BES Licensing Thread
 

There does seem to be the odd bit of confusion now and again to do with how BES licensing is designed, so I have created this thread to clarify how it works - which hopefully should help out with some peoples questions. Please post if you believe I have missed something off that should be covered and I'll add it to the first post. If this thread proves useful I may stickie it.


BES license components

Your BES server will contain three separate 'keys' at point of installation:

• SRP
• SRP Authentication Key
• CAL (Client Access License)

These will always remain unchanged, although you may add additional CAL's as you require additional users on the BES server.


BES Versions

There are five separate versions of BES:

Enterprise Edition

The Enterprise Edition of BES ships with a 20 user CAL and has no legal license limit. You will find there are guidelines as to the best practices on having high levels of users and of course you will be limited by the hardware specifications of your BES server computer.

SBE (Small Business Edition)

The SBE version ships with a 5 user CAL and can be expanded up to a maximum of 15 users through the addition of extra CAL's.

Express Edition

The Express Edition of BES is a free download from the BlackBerry website. This versions ships with a 1 user CAL. BES Express is basically identical to the SBE Edition as it can only be expanded to a maximum 15 user threshold.

BlackBerry Professional Software

BPS is intended to be the replacement platform for Express Edition. It is (currently) a free download from the BlackBerry website and you get a copy of the software, a licence and a one user CAL all free. BPS is graphically slightly different in terms of the UI from the other versions of BES. Most tasks are wizard based, making it simple for admins who are not familiar with the BlackBerry server platform. One of the key advantages of BPS is that it's the first version of BES which offers full RIM support when installed on the same server as Exchange or Lotus Domino (there is currently no version for GroupWise mail environments). This is a big cost saving in hardware and Windows licencing. The downsides with this are that some companies will have strict guidelines on running several mission critical applications on the same server, and secondly, BPS does not have a full BES feature set. To elaborate on this final point - users have full email and PIM reconciliation as you would get with a normal BES, but there is no MDS (Studio, not Service) which means it's not possible to build custom applications, but existing java apps can be pushed through the BPS software.

BPS can take a maximum user threshold of 30 users, and Small Business CAL's are the ones you should purchase if you need additional users.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications

The MDS Applications version of BES is a version of the server which has no wireless email facility. While this may sound odd, it is designed for organisations who do not require wireless email but do require the ability to access applications remotely from a low cost handheld device.

Note: There is no difference in the feature set, functionality or GUI of the BES editions with the exception of 'BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications' as this has no wireless email features


BES Update Key

BES Update Keys were designed for companies who purchased SBE Edition BlackBerry servers. One of the problems with BlackBerry adoption is that some companies believe they will only have a small device fleet (usually high level management) and it's not until after implementation that they realise they need to expand beyond the user base they predicted during their planning. Originally to overcome the 15 user hurdle companies would have to re-invest in the solution from scratch, casting aside any additional CAL's and purcasing a new Enterprise Edition BES which of course proved costly.

With this in mind RIM introduced the BES Update Key. This is effectively just a 5 user CAL, but when entered in to your BES License Manager it alters your BES version from SBE to Enterprise. Therefore, if you have a 15 user BES which is at its license threshold and you add a BES Update Key, you will now have a 20 user Enterprise Edition BES.

The update key is not a cheap option and will cost significantly more than a standard 5 user CAL, but it is still a cheaper option than discarding any SBE Edition BES you may already have in place and purchasing a new Enterprise Edition.


Purchasing CAL's

Purchasing the right type of CAL's can be confusing as they are not all the same and come in a variety of denominations. CAL's can be purchased in the following numbers, but availbility depends on your supplier:

• 5 user
• 10 user
• 50 user
• 100 user
• 500 user
• 1000 user

You must also purchase the correct type of CAL. If you have an SBE or Express Edition BES you will need SBE CAL's, and if you have an Enterprise Edtion BES you will of course need Enterprise CAL's - there should be a minimal difference in the cost of a (for example) 5 user SBE CAL and a 5 user Enterprise CAL (if at all).

Remember, if you had an SBE BES and have installed an Update Key you will now need to purchase Enterprise Edition CAL's.


Managing CAL's

If you have multiple BES servers in place and want to move licenses around for any reason this is possible. How you remove a license depends on your BES server version number, but in versions 4.0 and above you can simpley right-click the license in the License Manager and 'remove' or 'clear'. You can then add that license to another BES server. The key message to take from this is that a CAL, once entered, is not tied to your SRP in any way and can be moved in the futue if required.


I hope this helps!

BBAdmin

I hate licensing; but I love this thread!

- BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications is the fourth version of BES.

