Hi guys,
Been using these forums for a while now and they have helped me with a lot along the way so thanks for that. Anyways I now find my self in a situation where I can search for help on individual aspects of this process but I can't get my head around the "total" solution. Also by posting this I'm hoping any responses may help others in similar circumstances (unless I'm the only one
)
Scenario:
Installation of NEW Exchange 2007 environment (not an upgrade) to replace Exchange 2000. New environment to be brought online in an initial pilot stage with some pilot users migrated from 2000 to test. As part of this pilot stage, need to test blackberry as well.
Current Setup:
Exchange 2000
BES 4.1.3 (50 users) MSDE database
My Proposed Pilot Solution:
After doing some research and discovering the MAPI and CDO incompatibility between Exchange 2000/2003 and Exchange 2007 a "knife edge" cutover would be the simplest solution with an upgrade of the BES to 4.1.5 as per the comments in
http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-...unctional.html The problem is though that this is only a pilot stage so only a handful of exchange/blackberry users will be brought into the new environment at first.
My proposed solution and one I'm in the midst of setting up is a temporary new BES server running the latest version with a temp SRP key and CAL pack that I have received from our provider. The idea being that this is a stand alone solution for the pilot that won't effect the current BES install and Exchange 2000 setup. The pilot users would have their mail box moved to the new Exchange 2007 server (configured as per the installation guide in the above link) with those that have Blackberries deleted from the BES 4.1.3 server and then activated on the BES 4.1.5 server. In my head I feel this will work for the pilot stage?
From Pilot to Production:
Once the pilot stage is over I need to either; move all remaining Blackberry users to the new BES as their mailboxes are moved across making the temp BES become the permanent one eventually removing the original BES. But because the BES servers are different, I can't just move the users as I could if the BES versions were the same and they were looking at the one database. This would involve reactivating every users in the new environment.
or
Move remaining blackberry users mailboxes onto the new Exchange 2007 server, at the same time upgrading the original BES to 4.1.5 and installing the compatible MAPI and CDO files. This cutover would hopefully have all users running in the new environment like nothing happened. Then reactivating the pilot users for a 2nd time but back onto the upgraded BES.
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I feel that the second option may be the better of the two with the risk being that the upgraded BES server is not proven in the new Environment as where the pilot server would be.
Also, for the pilot BES server, is there a way to copy across one BES's configuration to another? and if the configuration can't be copied can the IT policies? If all this information is held in the database then I am assuming no.
Please help me discover what I have missed in my thought process as our Exchange 2007 pilot is handled by a 3rd party but with the BES I am on my own...
Thanks in advance,
Aaron