BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution

[Drivers0Michael]

Dear,

since a short time i'm the new adminstrators for our BES-servers.

Next week we planned to upgrade to 4.1 SP 5.

Does anyone knows some specified info about?something to do or not to do

Will it have some importants impact on the sql Databases?

Thanks

[RJP]

How many users are on your BES servers?. What version and mail platform are you running ? Yes it will update the SQL db.

[Drivers0Michael]

we've got 2 bes servers (running on windows 2003) with approximately 320 users on each server,

we’ve got 7 exchange servers running on windows 2003 enterprise.

is there something were i must be aware of it? 

[FaceMan]

If everything is currenlty up and running then there should'nt be a problem. Just make sure to BackUp the database before upgrade and ensure the back up completed succesfully. Also make sure your logged in as the service account when you apply the service pack.

Also If you have other BES connecting to that database i would shutdown the other BES servers and upgrade one server at time. Everything else should be straight forward. 

Worst case scenario is if something goes wrong, all you have to do is restore the database and reinstall the previous version of BES and your up and running. 

[Drivers0Michael]

thanks,

of course I will take backups of the databases,

I will shutdown first one of the Bes servers and do the upgrade on the first one,

and then the same ande the second one.

Those actions will created some downtime? Is there any other solution to limit the downtime of them

[FaceMan]

You are correct. The down time should'nt be that long really. I usually do these after hours as there is little traffic and seems to be the least impacting for my users.

Hontesly I don't think there is. You can try leaving the other server on if you want bu i dont like the idea of having another BES connecting to the DB while the upgrade will be going through the DB as well. It might work but i figure the extra time shouldnt be that long really. 15-30 min tops...assuming all goes well.

[Drivers0Michael]

Thanks for your help

Are there some changes concerning the DB?

 adding some tables or lines? new structure?

do you think I shutdown also the database server?

[FaceMan]

No prob...I'm not too sure what changes are included in SP5 or if any. I just make it a rule of thumb to have nothing touch the datbase during the upgrade process. I figure playing it safe will save me hours of work should something go wrong

If  you want to know the diffrences between SP5 database and your current database, I guess you could create a blank BESMgmt from SP5 database folder and then run a SQL compare to your current one. This should show the diffrences..

[DigitalFrog]

You have to keep the SQL server running as the upgrade will need to access the database during the upgrade process.

[Drivers0Michael]

Thanks Guy's for the help, I think I know enough to upgrade the servers. Just one last question? Will there some impact on the Blackberry phones?Do I need to upgrade or the push some new settings to make them compatible with the new functions of sp5