trigger might be. If the RIM data center servers never see the activation request from the BES, it's because there ain't no way to get there from here. Capiche?

Boy, you're touchy.

The point that you've missed, maybe because you're a self-described n00b, is that the OP still hasn't answered whether or not he's actually tried the activation from the BB itself. The web page in the console says that an email will be dispatched with the ETP, while not being clear that this only happens when you try to complete an OTA activation. If in fact he has tried an OTA activation AND his BB is provisioned for BES services, there is nothing on the planet besides a spam filter that will stop the email from RIM, as long as the Exchange server is properly configured and you can already receive mail. If the email is not hitting the Exchange server, if there is no indication that RIM tried to send an email to your server, then they're simply not receiving the request from the BB to begin the activation. This has nothing at all to do with the BES. Nothing. You could have never installed a BES in your organisation and you would still receive the email from RIM if you tried to activate an email address on your Exchange server and the BB was properly provisioned. The BES itself is never a part of the email being sent from RIM. Only after the besadmin picks up the email does the BES come into play.

You've said you're new at this; that's fine. I, however, am not new at this. I support 25 BBs at 2 different companies on 2 different Exchange servers, and before this job I was part of a company that was the outside service for a number of companies with their own Exchange servers and BES installs. This doesn't make me better than you; this makes me more experienced. And my experience is what I am drawing on to try to help the OP. I'm not being negative when I correct what you're saying; you said yourself to do so.

Anyway, if anyone spots any N00b-ish mistakes in my hopefully not over-simplified explanation, please chime in

Stop making this about the fact you're butthurt over your Exchange server thread, and deal with this guy's issue. You said you've ignored me; stick to that. I'll make sure that others don't get the wrong info. They can listen or not. But your tantrums about my posts help no one, and when you keep beating the drum about what you think you know when you're blatantly wrong, you're the one with the problem.

[webmeister]

OP Did you solve your problem and if so, what was it? Curious.

/Eric

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com