<![CDATA[Port3101.org : Your BES Connection - Blogs - hdawg's BES blog by hdawg]]> http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/ Port 3101 is the foundation of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server solution and this forum is the definitive source for all things BES and beyond. en Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:44:06 GMT vBulletin 60 http://blog.port3101.org/images/totallypro/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Port3101.org : Your BES Connection - Blogs - hdawg's BES blog by hdawg]]> http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/ away for a few days http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/168-away-few-days.html Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:05:00 GMT Hey everyone! I'll be taking a break until next Tuesday as I'm taking my wife away for her birthday. Having a Winter birthday she only asked for sun and warm ... so we're off!

See y'all in a few days ... ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/168-away-few-days.html <![CDATA[What can't you do in BES?]]> http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/167-what-cant-you-do-bes.html Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:05:00 GMT So I figured I'd start a little wish list of things I wish I could do with BES, but can't ... please add on whatever yours are. Perhaps it is possible and you just don't know about it!
  • The ability to identify when a call is dropped / ended prematurely. Sure we can get call log info, but what about reporting back to carriers lots of dropped calls ... especially for a particular user
  • The ability to restart a single messaging agent. When a single agent gets hung / stopped the only supported way to get it back is to reboot the BES.
  • Force device information to sync on demand. Instead of waiting that 4 hour period for the device to push data back to the BESMgmt database (such as free memory / apps installed) I'd like to be able to initiate an update in real time
So that is the start of my list ... what do y'all have? ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/167-what-cant-you-do-bes.html <![CDATA[How Buzz, Facebook, Twitter Create 'Social Insecurity']]> http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/165-how-buzz-facebook-twitter-create-social-insecurity.html Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:05:00 GMT Mike Elgan over at CIO.com recently wrote an article titled How Buzz, Facebook, Twitter Create 'Social Insecurity'. Given that we all have mobile devices and probably most of us are using some if not several forms of social media in their life I figured this would be of interest. I've not adopted foursquare, but do use Facebook and Twitter to keep up and in touch. Are you safe with what you're putting out there? ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/165-how-buzz-facebook-twitter-create-social-insecurity.html BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/166-blackberry-enterprise-server-express.html Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:05:00 GMT ok ok ok everyone posted yesterday about the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Edition. I previously mentioned... ok ok ok everyone posted yesterday about the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Edition. I previously mentioned some info about the impending release but lets dive a little deeper ...

First off, remember that BES Express is effectively BPS 5.0. You'll get most of the base functionality that BES touts, but expect some limitations. Just like BPS never got past SP4 of 4.1, expect there to be limited functionality going forward. Yes you're getting BES ... but you're getting what you pay for; don't forget that. BES Express is a great way for RIM to get people to use more BlackBerry handhelds and to further integrate work / personal life. Don't get me wrong, I love it ... but keep that in mind.

Take a look at the attached; BES Express Policy Reference Guide. You'll notice there are significantly less policy settings in this guide than in the BES Policy Reference Guide For a complete guide of BES Express Policy settings check out KB21123. Sure these rules will fit most small business and organizations looking to implement BES ... but if it doesn't and you've invested in BlackBerry you'll need to pay for full BES. I think there is a way to make all IT Policy settings work with BES Express with some database manipulation, taking what is in a BES database, but that's for another day.

Let's move on to activating smartphones with BES Express. The cool thing is you don't need a BES data plan to work with BES Express. You needed it for BPS and the old BES Express ... but now you don't. If you don't have a BES data plan, but instead have a BIS data plan you can Enterprise Activate ... just not wirelessly. Definitely cost /effort prohibitive in an enterprise, but in a small organization use Desktop Manager, Web Desktop Manager, or the BAS (tethered). If you want to use Wireless Enterprise Activation or a WiFi Enterprise Activation you'll need to have a BES data plan provisioned. That said, I can't think of why you couldn't provision a device with a BES data plan, complete the Enterprise Activation and then remove the BES data plan, leaving only the BIS data plan. Check out the following KB's about activation devices on BES Express:

KB21209 - How to check if a BlackBerry smartphone can be used in a BlackBerry Enterprise Server or a BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express
and
KB21124 - How to activate a BlackBerry smartphone using BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express version 5.0 SP1

Last, let's take a quick look at migration and upgrade options for BES Express ... This is where, in my opinion the product really goes downhill I wish I could say it shined here ... but no. I get it ... BES Express is a reduction in functionality so migrating TO it would obviously be difficult, and why would you provide the ability to downgrade a product ... but for those running BPS this is an obvious upgrade. I can upgrade from BPS to BES, but I can't to BES Express? #fail.

