[nobody7290]

I plan to upgrade to BES 5.0
5.0 requires at least 2003 Server,

My plan:
First make an in place upgrade to 2003 Server then an in place upgrade of the BES to 5.0
The Server does not host exchange, only BES + AD is running on it connected to a MSDE database.

I know, most people might recommend a clean install, but I only have a few users, and, my life does not depend on the system - if its offline for 2 days, this is not a problem.

So:
I make an image of the current 2000 Server to be able to go back,
upgrade Active Directory to 2003 R2 requirements,
eventually dcpromo the 2000 server down to a member server,
deactivate all BES services,
perform the in place upgrade to 2003

I have experience with this procedure, however, I do not have experience what happens to the BES server installation.
If someone has done this, and knows if the BES ist still functional after the update to 2k3, i would like to know about.

Thanks.

[knottyrope]

My idea for a few users.

backup the Database
Wipe the server after dcpromo
Do a clean install of 2003
move database back
install BES 5.0

[nobody7290]

I tried the direct upgrade.
The first step completed without problems. The BES 4.1.x was still alive and happy after the upgrade - I even skipped demoting down the Server.
The next step however brought problems. I thought after reading the upgrade Manual, it might be better to update MSDE 2000sp3 to sp4. However, after the update to MSDE sp4, Windows refused to start - It stayed in an endless loop displaying the windows logo with the (indetermined) progress bar.
I coiuld start in safe mode, but this update is impossible to revert. I had to go back to the last backup.

Interesting next questions: will BES 5.0 run with my EXchange 2000 ? The Manual tells, that you need 2003.

[hdawg]

It should run with Exchange 2000 ... I wouldn't do it unless I absolutely had to.

[nobody7290]

Indeed, it does - I havent seen a problem until now, most things work well.

One thing that does not:
"Calendar Attachment support". Well, I can see an attachment which I put in using outlook. But I cannot add an attachment using the BB - looks like a limitation of the device Software. I beg this will be possible, because this is the main reason I bought the thing.

[nobody7290]

Finally everything works smooth.
If I had used a Server 2003 compatible hardware in the first place, upgrade would have been easy.

But, as I now read here:
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support...er_april09.pdf

It should not be neccessary to upgrade to windows 2003 for a BES 5.0 installation. Had I known this before, I had installed 5.0 in windows 2000 Server, no need to upgrade to 2003 !

My information about the upgrade to 5.0 and the system requirements are from here:
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/deliver...rade_Guide.pdf

There is NOT A SINGLE WORD about Windows 2000 Server (with the exeption of the Clients for Web Desktop Manager). Everything here tells me: Minimum requirements 2003 Server, Exchange 2003
I double checked this by searching the pdf for the word "2000".

Documentation about a product should be consistent across different documents. You cannot expect I read all availible papers before deciding what to do.

[hdawg]

... it'd be nice if the documentation was consistent ... keep its fun though, right? :p

[nobody7290]

Right. Also, it keeps you up to date with current IT technology problems (the result of this is, I now have 2 of my servers now running under a vmware virtual machine - something, which I wanted to do anyway, but I had no real need to do it).