- Helpful Hint: When adding a new CAL, simply copy the entire 5x6 CAL from email, document, etc. and paste it into the first field. It will populate at the appropriate break points.

Cheers for this bud, updates made to the first post!

Possibly worth noting, although completely unverified, RIM may be doing some sort of CAL management and 'call-home' verification. I was told they have the ability to expire CALs (I'll report back at a later date on this), as well. Considering the SRP connection is completely encrypted, you can't really sniff packets to see what's happening on port 3101, so a 'call-home' feature is very much a reality that may or may not be happening behind the scenes.

Regardless, it's something to be open to thinking about. While the general perception of CALs is that they aren't tied to an SRP or they can be re-used multiple times without RIM knowing, this may not be the case. I'm assuming if a 'call-home' feature is enabled with their CALs, then the SRP it's attached to (at that time) can be tracked as well.

Paranoid food for thought. :)

CALs expire; oh boy do they expire ... sucks when you've got 10 of them that all expire on the same day and 20 servers give you really dumb looks.

I still don't get why RIM doesn't do CAL lock-outs much the same as they do SRP lock-outs. ... same goes for the lack of enforcement everywhere with the hard CAL model.

One thing is certain, RIM have a very poor system for managing licensing. Their excuse to me has always been that they don't want licensing to be a barrier to deployment (hence the introduction of BES Express and the demise of SBE) but that's a poor excuse as far as I'm concerned. I wish they would tighten up this side of things.

My favorite is getting the question:

So, what happens when we go over our license limit?

... and the response is always:

You'd be running in an unsupported configuration and we would make a best effort to assist you, however if we needed to escalate to RIM for assistance they would most likely request log files, which would show a lack of licenses in your environment.

the retort: Yeah, but will it still work?

and the comeback: unfortunately, generally yes.

Its a bit difficult to keep people in line with their licensing if the seller of the licensing doesn't attempt to enforce it. Oh look, here's a CAL, let me put it in every BlackBerry Domain I have ... I just got free licenses; OY!

It does my head in no end - not from a cash perspective because we're a service provider and we only care about the airtime and as a result we sell CAL's to our clients at cost price. It does wind me up though that RIM don't keep it tight and it does annoy me that people can add a bit over the licence limit.

...atleast they're not Microsoft :)

Their licensing model makes life easy for me.

"You'll need to contact a Microsoft Rep. to find that out. I'm not qualified to discuss Microsoft licensing as it varies from organization to organization"

Lol!

Cal licensing- oversubscription
 

Is there a rule of thumb of the percentage of cal licenses to actual users you can overscribe before it affects server operation

no; I'd recommend sticking to a plan of having more or the same number of CALs as users.

Express Edition
 

Hold, the phone...Express edition is free!!! My RIMM rep made it sound as if it was a purchase item (he is a weasel anyways). I run 2 BES servers with only 120+ users, yes this is one of my secondary tasks. What I need is a test environment. It looks like Express will allow me this luxury...How will the DMZ Router react with a second BES server?

BES Express is free and you can have up to 15 users (I think) on it. It would make a perfect test environment.

It only comes with 10 licences, the other 5 you have to pay for. :cry: ANd it seems they call it Small Business or Express depending where you look.

OK, nobody seems to be reading the top post!!!!

There is no difference between Small Business and Express - the only difference is that Small Business ships with a 5 user CAL and Express ships with a 1 user CAL. Both can be updated to a maximum of 15 users.

My bad, sorry for that. My Small Business came with 10 CALs. Was i just lucky?

I would say so, although it sounds like you actually got a 10 user Enterprise!

Any way i can check?

Edit

Just checked and the Licence Management shows SBE Licence Type

I am currently migrating users from one bes to another and I am using the same cals on both servers.

no issues so far

Hi,

We have BES with 24 CALs in my company and we are going to implement the SMIME in the blackbbery's.

The SMIME CAL's are very expensive, the price is the doble of normal CALs.

Is there an upgrade from normal BES CAL to SMIME CAL's?

For example
One BlackBerry Enterprise Server S/MIME CAL: 199 USD

Not that I know of ... You're best of contacting your reseller or RIM directly to see if they'll work out a nice deal with you.

Not a clue on that one I'm afraid!

Raises a couple of questions in this noob's mind:
Why would I chose it over BIS for a 1 user scenario, any benefits?
Also can it run on any server, like my Linux box, or does it need something specific?

You'd use this as it'll give you full sync of email and PIM data ... it does however add another component to your server architecture, so its a bit more complex.

It needs to run in a windows server environment ... people have gotten away with running BES on an XP machine, but it isn't supported.