If you want to move from any version of BES up until 5.0 SP1 or BPS 4.1 SP4 to BES Express, RIM provides these steps to do so:
  1. Delete the BlackBerry smartphone user account from the current BES
  2. Back up the BlackBerry smartphone (so you can restore anything after the new activation)
  3. Perform a security wipe on the BlackBerry smartphone (yup, you're wiping it all)
  4. Add the BlackBerry smartphone user as a new user on BES Express (oh joy)
  5. Activate the BlackBerry smartphone
  6. Restore any settings / options / applications.

Hey, that's the same procedure I'm supposed to use if I move domains (and can't use the Enterprise Transporter) or if I go from Domino to Exchange. Again, sure m a small organization I can do this without too much pain ... but this certainly doesn't make it easy to implement if you already have BPS/BES ... this isn't an upgrade.

I'm glad to see this new BES Express ... but I'm sad at the epic failure with the inability to upgrade from BPS; which really would have been the sweet spot for this product. Here's to hoping that functionality gets added soon ... maybe WES?
Attached Files
File Type: BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server_Express_for_Microsoft_Exchange-Policy_Reference_Guide-T323212-984331-02 (333.1 KB, 64 views)
File Type: pdf Policy_Reference_Guide.pdf (1.41 MB, 38 views)
]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/166-blackberry-enterprise-server-express.html BlackBerry on a plane http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/164-blackberry-plane.html Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:05:00 GMT I previously posted about changing a MAC address using a BB on the plane... I previously posted about changing a MAC address using a BB on the plane ... and I'm sure this violates some ToS, but why couldn't I just use my BB to connect to WiFi on a plane with Tether?

This weekend I flew around the country and had some free WiFi codes so I didn't try ... but I could save $2 per use, AND get both my BB and laptop connected by using this.

Like I said, I didn't try it this time ... but I think I will next time!

Whatcha think? ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/164-blackberry-plane.html <![CDATA[personal + work email & sync]]> http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/163-personal-work-email-sync.html Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT I can't be the only one in this position... I use a single BlackBerry, a 9700 provisioned on at&t. I've previously had Cellular One, Sprint, VoiceStream, Verizon, and T-Mobile; however this isn't a discussion on which carrier and why. They each served their purpose at the time.

What all of the carriers currently share is the ability to use BIS + BES functionality on a single device. We all love this functionality, and it allows you to carry a single device for both personal and business use. Maybe I'm an anomaly here, but I think not ... here's my scenario:
  • I want to have my BIS + BES email (which I can do)
  • I want to have my personal and work calendar (which I'm either too lazy to figure out or just cant be done through my current method ... but I doubt this is the case)
  • I want to have my personal and work contacts (see above)

I use Outlook 2010 connecting to Exchange 2007 for both my personal email and my work email. My BIS integration is through OWA, and BES ... well ... is BES.

What do you do to get all that info there? I'd sure love to use Desktop Manager to bring in my personal info, but that isn't supported with Outlook 2010 ... luckily my contacts don't change often and I got a good sync in prior to upgrading.

Thoughts? I know there are some BIS wizards that can help me out :) ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/163-personal-work-email-sync.html Each BES gets its own besadmin account http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/162-each-bes-gets-its-own-besadmin-account.html Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT ... does it? Should each BES have it's own administration account / mailbox?

Simple answer, Yes. Here's why, for any environments with multiple BES:
  1. Single points of failure are never good (if that mailbox is unavailable, no services will start / restart)
  2. It is recommended to keep each BlackBerry users' mailbox close to the BES ... same goes for the administration mailbox
  3. Do you have different groups managing different servers? Different accounts help with this management over servers
  4. If there is ever a problem with the mailbox / mailbox server you've got built in redundancy

Do y'all have a separate mailbox for each BES? Perhaps a single mailbox per data center? Do tell ... ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/162-each-bes-gets-its-own-besadmin-account.html How to reload missing BlackBerry smartphone data into the BlackBerry Manager http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/153-how-reload-missing-blackberry-smartphone-data-into-blackberry-manager.html Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT Read the full details at KB17542 - How to reload missing BlackBerry smartphone data into the BlackBerry Manager... Read the full details at KB17542 - How to reload missing BlackBerry smartphone data into the BlackBerry Manager ... however here's an example of how to actually use it.

