[APESMA]

Hi all

I am after some advice / info on BES server

Our Current situation is we have a dozen or so BB's operating on the BIS, and we are about to expand our fleet quite a bit, therefore are planning on going to BES. At current, all our users are syncing there BB's via the BIS set up using our OWA website. 70% of our users will be using exchange accounts when we go to BES which from what I have read should work quite well.
My question is, we will have a few BB users that work remotely in branch offices, and download all their emails via pop3. How will this affect them syncing their BB's mail when messages are downloaded to local PC's in the branch offices? Because im assuming that the BB will sync with whatever is available on the server.

Is anyone else running in a similar setup here? and what solutions have you used to get around this?

I hope I haven't been to vague here with my question, but I'm sure there are people out there with similar situations, and would be very interested to head peoples suggestions.

Cheers

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by APESMA

Hi all

I am after some advice / info on BES server

Our Current situation is we have a dozen or so BB's operating on the BIS, and we are about to expand our fleet quite a bit, therefore are planning on going to BES. At current, all our users are syncing there BB's via the BIS set up using our OWA website. 70% of our users will be using exchange accounts when we go to BES which from what I have read should work quite well.
My question is, we will have a few BB users that work remotely in branch offices, and download all their emails via pop3. How will this affect them syncing their BB's mail when messages are downloaded to local PC's in the branch offices? Because im assuming that the BB will sync with whatever is available on the server.

Is anyone else running in a similar setup here? and what solutions have you used to get around this?

I hope I haven't been to vague here with my question, but I'm sure there are people out there with similar situations, and would be very interested to head peoples suggestions.

Cheers

Your interpretation is correct. I can't see why you'd have someone use pop when you have Exchange ... but if you can use pop, surely you can use IMAP instead? I'd still recommend going straight MAPI / RPC over HTTPS; considering you already have access to OWA open.

Oh ... and WELCOME!!!

[jeffro01]

Originally Posted by hdawg

Your interpretation is correct. I can't see why you'd have someone use pop when you have Exchange ... but if you can use pop, surely you can use IMAP instead? I'd still recommend going straight MAPI / RPC over HTTPS; considering you already have access to OWA open.

Oh ... and WELCOME!!!

I second that. Also I have 4 branch offices that are all running HTTP over RPC with no issues regarding latency, connectivity, or speed at all. In my company all of my offices are connected via a MPLS network, i figured that was worth noting.

Jeff

[APESMA]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the quick reply

I definitely think that going MAPI / RPC over HTTPS is the best answer to this solution, I have one question though, is it any more bandwidth intense than having remote users coming in via POP3? we have limited bandwidth and don't want to clog it up with too many users talking to the exchange server. If I was to set this up, would the users when sending mail send out via their local smtp server or does this go through the exchange server that they are working on?

I know this is getting a little off the topic, but I am curious on peoples thoughts as I haven't used MAPI / RPC over HTTPS before

Cheers

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by APESMA

Hi Guys

Thanks for the quick reply

I definitely think that going MAPI / RPC over HTTPS is the best answer to this solution, I have one question though, is it any more bandwidth intense than having remote users coming in via POP3? we have limited bandwidth and don't want to clog it up with too many users talking to the exchange server. If I was to set this up, would the users when sending mail send out via their local smtp server or does this go through the exchange server that they are working on?

I know this is getting a little off the topic, but I am curious on peoples thoughts as I haven't used MAPI / RPC over HTTPS before

Cheers

It is definitely more bandwidth than pop as pop only has to receive once and then it is done ... it never does anything else. That said, the overhead actually isn't that much.

If you set this up mail would go out through your Exchange server ...

How much bandwidth / users do you have?

[Greenwich-kid]

My two pennies worth, I have a client that for all sorts of reasons has half the company on Exchange and the other half collecting mail via IMAP they also also have a BES, with the exchange users on BES and the others using BIS (The client doesn't want to pay for more CALs or the business line with the Blackberry), all seams to be working fine for the last 7 months. Of course they don't get the same functionality as if they were all on the BES but they seam happy with this.

An aside from this given the cost of moving to Full BES from BIS then wouldn't it make sense to factor in more bandwidth? It's not exactly expensive anymore and why do half a job when you can do the whole thing? ( Of course I also understand the irony of this comment given the actions of tight client above)

[CanuckBB]

How are your branches connected?

I have 50 stores using cable/DSL connected with HO through router-to-router VPN. They all use Outlook using straight MAPI. I do have them use OST files in case the link goes down. They have no speed issues.

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by CanuckBB

How are your branches connected?

I have 50 stores using cable/DSL connected with HO through router-to-router VPN. They all use Outlook using straight MAPI. I do have them use OST files in case the link goes down. They have no speed issues.

You're doing straight RPC over a WAN when you could be doing HTTPS instead?

blech.

[APESMA]

Thanks again for all your responses

Our current connection is... All our branch offices have an 8mb/384k ADSL, which never seems to be an issue as far as speed goes because three are only half a dozen PC's or so at each branch, and about 6 branches.
Head office has a 2mb/2mb DSL which is used for incoming mail, hosting a few websites, a VPN connection to another office on the same domain, pop3 hosting, around 20 incoming CITRIX clients, a few RDP users, OWA publishing (which is what BIS syncs with, and uses heaps of bandwidth, half the reason for going to BES, to reduce bandwidth)
So I try to be fairly conservative with the bandwidth where possible, and thats the main reason that users have stayed on pop3 rather than moving to any other method.
I would imagine that using IMAP would be much less bandwidth intensive for remote clients compared to MAPI / RPC, yet still allow the BES to work ok?

with the info given there, can people give any more suggestions? again thanks for the advice

Cheers

[APESMA]

There is also a 2nd ADSL connection in the Head office that does outgoing SMTP and web browsing, not that this really affects much

Cheers

[CanuckBB]

Originally Posted by hdawg

You're doing straight RPC over a WAN when you could be doing HTTPS instead?

blech.

yep. Works great.