The difference between BIS and BES is night and day with BES being the better product. BES only runs on the Windows platform.

Can anyone please answer the following question?
How many SBS CALs are required to implement by BES which came with 20 CALs I currently would have 11 Blackberry users and only 8 SBS users.
Thanks in advance to all for their efforts here.

SkyPilot

Not sure I understand the question. Could you attempt to clarify it?

SBS is limited to 20 users. You need an Upgrade/Unlock CAL to get any higher than that.

If a BES came with a 20 user CAL, then it is not SBS and has no cap.

I am asking if I need 20 SBS cal to match the 2o bes cals I have
I am hoping to not have to purchase more SBS cals than I require as I will max out at 10 actual users but maybe 30 BB uisers in the end
Hope that clarifies it somewhat

SkyPilot

Its still not clear ... are you asking how many Microsoft SBS CALs are required?

If so, you should contact your reseller, or Microsoft licensing rep to discuss your plan.

BES small business CALs cap out at 20.

If you know you are going over 20 then you should purchase the upgrade CAL to remove the cap. Recommend doing it before you move past 15 CALs.

I guess I need to contact microsoft
What I am asking if I need a Microsoft SBS CAL for every BES user
And also does BES itself use up a SBS CAL

SkyPilot

You should contact Microsoft. Anyone posting here that doesn't work for Microsoft's licensing department will most likely give you incomplete or incorrect information. MS has too many licensing methods for the same product for most people to bother to properly understand them ... every time I've spoken about licensing I've regretted it.

Updated the first post today with the addition of BlackBerry Professional Software. Sorry for the delay, all up to date now!!!

Thanks
I am off to the badlands will post what they tell me

SkyPilot

You don't need any Microsoft licensing to support users on Research In Motion software. :smile:

Besides, any user you add to the BES is already a user in the Windows environment.

If MS tries to pass of licensing for BES users, they are conning you.

New BES Admin here.

My company doesn't want me to be in contact with our Verizon Rep who handled the RIM licensing. I received a link to the Blackberry Enterprise Server 4.1 Mid Market Bundle for Exchange - 11 User.

I know I'll be going over 20 in the next few months. My question is, do I have SBS or Enterprise? I'm not exactly sure how this licensing works. How would I establish a contact at RIM? Just call them up and ask?

Regards,

Eddie

Which version of BES do you have (4.0 or 4.1)? I forget what the license screen for 4.0 looks like, but for 4.1 if you launch the BES Manager and go to BlackBerry Domain > Global Tab > Account (under tasks) > License Management you should see the License Type.

When in doubt T-Support will be able to tell you exactly what you have.

I have version 4.1. I did look there, and there it is! Thanks for the help. Looks like everything is running smooth now. (y)

New Bes Admin here
 

So we have Enterprise edition 4.0 with 40 cal (1-20 and 2-10 CALs)

I just read this thread about the free BlackBerry Professional Software 4.1 for Microsoft Exchange and am now downloading it.

Can this be installed on the same on the same server as the enterprise edition?

BTW, we are planning to upgrade the 4.0 to 4.1 (eventually 4.2) in the next 30 days.
Thanks in advance.

I don't think you can have two different versions of BES installed on the same server.
Also, there is no BES 4.2. 4.1.x is the latest.

LOL, I think I knew that.

So What are my options because I need to test 4.1 before converting our server. And putting my blackberry on the latest and greatest sounded like a good idea!

If you have TSupport you can call RIM and ask for a trial SRP and CALs.

You don't need TSupport, you just need BBAdmin!!!! See below:

BlackBerry

No. You got the BlackBerry Professional Software, which comes with 10 licenses by default and you can go upto 30 users. Upgrading to Enterprise Edition can be done by installing a "service pack" which is free of cost.

Just to avoid confusion this is entirely incorrect. BPS ships with 1 not 10 users, and if you want to update it to Enterprise Edition you'll need to purchase a "BES update key" which is basically a special 5 user CAL that alters all your existing CAL's from SBE to Enterprise Edition.

License discrepancy
 

I was just going thru my licensing when I noticed that 240 licenses were used yet I only have 231 users in the BES. I have a total of 301 licenses to use.

Is Rim using the 'New Math' when figuring out the licensing? lol..

Thanks

Mike :smile:

Maybe something sketchy in your DB

Cannot remove last license
 

Hello ALL:
I have BES for Exchange ver 4.1 that I installed on a fresh server and migrated the data over onto early last year. I had a problem with the license keys were a few gave me a "incompatible with the current keys" tye error. RIM helped me(for free) by informing me that my licenses needed to be installed in a specific order because we origianlly started off with the SBE version and then upgraded via the unlock license/CAL. Well, I just got around trying to do this and it will not allow me to remove the last key. The option to remove is grayed out when I highlight the key. Miraculously this time when I contacted RIM they were not as polite and were quick to point out that I do not have TSupport. If anyone has seen this before please help me out. By the way the last key is a newer key since I can't install any of the old SBE ones, incase you were wondering.