Download the BRK Tool SyncRequest.exe and run the command: SyncRequest -n SQLServer -db BESMgmt -sync "Handheld Agent" -value_type emailaddress hdawg@port3101.org

Where:

-n = hostname of SQL server hosting your BlackBerry Configuration Database
-db = name of your BlackBerry Configuration Database
-sync = name of the BlackBerry database to sync
-value_type = user identification. Can be display name, email address, PIN, BB HH model, or device version
-value = actual user data, such as hdawg@port3101.org

Check the [URL="http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/49-bes-logs-whats-them-part-13-20-sync-log.html"]SYNC log[/URL and it'll show the process with [SYNC-DSession] "headings" and "*** SLOWSYNC COMPLETE *** NAME" for each device/user.

You can also use the command: SyncRequest -n SQLServer -db BESMgmt -list which will give you a list of all databases that you can initiate a sync. ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/153-how-reload-missing-blackberry-smartphone-data-into-blackberry-manager.html Who rules your IT Policy world? http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/161-who-rules-your-policy-world.html Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT I've been working with several customers recently where discussions about IT Policy have come up. Some of the questions that come up are:

What policies should we implement?
Should I require a password?
What about device encryption?
Do you allow people to use the web browser?
Should users access the carrier browser or force all connections through our BES?

For me, these are the easy questions to answer. The same people that decide what your password length has to be on your PC and when those passwords expire should be the ones that are giving you these answers. BES Admins shouldn't be making these decisions, unless of course you're also the security / policy admin.

In the enterprise, my question is "Who has access to assign / change the policies?". Do you let someone on the help desk make this change? Some people say yes, some say absolutely not. My personal opinion is that there needs to be a set of rules for how / who / when these things get changed. For any service desk process to function you need to clearly outline what fits into what bucket and who is responsible for what. The service desk shouldn't be making decisions to who has access to what ... should they?

How do y'all implement IT Policies? Who decides what the policy settings are? Who decides which people get which policy? Who decides when that policy can change?

Take a look at the attached BES 5.0 SP1 Policy Reference Guide. Specifically look at the Examples of security policy goals for when you're trying to figure out what policies to use and how to implement them.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server-Policy_Reference_Guide-T323212-832026-1023123101-001-5.0.1-US.pdf (1.92 MB, 59 views)
]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/161-who-rules-your-policy-world.html BlackBerry Configuration Database Scheduled Jobs http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/151-blackberry-configuration-database-scheduled-jobs.html Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT I've recently been looking at a bunch of different BES Infrastructures and one question came up regarding the scheduled jobs that run on the SQL Server that hosts your BlackBerry Configuration Database (typically named BESMgmt).

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange Version: 5.0 Performance Benchmarking Guide is a sweet guide for random things like this.

In BES 4.x there were a series of scheduled jobs that ran on the SQL server to cleanup / maintain the database.

In BES 5.x the jobs are now simply stored procedures that the BAS executes on a schedule (that's why you won't see any SQL jobs scheduled for your 5.x BESMgmt database). Here's a list of the jobs that run, their schedule, and how often they run.

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: stored-procs.png Views: 123 Size: 32.3 KB ID: 36  
Attached Files
File Type: pdf BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server_for_Microsoft_Exchange-5.0-US.pdf (2.19 MB, 50 views)
]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/151-blackberry-configuration-database-scheduled-jobs.html More Messaging Agent Tweaks http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/160-more-messaging-agent-tweaks.html Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT A problematic messaging agent is the bane of any BES Administrator. I've previously blogged about implementing / tweaking the NumAgents and MaxUsersPerAgent registry keys ... well I've got one more for you. These tweaks are great if you've got a BES communicating with several Exchange servers and want to ensure that you have at least a single messaging agent for each server, or if you've got a heavily loaded BES and want additional agents to further spread out the load, but what if you've got a server with 500-1500 users (well within RIM's spec limit of 2000) and they're all on a single mailbox server?

