The latest and greatest project is to get our blackberry devices to work with this website that my development team is creating.  Since I am the blackberry admin, it has fallen into my lap to get the blackberries to conform to standards.  One of the things that RIM has suggested is to turn on internet explorer emulation.

Open the browser on the BlackBerry device.

Click on the menu button and go to options Select Browser Configuration For Emulation Mode, select Microsoft IE.

Save and close.

This did not resolve the issue, but it was worth a shot!

Open BlackBerry manager.

Click on the mds-cs connection and select edit properties.

On the Logs tab, set both the HTTP Logging Enabled and the Verbose HTTP Logging Enabled drop-down lists to True.

Click Apply, then click OK.

So, my company is now doing a little bit of mobile development.  They had read that MDS on the BES server should be able to handle authenication.  How it works, (or at least how I understand it) is that it uses the MDS as a proxy of sorts to use the internal BES to browse webpages instead of going straight out on the internet?  The benefit?  For most people, none.  For those that want to access intranet sites on their BB, the world.  Here is how you do it.  First have MDS installed.  This was already done for me.  Next, configure it to allow authentication.

1. In BlackBerry Manager, select <BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server_name>_MDS-CS_1.
2. Click Edit Properties.
3. In the Properties window, click HTTP.
4. Set Support HTTP Authentication to True, then click OK.
5. Restart the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.

The end!  It worked like a charm!

I recently had someone who wanted to do this but I had no idea how to go about it.  After a few minutes searching on this, I found the following directions.

You have to install the AOL Sync program. There are two ways to install the AOL Sync program: with the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager or via a wireless connection.

This document explains how to install the software using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
To install AOL Sync using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager:
1. Go to the AOL Sync for Blackberry Web site (http://bbsync.aol.com/), then click the Download Now button.
2. Unzip the downloaded bbaolsync.zip file. Make note of the directory you have unzipped this file to as you will need it again later.
3. Plug in the BlackBerry handheld device.
4. Start up the Desktop Manager.
5. Double-click the Application Loader icon.
6. Click the Next > button.
7. Click the Add… button.
8. Click the aolsync.alx file in the directory noted while completing step 2 above, then click the Open button.
9. Ensure that AOL Sync is checked and the Action: listed is “Install.” Click the Next > button.
10. Click the Finish button. Four modules will load onto the handheld: com_aol_aolsync.cod, com_aol_aolsync_client.cod, com_aol_carriers.cod, and com_asoft_midp_zlib.cod.
11. Close the Application Loader Wizard window.
12. Close the Desktop Manager.

This document explains how to install the software using your wireless connection.
To install Sync using your wireless connection:
1. Confirm that your wireless connection is on. If not, select the Radio Tower icon on the main ribbon screen, press the track wheel, select Turn Wireless On, then press the track wheel again.
2. Open the Internet browser. This may be labeled as Internet Browser or Browser; often the label will include the name of your carrier. Once the browser page opens, it should bring up a default page. Select Home Page, then press the track wheel. A menu will then pop up.
3. Select Go To…, then press the track wheel. A window will pop up where you can enter a URL. Type bbsync.aol.com, then select OK and press the track wheel.
4. After the Web page loads, select Full Installation, then tap the Enter key. The download screen appears. Tap the Enter key to start downloading.
5. Once the program has been downloaded and installed (this may take a while), you should see a window pop up that says, “Application was installed. Device must be rebooted to complete the installation.” Simply select Reboot, then press the track wheel.

Once AOL Sync has been installed, it must also be configured.
To configure AOL Sync for BlackBerry:
1. From the main BlackBerry menu, select the AOL Sync program, then press the track wheel.
2. Enter your screen name and password.
Note: If you are using AOL® Passcode, you should enter the passcode number on the main AOL® Sync screen after your password, using the following format: password/passcode.
3. Please select the applications you wish to sync. By default both Address Book and Calendar are selected.
Note: Select Settings to change your synchronization settings on the Settings screen.
Address Book: A checkmark indicates that you want to synchronize with your AOL® Address Book information. Tap the space bar to uncheck this box if you do not want to synchronize your address book.
Calendar: A checkmark indicates that you want to synchronize with your AOL® Calendar information. Tap the space bar to uncheck this box if you do not want to synchronize your calendar.
Auto-Sync Every: Select the time interval in minutes, indicating how often you want to check the AOL® service for changes. If you select 0 minutes, this feature will be disabled.
Service Provider: Tap the space bar to select your service provider. If your service provider is not listed, you will need to select User Defined and enter in the appropriate information from your service provider.
4. You will receive a message stating that, “The application aolsync has requested a https connection to bbsync.aol.com:80.” Select the Don’t ask this again for: https connections to bbsync.aol.com:80 box, then tap the space bar to place a check in it.
5. Select Allow this connection, then press the track wheel.