-Joel

Just checked mine is most definitely a Small Business Edition with 10 cals. Think it was a case of RIM doing a "promotional" download for Domino. If I remember correctly they called it a "Quick Start Edition" and was on a time limited offer, the offer expired 31 Dec 2007. Glad i downloaded it when i did.

Do you need seperate BES license for Router in DMZ?
 

Hi,

We would like to put our BES router into DMZ.

My question is do you need a seperate server license for the BES router?

Is it possible to add a single license to an already existing BES Express with 1 (free) license?

thanks
d

No.

Yes, but it depends on what type of licence you're adding.

To add another BES exchange user?

BES Migration from Notes to Exchange licensing
 

My main question is if and how long can the two seperate BES servers "share" licenses? With the plan being to move the licenses when the migration is finished. I heard it is possible to "share" and it would work for 60 days. Any truth to that?

Thanks,
awandkk

What kind of licenses? SRPs? CALs?

CALs. That brings up another question. We have 130 licenses. The original ten licenses have a key that starts with bescal, the rest start with besx35. I did not put up this server and do not know it's history. Is this because it was upgraded to an Enterprise server? Sorry if it is a noob question.

-0- days if you intend on staying in compliance with your license agreement.

RIM changed how they named their licenses from BESX35 to just BESCAL; thats all.

What is the compliant process to migrate to a new BES server on a different platform.

My reasoning for the temporary use of licenses on multiple servers was relying on the fact that all the users will be migrated or removed from the Notes BES and I will move the licenses over to the Exchange BES. In essence removing the Notes BES within a couple months.

I have a feeling that if we were "required" to purchase more licenses for a migration, BES would be phased out instead. Money would be spent on new "Mobile" devices.
Thoughts?

Contact your carrier / RIM representative. They are the only people that can give you the legal information you require.

Could someone explain to me what I can add on a BlackBerry Professional Software Express?

You get one free licence with the download from the RIM site. This should be a BPSX licence as Vodafone told me. Which change to a SBE or BES Licence at the moment you add another CAL.

Can I add SBE and BES CALs on a BPSX at the same time?
Can I add a BES CAL without any problems?
Does the SBE CALs change to Full BES CALs when doing an upgrade?

Hope that someone can make this clear to me... I can't find information about this on the Internet and the mobile provider isn't sure about their answers.

OK, you get one free with the SRP, and space for more.

You can only add 1 user and 5 user CAL's to BPSX.

If you purchase an update key, all your CAL's will change to full enterprise edition.

Adding CAL's is simple, you do it through your license manager and don't have to reboot or restart services.

Will it tell me that the key is invalid at the moment I try to add a full bes licence? I heard some different stories and I don't know which one is true.

If you try to add an invalid license it will tell you when you attempt to enter it.

I understand that. The problem is that I don't add the CALs myself but it is the customer who will try it. I don't want customer try things I should try myself. Is there someone who tried to add a full CAL to a BPSX

Thank you for your quick responses, hdawg. I will contact RIM and post what I find out.

Quick question for some of you BES admins. If a user has 'pending messages' sitting on the server; how can you push those messages to their BB device?

You can't. The device is probably switched off or experiencing a network issue. One it regains this it should filter the messages through.

This isn't really the right thread to be covering this problem, so if you still experience issues later I suggest you start a new thread in the BESAdmin subforum.

RIM also now has the option to obtain an enterprise site license. What this means is that they give you a CAL key that can be placed on each instance of bes server you have that unlocks your CAL manager. You then take screen shots of your CAL manager on a fiscal basis and true up license if you need to. We have just currently moved to the Enterprise Site license since we were growing at about 130 users per month. The only stipulation is that you must have already purchased 1000 cal from them and be on 4.1.2 or greater. The purchase includeds an additional SRP instance as well

Is anyone currently using this model? We use this in our hosted environments where we have 10,000 user CALs ... but it isn't unlimited. We have several customers that could benefit from this.

Any public information posted on this?

I am planning on bringing up a second BES for disaster recovery in VM. Since I will have a second server available, I am also planning on using it for load balancing, if I've got it I might as well use it. My question is... Can I have two BES sharing one license file dynamically? Or to rephrase... Can I manage all the same licenses from BOTH BES in one place? I have enterprise BES with seperate SQL DB, about 500 users. BES is working great at the moment, load balancing not probalby necessary but what the heck.