For our example here, we'll look at a server with 1100 users. Our server will spawn a single messaging agent for 500 users, then spawn another for the next 500, and a final agent for the last 100. That said, BES is smart enough so it will balance those 1100 users across the 3 messaging agents it'll spawn ... but why only 3? Who wants ~367 users on a single messaging agent? I know I certainly don't.

Sure, we could use the MaxUsersPerAgent and NumAgents registry keys to set my MaxUsersPerAgent to 225 (1100/5=220 + a little growth room) and NumAgents to 5, but instead we can use the AgentOptimizeAlgorithm registry key and not have to worry about constantly changing the MaxUsersPerAgent key every time we add more users to the BES.

This key changes the load 500 users and then spawn a new agent process ... and instead spawns 5 agents by default and balances all the users across the agents. Sweet! Yes it is a wonderful tweak, but it can really really really screw you up if you use it wrong. The caveat to the use of this key is to ONLY USE IT ON A BES THAT HAS ALL OF ITS USERS ON A SINGLE EXCHANGE SERVER. I hope I was clear about that. The reason for the caveat is because once you implement the key the BES will spread ALL users across the agents evenly; regardless of their mail server. We certainly don't want to do that ... our goal should always be to only have users from the same Exchange server on any given messaging agent. Messaging Agents weren't made to be shared across mail servers; unless of course you like problems!

So we enable this key and restart our server (or just the Controller & Dispatcher) and BAM! ... our server starts up with 5 Messaging Agents and our 1100 users are evenly spread across 5 agents. It is always my goal to spread out users across as many agents as possible, to lessen the load for the agents, and provide as many resources as possible for each user on a BES. Now, I wouldn't go creating 50 Messaging Agents, but by setting this key we've decreased our average agent load from 367 to 220; a 40% decrease in load per agent!

This key disables the Complex Algorithm that is used by default (where it assigns users to an agent based on what mail server they're on) and instead implements the Simple Algorithm that spawns the 5 Messaging Agents and does an even distribution across all of them.

Ok, so here's the key and how to implement it. You're going to create a DWORD Value with the name of AgentOptimizeAlgorith and a Value data of 1.

For a 32-bit OS:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server\Dispatcher]
"AgentOptimizeAlgorithm"=dword:00000001

For a 64-bit OS:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOTWARE\Wow6432Node\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server\Dispatcher]
"AgentOptimizeAlgorithm"=dword:00000001

RIM put these keys and tweaks in place because there is value in them. Don't be scared with making these tweaks, just be informed! ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/160-more-messaging-agent-tweaks.html Updating user directory list information in the BlackBerry Configuration Database http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/159-updating-user-directory-list-information-blackberry-configuration-database.html Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT The last part that we'll look at from the Performance Benchmarking Guide will be: Updating user directory list information in the BlackBerry Configuration Database

The BlackBerry® Mail Store Service updates an organization's user directory list information in the BlackBerry Configuration Database every 24 hours. The BlackBerry Mail Store Service must be installed on the computer that hosts the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server so that it can access an organization's messaging platform and the platform connection information for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The user directory list update is controlled and scheduled automatically by the BlackBerry Administration Service Timer Manager. The BlackBerry Administration Service Timer Manager initiates the update at 12:30 AM daily. You can also use the BlackBerry Administration Service to start the update manually. The update process is throttled at a rate of 5000 entries for each minute.

Now you know a little bit about the directory update. That said, even if you do an update mid-day as long as you don't have 100k+ objects in your AD you should be fine and you'll have an update in a reasonable amount of time. ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/159-updating-user-directory-list-information-blackberry-configuration-database.html Sending BlackBerry Java Applications and updates to BlackBerry devices http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/158-sending-blackberry-java-applications-updates-blackberry-devices.html Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT So as a continuation on to yesterday's post with content from the Performance Benchmarking Guide ... here's a bit about Sending BlackBerry Java Applications and updates to BlackBerry devices. I posted previously about application push through software configuration and how it relates to the POLC log, but here it is from the source.

If you assign a software configuration that contains a BlackBerry® Java® Application to a user or group, change an existing software configuration, or change the settings for an application in a software configuration, the BlackBerry Policy Service sends the application data or updates to the BlackBerry devices that are associated with the software configuration. Sending application data or updates to BlackBerry devices occurs in four phases.