AOL HELP PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION

It seems that the newest bes server I have setup (version 4.1.4.3) the user (the only user) is displaying Wirelss Calendar Disabled in the user properties. I checked the application log and did not notice any errors. I then had the user do the following:

On the handheld, go to Calendar, click the trackwheel, choose Options and see if Wireless Synchronization is listed. If it is, set it to Yes. If its already set to Yes, set it to No and save the changes. Wait a few minutes then set it back to Yes.

The user verified that this was turned off. He turned it on, and now I am waiting to see if it will work. I’m sure that it will, since well, he said it was off

I wish all blackberry problems were this simple….

Well, I feel like such a dummy! I just installed the Blackberry Professional Software (version 4.1.4.15) on a SBS 2003 and for the life of me couldn’t figure out why I was receiving the following error:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: BlackBerry Messaging Agent QSERVER Agent 1
Event Category: None
Event ID: 20265
Date: 6/16/2008
Time: 9:12:35 AM
User: N/A
Computer: QSERVER
Description:
{user@email.com} MAPIMailbox::CreateSearchFolder - Open Entry (0×80070005) failed

The reason was the security permissions were not set correctly on the server in Enterprise System Manager (ESM) Once I checked administer info store, send as and receive as permissions, all was well in the world. Go figure…

So, I finally got the privilege to install this software. Basically it is a watered down BES server. I have installed BES servers many times and figured this would be a breeze. THINK AGAIN! I get to the database settings and when I click next, I get this error message.

Test database connection returned an unknown error

For the life of me, I cannot figure out what is going on. At this point, I go and install Microsoft SQL Manager Studio and realize what is happening. Due to Veritas being installed on this server as well, it created its own database location and the blackberry software created its other. Sharepoint is also installed (SBS) and has its own database.

The resolve? Instead of typing just SERVER for the servername, find out what the database location you need in there. For me, I needed to type in SERVER\SQLEXPRESS. Once I did this, it was smoooooooth sailing!

Of course, I wasted 3 hours, but who is counting…

So I pose you the question, is the following new reboot policy good for my job or is it a personal attack against me?  Lets start by giving you some background.  First, one of the niche products that I know pretty well is blackberry servers.  I have been maintaining them with my company for a couple of years now.  The other blackberry guy is actually our exchange admin and he tries to keep a hands off appoach on managing the server.  Well, blackberry’s rule of thumb is that if you think you have a problem, reboot the server.  Period.  The end.  No discussion.  Do not pass go, go directly to reboot.  I also have found that the quickest way to resolve the problem is to reboot the server.  Restarting the services is a tool and does not generally yield the best results.  Therefore, when I have a problem, I reboot the server.  The server takes less than a minute to reboot, and it is virtual, so if it had a problem, it is easily fixable. 

With that said, before we virtualized it, the server’s hw was failing.  We only wanted to reboot the server when nessassary which I was on board with.  We also had an exchange server that failed and had all sorts of issues.  Once all the problems were resolved with the exchange server, I had rebooted the blackberry server to resolve the many issues I was seeing on it.  I feel it was nessasary to resolve a problem before 80 people complained instead of after.  The exchange admin emails me back saying to not reboot that server again unless granted permission by himself, the director of IT or the president of the company.  I agreed, but still felt the correct decision was to reboot the server.

Now to the present, we had resolved the HW issue, and another problem came up that required a reboot of the server.  I had done so, and the director of IT sends me an emails saying you need permission before rebooting any servers.  Now, this annoys me to all end.  The reason?  The policy only towards me.  There are 5 other techs that can reboot servers at any given moment, but I need to get approval first.  If you wanted to enstate such a policy, it should be across the board and not individually based.  Right now, I feel hurt and offended because it just means that they do not trust my judgement to reboot non-critical production servers.  I cannot wait for this one server to fail where the only resolution is reboot.  This has been the standard for several years now and will relish waiting to get permission to do so….

And these are the reasons why I had left this job the first time around….

Solution/Answer: On the blackberry device
Go to messages
Go to options
Go to Email Reconciliation
Modify the Delete On to either Mailbox & Handheld or Prompt.

Prompt will ask you if you want to remove the email from outlook.

I had to provide these directions to someone that wants to do this.  I personally think that having this enabled is a bad idea.  On the bb, it is way too easy to delete complete days of information with only a few taps of the button.  Dangerous for any user with butter fingers.

Below is the complete conversation I had with a higher exchange admin and myself.

Koopa [2:52 PM]: