[passivex]

Hi,

I'm running BES 4.1.3 (Bundle 61) on my Exchange 2003 server with about 30 users. I know, I shouldn't combine the BES with the Exchange server but a BES with around 30 users isn't much of a resource hog. My Exchange server is a fairly powerful box (DL385 w/ 2 dual-core Opteron 2218 and 4GB of RAM) and it's hosting only about 150 users (90% are running on Outlook 2003 cached mode) so it has plenty of resources to spare.

Anyway, I haven't touched the BES for a while (no problems for the past year) and noticed that BES is up to SP5. I'd like to keep current so I would like to upgrade but unsure if I should take this opportunity to split BES from the Exchange server. I am running ESX 3 so I'm planning to place BES on one of my non-critical VMs.

So my questions are:
1) Any major cons for running BES on Exchange server besides sharing resources and BES updates potentially requiring reboot of Exchange server?

2) I've read that a lot of people are not having problem running BES on VMs. My BES database is on a dedicated SQL box so the BES footprint on the VM should be minimal. Anything I should watch out for?

3) How would I perform the migration? I only have 1 SRP ID. I performed the knife-edge cutover method before but that caused my existing BBs to not be able to sync properly with the new BES. Actually, everything work but I kept getting eventID 20000 in my event log for all my BBs. Wiping the BB then reactivating it with the account fixed the problem but this wasn't documented any where. Anyway, this migration should be easier since I'm moving from 4.13 to 4.15 (I was migration from 3.6 before).

Thanks in advance.

[cartwfh]

HI Passivex,

Sounds to me like you have a pretty good idea of what you are up against in migrating the BES to a VM environment. The dedicated SQL scenario could probably be converted to VM or even co-located with the Bes VM for further efficiency, But that is a matter of personal preference with the number of users you have. If your company has rapid growth potential, this would seem to be the opportunity to build in a bit of Disaster recovery if you have not done so. The one other thing I would point out, is to do the knife edge cutover first then perform the upgrade in the standalone environment. just a lot less grief is they are treated as separate events.

[ladydi]

You have two options. 1.Upgrade the database first, by applying SP 5 to the current install and then installing BES w/SP5 on the VM and connect to the DB. Or you can install the SP4 version on the VM, connect to the DB, and then upgrade to sp5. you shouldn't have to reactivate at all. 3.6 to 4.0 was a pain because they were too radically different and not compatible.