BES vs Goodlink eval

[GLAJETMAN]

We are using goodlink on a few handhelds to day and are also evaluating the blackberry with enterprise server and exchange 2003. Our test setup is both outlook 2003 & 2007 running in cached mode using only wireless synchronisation (no desktop manager). BES server is configured on windows 2003 with 2gb of ram and 3 test handsets.


So far with the BES setup we have found the following issues and was looking for your experiences out there.

• By default the handheld (8800) is not set to delete on handheld and server needs to be changed on handset
• Outlook changes are not pushed to the handhelds device all the time most occasions within 15 min. In test cases we left it for 1 day and still did not catch up. Can this be adjusted
• In general we find that the unread count on the handheld and outlook get out of sync. Even after waiting for several hours. Is this normal behaviour and we were spoiled with good technology.
• BB seems to be limited to the number of messages that can be synchronised to the device.
• Strange issues with older filing it is not always replicated back to the server.

Thanks in advance

 

[jpaf]

What version of BES have you installed?

Answers to your questions:

• By default the handheld (8800) is not set to delete on handheld and server needs to be changed on handset

- True, this is a user specific setting.

• Outlook changes are not pushed to the handhelds device all the time most occasions within 15 min. In test cases we left it for 1 day and still did not catch up. Can this be adjusted

- Depends on the changes and how busy the BES is at the time. Message flow and calendar take priority, other things like deletions, moves etc take a lower priority and take some time (normally within 15 mins, but if the BES or exchange is being hammered it can take longer). Hard deletes or move message to PST in Outlook do not get sync'ed, but in BES 4.1 Hard Delete Support can be turned on.


• In general we find that the unread count on the handheld and outlook get out of sync. Even after waiting for several hours. Is this normal behaviour and we were spoiled with good technology.

- Could be a number of issues, including the hard delete option not turned on. There is also this know issue:

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/sear...Public&dialogID=44928160&stateId=0 0 20840782

- If for some reason a message's read\unread status has not sync'ed wirelessly, a wired sync can reconcile this. A good white paper on this issue can be found at:

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/sear...iceId=&dialogID=44928181&stateId=0 0 20842000

• BB seems to be limited to the number of messages that can be synchronised to the device.

- Do you mean when a user is activated? If so, the "Prepopulation" of messages on the handheld only goes back a certain period, it will not transfer the whole mailbox to the handheld. All new message will be transferred (depending on filters) after activation. It can be manilupated to a certain degree:

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/sear...Public&dialogID=44922988&stateId=0 0 20840662

• Strange issues with older filing it is not always replicated back to the server.

- Can you expand on this?

Regards
jpaf

 

[GLAJETMAN]

Thanks we are using 4.1.4.12

I have also confirmed that hard delete reconciliation and wireless message rceon has been set to TRUE on the server.

Understand the volume usage and impact to sync however this is a test server with 3 users so i it cant handle 2 users thats a surprise. We have also performed a secure wipe of the devices on several occassions and within 24 hours it is back out again.

Sorry typo on last line of message it was supose to read folder not older.

 

[jpaf]

Then I would recommend performing some basic tests with message moves to folders, deletes, read\unread messages and checking the BES logs to see what's causing the issue. Set the logging level to the highest and you should see what's going on from there.

 

[ste52653]

You have indeed been spoiled using GOOD first. BES has it's issues, one major issue being it's sync rules of 20/20 (20 changes, or 20 minutes, whichever comes first). GOOD has by far a better sync structure, it may be harder on device wireless bandwidth usages but if that's not a concern it does a way better job of keeping up to the server or client copy of the mailbox. Another cool thing with GOOD is it's ability to show flagged messages and moved messages to other folders within the mailbox, something BB is either missing in functionality or has a hard time with respectively.

On the flip side, the BB devices are very reliable and can handle quite a lot of abuse, so it's something you have to decide depending on your users, bandwidth budgets, and backend administration. Good luck!