WANTED! An Unbiased opinion Of Blackberry's and BES svr

[edzy55]

Hi all

Basically, just wanted to hear some people's thought's on the above without getting the sale's spiel etc.

Some info about us!
We currently have est 500 user's. 3 x NT Domain's all linked via fast leaseline's etc. Each domain has a 5.5 exchange box which all talk together and send email via a bridgehead svr. Were worried about any network degradation etc we may find from installing a bes svr for say 50 of the user's to the network?
And any other negative's that we may find if we install it?

Any help advice would be great.

Thanks in advance

EDzy55

 

[edzy55]

Also, if anyone can answer these question's also.

What benchmark on the svr side would you recommend we get, Windows 2000 member svr etc? CPU/RAM/storage etc?

Doe's the BES svr need to be backed up?

Thanks in advance.

 

[greenW]

We have 65 users here connected to a corporate BES and bridged to an Exchange 2000 server in an AD environment.

I stated in another thread yesterday:

"We use a Win2000 SP4 Server (HP Proliant) with a 3Ghz Xeon CPU (board allows dual CPU config, just in case we ever require it), 2Gb RAM and 30Gb hard drive (mirrored).

The retailer who supplied the BES software stated that our 60-100 users would be serviced more than adequately with this machine. This phone company was using 'lesser' hardware to adequately service its own corporate clients which numbered in the hundreds."

Users are connected through 4 different cell phone service providers.

Since the messages sent back and forth from Exchange to BES to BlackBerry unit measure only a fwe kilobytes, no degradation in quality has been seen on the network. Even when attached files are requested, the bulk of the traffic occurs between Exchange and BES.

Our network is comprised of LAN extensions to 4 cities from one end of Canada to the other.

As for backup, even though it is not mandatory per se, we have a complete backup taken thru our server farm, so the BES wassimply added to that. There is not a whole lot to backup on the BES itself, if the AD and Exchange are already scheduled to be backed up.

HTH

 

[TheStressFactor]

I have a pretty simple network.

4 sites...one domain. Bridgehead, mailbox server.

Then my bes server.

I am closing in on 45 Blackberry USers and it has been running fine. Version 3.6 sp3 of BES is solid in my opinion nad if done correctly from the get-go BB administration is not so bad once you learn the in's and out.

As far as cpu and stuff for my bes I run it on a compaq ml370 Generation 1 with a gig of ram and a single 733 PIII proc so nothing to fancy at all.

I make sure my Blackberry Database is backed up every night from my SQL sever. This is the most important piece of data you will need IMO. I also make images of all my servers at the end of every Quarter.

 

[Zelandakh]

You'll need to have Windows 2000 Server as a minimum.

Other than that, it is a great product. I'm running just a Dual P3 550 with 1GB RAM. Runs like a dream. Good Internet connection and the right phone company make more difference.

<signature for rent>

 

[stevenyc]

Do yourself a favor and look at Goodlink instead. Their software was doing stuff two years ago that Blackberry still can't do. Most importantly, administration is way easier. My company just switched back to RIM after using Good, and everyone's miserable. Good blows RIM away.

 

[SuperCorey]

The thing to keep in mind is that you are going to have 1 BES server, which will maintain a MAPI connection for each user, and poll the mapi connection every 5 seconds or so... you have to watch the traffic on you site links.

Other than that if your dealer is like me, I will give clients a 5 user good server with 5 treos for 2 weeks and then give a 5 user bes server for 2 weeks and let the customer have a rip at each.

Other than a BESadmin and Goodadmin account they are non invasive to your network.

So far I have dozens of BES sells, and 2 Good sells... and if you are thinking about corporate intranet access... look at the pricing of GoodAccess before you make a commitment.

 

[stevenriz]

As I read Windows 2000 server as a minimum, I take it an NT 4.0 system is out of the question. Assuming this, our setup is as follows...

Email server: NT 4.0 SP6a with Exch 5.5 SP4
Other general server: Windows 2000 Server

Can I load the BES onto the Windows 2k Server and have it attach itself or do whatever it does on the NT 4.0 Exchange server?