BIS user thinking about upgrade to BES. Questions, questions, questions.

[sta1]

I am the It person at the company that I work at and we currently have two BB users (both on BB8830WE) and we currently are using BIS to syncronize e-mails, however it has come to a point where I am thinking about changing to BES (more options to sync). I'm sick of being attached to the USB cable to sync any other data.

I've played around with BPS and have some likes (no longer have to connect via USB cable).

My question is i'd like to take the next step so that I can get the full effects of BES for both myself and also the person who own's the company (he has complained excessively since I switched him over from his Motorola Q about the inability to have everything just sync with his Outlook folder), so anyways my question is what version of BES do I need to get to allow just the two BB users in the company to be able to wirelessly sync all of the Outlook data?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[syl1985]

BlackBerry Professional is the way to go You can go to the the BlackBerry site and download it for free + 1 CAL, the second user will require a $99 license once off.

Everything syncs just like BES you only miss a few things which you don't need (such as user groups and so).

If you're running SBS, do not install the BB Pro on the SBS!

Run up an XP machine or even better a Vanilla Server 2003 machine and install it there and once you're up you wont look back, it just works and it doesn't require a fast machine at all

[syl1985]

By the by, I can't believe you survived on BIS, I used it this week as we're changing our network here and it darn ear killed me, so erratic and bereft of features!

[sta1]

Originally Posted by syl1985

BlackBerry Professional is the way to go You can go to the the BlackBerry site and download it for free + 1 CAL, the second user will require a $99 license once off.

Everything syncs just like BES you only miss a few things which you don't need (such as user groups and so).

If you're running SBS, do not install the BB Pro on the SBS!

Run up an XP machine or even better a Vanilla Server 2003 machine and install it there and once you're up you wont look back, it just works and it doesn't require a fast machine at all

I currently have BPS installed on our main Server which also is the Exchange Server. The main server is running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server. When I installed BPS on this server I ran into some issues with the device PIN that came up after installing and had to call for support, they didn't tell me that I shouldn't have installed on the WS2003 for SBS which is also where Exchange lives.........

I already have noticed that any e-mail delivered to BB with any sort of HTML/links displays odd. Used to display the same on BB as Outlook using BIS versus BPS.

[sta1]

Originally Posted by syl1985

By the by, I can't believe you survived on BIS, I used it this week as we're changing our network here and it darn ear killed me, so erratic and bereft of features!

I have survived on BIS for over 2 years untill I migrated to BPS last week. I have also noticed that on my BB I now have alot of issues connecting to th Internet. I use the BB browser and have swapped from the VZW home page to the BB home page and haven't been able to rectify issue. Doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason as to why it works sometime and not others......

[syl1985]

Originally Posted by sta1

I already have noticed that any e-mail delivered to BB with any sort of HTML/links displays odd. Used to display the same on BB as Outlook using BIS versus BPS.

That's right, it removes the HTML just like gmail does, I actually prefer it.

I have survived on BIS for over 2 years untill I migrated to BPS last week. I have also noticed that on my BB I now have alot of issues connecting to th Internet. I use the BB browser and have swapped from the VZW home page to the BB home page and haven't been able to rectify issue. Doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason as to why it works sometime and not others......

Got any error logs? It will bve a problem with the MDS service as your BlackBerry will now be browsing via your BES.

Post any you have and we'll see what we can do.

[sta1]

Originally Posted by syl1985

That's right, it removes the HTML just like gmail does, I actually prefer it.



Got any error logs? It will bve a problem with the MDS service as your BlackBerry will now be browsing via your BES.

Post any you have and we'll see what we can do.

I don't have the Blackberry MDS Connection Service running on the BPS server. I was told that I don't have to have this service running as I am not going to be "pushing" applications out to the BB's...

Is this the reason that my internet service connection is so inconsistent?

[syl1985]

Well if it was working fine on BIS then it is going to be intermittent connection issues with the BES as it sends info through there, anything in the logs?

[sniffs]

There's 2 MDS services. The Connection Service, which is absolutely REQUIRED to browse the web.. and the MDS Integration service. The Integration service is for pushing out apps, such as Citrix, etc..

If you don't have the MDS Connection service running, you will not be able to browse the web.. it's as simple as that.

The reason it works sometimes is because if you load up the VZ Home page, you're then connecting through WAP which will then allow you to browse. If you open the Browser and immediately go to another page, it wont work.

The BES acts as a proxy for ANY/ALL data going in/out of the Blackberry.. the only way to get around this is to use the Hotspot browser(device must have WIFI to see this browser), or configure your apps to connect via WAP/BIS (which might not be an option).

So, basically, you need MDS connection service running to browse the web on the device. If you have a content filter, such as Websense, your web pages will be blocked also.

The data going in/out of your Blackberry is being authed by your BESadmin account.. give it full Websense priveledges and you wont get a block.

buuuuuuuuut, since your a 2 man crew, I doubt you have Websense.. =)

[cipriani14]

i thought i had read somewhere that BPS was going to be discontinued?

[michaelbsc]

Originally Posted by sniffs

There's 2 MDS services. The Connection Service, which is absolutely REQUIRED to browse the web.. and the MDS Integration service. The Integration service is for pushing out apps, such as Citrix, etc..

I'm interested in the Citrix comment, as well as the BPS.

First, I have a 'regular' job that issued me a BB for company use. We use the daylights out of them, probably 3K users, and the admins handle everything with BES. We're currently trying to find a Citrix client for the BB, either the 8830, or better yet the 9530, but the client with some discussion in the forums last year seems to have been pulled from the market. I cannot find it anywhere. We have one app in particular that would work well on a mobil in a Citrix session, and in fact does so on an i-Phone. but the i-Phone is not the company standard. The BB is the company standard.

Second, I have a sideline that has two BlackBerry 9530s that use Verizon and BIS. I wuld really like to get a few managament tools to make that sode of life easier to keep straight. How well does the BPS really work? Can I roll the email over to Exchange and keep it sync'd with the calendar, contacts, and everyting like the BES? Would the same work if I kept the email on either gmail as a domain or with Yahoo mail? I 'could' set up my own smtp/imap server again, but I was glad to unload that when google started offer to host email for domains. What's the best solution? Is BPS coning to continue, or be discontinued?

Inquiring minds want to know.

MB

[sniffs]

Check out rovemobile.com

They have a Mobile Citrix client.