What version of BES are you using?

By license to you mean SRP or CAL? You need an SRP for each active server connected to RIMs NOC. CALs can be shared in a common configuration database.

Running Enterprise Edition ver 4.1.4.26. The question was in reference to CAL's. You've answered my question though. Thanks! That will make things a lot easier. Since I've already got a SQL DB running, is there anything I need to do to get the CAL's shared or is that just by default?

You just need to make sure when you add any additional BES it connects to that database; it'll see the licenses and use them. (y)

FYI: I thought this might be a useful link - - I had an issue where I entered SBE licenses during a migration and wanted to use Enterprise licenses instead on the new server:

http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...licensing.html

i.e. - you don't need the expensive update key to use your enterprise CALs - just so that you remove the SBE CALs in order for it to work.

I think we're buying them. Where can I read more about this?

Buying what?

Licensing Question
 

We are currently running one BES 4.1.4 server with about 200 users talking to 2 different exchange servers we are now looking at implementing a second BES server local to the second exchange server rather than across the WAN.

Each server will have its own local database.
I want to be able to remove the CAL's from the first server and add them to the second server as we migrate some of the users across. Do we need to buy another license for the second BES?

you can get another SRP cal, not sure of cost.

user cals should be removeable and transferable.

Oops I'm embarrased :o
 

OK, I'm old enough and wise enough to RTFM, or at least I thought I was ...

I installed the 'Professional' version, and didn't get around to opening ports etc, so when it didn't work, I thought, I know what I'll do, I'll delete the user, and start over. That was it, any susbequent attempts tell me that I've no licenses left to add users ...

I've reinstalled, it's recreated the database, so I'm guessing that the licensing information is in the registry. Is there a safe way to delete the registry keys, or better again, a way to recover the deleted user?

Best Regards
--Paul

See this thread, towards the bottom:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...r-license.html

When i downloaded the BES trial edition from Blackberry site, in the important info it gave me following:
"Trial - BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 for Microsoft Exchange - 20 Users"
Does that mean Blackberry is offering BES enterprise edition for 60 days trial?
I have installed the trial edition, so how can i check if the BES enterprise edition or the express edition?
EDIT

I have downloaded the server from this link :
BlackBerry - BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange

It is the full version for a trial.

I'm trying to figure out an issue with a BES I took over a couple months ago. I was told when I took over, that we should have 10 licenses and I always assumed we did. We've been running with only 6 users for a few months now and I was going to add 4 more people on. However, when I go to add them it says I'm out of licenses. When I pull up the Licensing manager I get this:

License Type: Small Business Edition (should ship with 10 licenses, right?)
License Total: 6
Used: 6
Free: 0

So my questions are, 1) How do I have a SBE BES with only 6 licenses, I thought RIM did all the CAL licenses in 5's and 2) Is it possible that in the process of adding/removing people the database got screwed up somehow?

Thanks in advance.

Anyone?

You have a pack of 5 Cal's and your SRP gives you 1. This would be 6 total

Thanks

Eddie,

Our Verizon Rep had NO IDEA about BES licensing... but then if you dig deep into the RIM support documentation.

You can only purchase it through "your reseller/support person" ... Tred cautiously but I think you're going into the "Black Sand of Resellers" ...

Good luck!

JLH

Rim's number
 

1-877-255-2377

We are currently running BES 3.63 with 10 CALS. I need to buy 5 additional CALS.

As the current BES version is 4.1 if I buy new CALS will they be compatible with my old version or will I have to go through the pain of upgrading to 4.1?

Just got my Upgrade Key to go from SBE to proper Enterprise, applied it and it's good to go. 5 extra licenses and no upper limit apart from hardware imposed ones.

It seems RIM now call it a "BlackBerry Enterprise Server Trade-Up Key "

I have the Small Business Edition of BES installed with 10 cal's running version 4.1.4.

I am trying to install service pack 6 (version 4.1.6). I downloaded the service pack installer from blackberry.com (besx_upgrader.4.1.6.exe).

When I run the installer, I am asked for the Trade-Up key. I do not want to upgrade to the full enterprise server. Is it possible to upgrade the SBE edition to 4.1.6?

Thanks.

That file is only for the full BES.

Can I upgrade the SBE edition of BES to 4.1.6?

Not at this time.

4.1.6 officially supports rich text messaging. I suppose this is what the user is after.

Yes of course you can upgrade, BES and BES SBE are the same software it's only a licence limitation...

Enjoy

If this thing has an ssh server, this could be a sweet way to remote into your network. One box would basically do everything I have a seperate server for.