etp.dat message
 

Hey folks well i got a tough one here.

I'm running 2 bes's 4.1.4 with exchange 2003. My issue is that when we try to activate device's ota the etp.dat message never shows up. We called microsoft and shut down all of our spam filters. This is what they had to say.

Issue:

BlackBerry activation messages is not receiving by the user mailbox.


Setup Information:

1) Exchange 2003
Service Pack 2
2) Windows 2003
Service Pack 2



Assessment/Recommendations:

1. When the blackberry is activated for the user, the blackberry will send a blackberry activation message to the mailbox. But the message was not delivering to the mailbox, though we tracked the message and it was saying that the message was actually delivered to the store and the user mailbox.
2. Only the blackberry activation message was not receiving by the users except others messages from blackberry.
3. We disabled the blackberry for the user and we bumped up the msexchangetransport diagnostic logging on the server.
4. Now we reactivated the blackberry for the user and again we tracked the message and it was showing that the message was delivered to the mailbox.
5. There is no rules configured in the outlook client, we also checked the deleted items folder, junk folder and we did not found any thing.
6. We found in our internal database that the issue is not with the exchange server but a failing Blackberry device. The reason is that the Activation Message was disappearing from the inbox so quickly is by design. A BlackBerry enabled mailbox is also monitored by the Blackberry services and it was those services pulling the message out of the target recipient's mailbox.
7. If the Blackberry device with a broken encryption engine then the blackberry activation message disappears, this was confirmed from the blackberry team in one of our previous case.


We have tried this with mutiple different devices and still the same result.

Thanks
Cavy

You probably have the wrong data plan provisioned by the wireless carrier.
Call the carrier and verify that you have an ENTERPRISE BlackBerry Data Plan provisioned.
If it's only a BIS / Personal BlackBerry Data Plan, it won't ever activate on a BES.

These are all phones that have been activated on the server before they are provisioned correctly.

Could be a permission issue between the Exchange and BES. Have you verified all permissions on the BesAdmin account?

^^ Agreed.
Run through this KB article and check the permissions on the service account:
BlackBerry Search Results

Permissions seem to be correct this is an issue we just noticed. It was working fine for a long time now all the sudden it just stoped working.

What changed in your environment between when it was working and when it stopped working?
Check the BES logs for that period and see if you can find any indication of what's going wrong.

There's always a reason. Finding it is the tricky part.

The only thing that has changed is our mail scanning goes to trend then to us. We've shut that off and still nothing. I can track the message all the way to the local mailbox store and see that it was delivered but it never shows up in the mail box.

Are you absolutely sure that Trend isn't modifying the message at all?
Even if they're not stripping the attachment, or altering it, are they appending anything to the body of the message, or altering the subject line in any way?

I'm confused about the message tracking too. Are you saying that the message never arrives in the user's mailbox at all... or it arrives and then immediately disappears?

I'm not sure but we has shut all spam filtering off for a couple min and said the email was delivered and it still didn't show up. I guess thats why we need a support contract with rim!!!! ;-)

Double check the filters/rules on the user's mailbox. Maybe the message is being sent to a PST file or some other folder besides the inbox?

I dunno... I think you might need to call RIM on this one. Everything seems to check out unless we're overlooking something completely obvious. (Which is entirely possible.)

I agree.... Thanks for the suggestions.

If what you're saying is true then this can't be an issue for RIM. If you are tracking the etp.dat message and you know it's hitting the Exchange Server but the user never sees it then the BES has no involvement and the device is working fine.

Have you tried activating to a hotmail/yahoo/Gmail account?

See if the message appears there. If so, it's an issue with your environment and you need to contact Trend and/or Microsoft. If not, then contact RIM.

Sounds strange if you can track the message to Exchange but not see it.

I am having the exact same problem suddenly. We're running EX2k7 and windows 2003, but the situation is the same. The message gets delivered to the user's mailbox and is then IMMEDIATELY deleted. If I click Tools, Recover Deleted items, we can see all 12 of the e-mails that came from rim and were delivered and then immediately deleted. Same thing, no server rules, nothing in the environment has changed... I had a problem with this some time ago, only it was with messages from our copier, and I can't remember what I did to fix it. I want to say it was MS's junk filter doing it but I tried that with no luck as well.

The message is supposed to be immediately removed from the mailbox once it's delivered.
That's normal. BES picks up that message from the mailbox and uses it to begin activation.
Are you having trouble with activations?

Yes, suddenly when trying to activate a new phone - the phone will just say Activating... and times out after about 10 minutes with a server not responding, and then retries the operation. All the other blackberries are working just fine. Seems to be a problem activating this new one.

Have you verified that the device is provisioned properly with a BES plan?

Yes, 3 times with 3 different verizon reps - that was my first inclination. After digging around some more, I see that the mailbox does get the message, and it does send out a reply to RIM. The logs are showing a bunch of activity (I can paste if requested) with it saying that it can't get the PIN of the device

My problems doesn't really seem to be a problem i guess i have activated serveral phones with out that email showing up in the in box. I can still track it to the store but it never shows up in the acutal client like it used to. But everything seems to be working fine since this problem we have activated about 10 phones without any problems.