Switching from AstraSync to BES

[bark8015]

I hope this is the right subforum, since I'm not a BES admin, but I think you guys (and gals) would be the best resource to ask.

I work for a large university, and they recently opened up their BES server to all carriers, instead of just one local carrier with crappy cell service.

We've successfully used BIS to sync email, and some of my users are also using AstraSync for calendar/contact data as well.

Most of my BB users will stay with AstraSync due to the cost difference between BIS and BES-capable services through VZW. However, I have one user that does need to make the switch. What do I need to do to this phone (Pearl 8130 on 4.5.0.77) to ensure a smooth transition? There are no other email accounts sync'd with this device, and corporate email service is already active.

Do I need to manually remove the old email/calendar/contact data before BES activation? Does BES activation give me the option of clearing those items during activation?

I'm sure there are more than a few things I haven't thought of, and I'm looking to get the advice before running into any issues.

[HawkFantastic]

I don't know anything about Astra, but I will do my best to confuse your further :-) If he's got his calendar, contacts, mail, etc. on his device you shouldn't really need to do much. I guess what I would do is this-
Do a backup of his device
Do whatever you need to do to the device to make sure Astra is gone.
Make sure the proper data plan is on the device to support BES.
Do Enterprise Activation.

[bark8015]

I appreciate the reply.

My main concern is duplicating calendar and contact data. I guess the best course of action is to remove AstraSync, then use BB Desktop to clear the calendar/contact data.

One other question. When I activate the BES connection, does the BIS connection automatically get removed or do I need to do that manually?

Thanks again.

[HawkFantastic]

No manual removal of BIS. It's a service and not an installed product on the phone. Proceed this way-
Does the user have access to his PIM/Email information on the client/server side? If yes, he will lose nothing.

What you'll do is make sure the user has the enterprise data plan (BES) on his phone. W/out doing anything the user still has BIS services; you're just paying more money. Once you do Enterprise Activation the user becomes BES instead of BIS. Confused?

[bark8015]

That all makes sense. I'm still leery about how smoothly AstraSync will remove.

I'm pretty sure that the way AstraSync works will require me to manually clear the calendar/contact data prior to activating BES.

Thanks again for your advice. If you like, I can let you know how this goes.

[HawkFantastic]

Please do let us know. I truly believe that if his contacts, etc. are on the client side you'll lose nothing.

[bark8015]

I was out of town last week, and when I returned, the user had already removed AstraSync and activated the BES connection.

She was getting duplicate emails, which was fixed by removing the email redirection via BIS.

Contacts were fine without any changes.

However, she had duplicated calendar entries for everything. And to compound fixing it, it appears AstraSync copies the calendar items to the device calendar, which I cannot clear via Desktop Manager because BES is active.

I have copied her Exchange calendar to a PST, then cleared the items on the Exchange server, which removed the appropriate "desktop calendar" items on the phone via BES, but didn't remove the "device calendar" items. As a result, I am in the middle of removing the items on the device calendar one by one. I even tried reinstalling AstraSync because in its initial setup it asks if you want to clear the device calendar before syncing with the server. Something else that doesn't work once BES is active.

I will be at this for probably another hour, so if you have a better method that doesn't involve wiping the phone and starting over, I'd be happy to hear it. I have about 300 items left to delete.

Thanks for your help in preparing for the move. It looks like the best advice on using AstraSync is "only as a last resort".

[bark8015]

One last follow up that may be helpful to somebody.

When I copied the calendar to a PST file, I dragged the calendar from the mailbox to the PST.

When I dragged the calendar back to the mailbox, it created a sub-calendar under the main calendar. To drag calendar items between calendars, it looks like you're required to be in a grid view of some sort (view week/month, etc.).

WARNING: Recurring appointments cannot be dragged between calendars. The error message says that the first appointment in a recurring series can be copied, but this did not work for me (OL2007/Exchange 2007).

Individual/one-time events can be copied, but there's no easy way to select multiple appointments to drag. Ctrl+click does work, but it's very cumbersome. Recurring appointments need to be recreated manually.

With BES active, backup/restore of the calendar (as well as contacts and mail) cannot be done.

This may not be news to some of you, but hopefully this will help someone else in a similar situation. It may not make the job easier, but there will at least be fewer surprises.