In the first phase, the BlackBerry Administration Service reconciles group relationships and potential conflicts between multiple software configurations to determine how the application data or updates are sent to BlackBerry devices and to determine the settings that are applied to the application. For example, if an application is specified as optional in one software configuration that is assigned to a user account, and the same application is specified as required in another software configuration that is assigned to the user account, the BlackBerry Administration Service uses predefined rules to determine that the application is required for the user account. The BlackBerry Administration Service creates jobs and job tasks to deliver application control policies and the application data or updates to BlackBerry devices.

In the second phase, the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server waits for a default period of 15 minutes before it sends the application control policies and application data or updates to BlackBerry devices. During this waiting period, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server does not create a performance impact on system resources.

In the third phase, after you assign or change a software configuration, the BlackBerry Policy Service sends the application control policies to the BlackBerry devices. The application control policies must be delivered to BlackBerry devices before the application data or updates. You can use the BlackBerry Administration Service or TraitTool.exe to configure throttling settings for application control policies.

In the fourth phase, the BlackBerry Policy Service delivers the application data or updates to the BlackBerry devices. Throttling does not occur during this phase. As a result, the amount of time that is required to send the application data or updates, and the amount of system resources that are used, depend on the hardware capacity of the system that hosts the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server components, as well as the number and size of the modules in the application data
or updates.

Still ... with BES 5.0 I still hate the lack of a "Deploy Applications" type function like we had with 4.1 ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/158-sending-blackberry-java-applications-updates-blackberry-devices.html BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/157-blackberry-enterprise-server-express.html Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:28:18 GMT If you haven't read it already ... RIM has released BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express ... wait a sec, didn't that already exist?

I don't get the reusing of names and RIM's ability to successfully confuse administrators (Like the whole MDS, MDS-CS, MDS-IS debacle) ... anyhoo check it out: BlackBerry - BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express

Things to note:
  • Supported on Exchange 2003/2007/2010 only (yay! 2010 support included)
  • Supported on Windows Server 2003 SP2 / 2003 R2 SP2 / 2008 SP2 (32-bit or 64-bit for all of them)
  • Supported with MSDE 2000 SP3 / SQL 2005 SP3 (32-bit or 64-bit) / SQL 2008 SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit)
  • Supported ON an Exchange Server
  • Supports same number of users as BES if installed remotely
Attached Files
File Type: pdf RIM1365+System+Requirements_v4-HR.pdf (46.7 KB, 38 views)
]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/157-blackberry-enterprise-server-express.html Sending IT policy updates to BlackBerry devices - BES 5 http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/156-sending-policy-updates-blackberry-devices-bes-5.html Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT I've been reading through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange Version: 5.0 Performance Benchmarking Guide and picked up a few read-worthy things.

A somewhat English translation of how IT Policy works (in RIM's words)

Sending IT policy updates to BlackBerry devices

If you assign an IT policy to a user account or group, change an existing IT policy, or delete an existing IT policy, the BlackBerry® Policy Service sends an IT policy update to the BlackBerry devices that are associated with the IT policy. The IT policy update occurs in three phases.

In the first phase, the BlackBerry Administration Service determines which IT policy to assign to user accounts based on predefined rules for determining group membership and the priority of IT policies. The BlackBerry Administration Service creates jobs and job tasks that deliver the IT policy updates to BlackBerry devices.

In the second phase, after you assign, change, or delete an IT policy, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server waits for a default period of 15 minutes (which I still don't understand) before it sends the IT policy update to BlackBerry devices. During this waiting period, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server does not have a performance impact on system resources.

In the third phase, the BlackBerry Policy Service sends the IT policy update to BlackBerry devices. The IT policy data is throttled according to the throttling settings that you can configure. For more information about configuring IT policy throttling and settings for the BlackBerry Policy Service, visit BlackBerry - Manuals and Guides for Administrators to read the BlackBerry Policy Service Throttling Technical Note and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Administration Guide.

The maximum number of IT policies and service books that the BlackBerry Policy Service can send can be configured using the PolicyThrottlingMaxBESJobs trait in TraitTool.exe. For more information about TraitTool.exe, visit
BlackBerry - Manuals and Guides for Administrators to read the BlackBerry Policy Service Throttling Technical Note.

Two things that bug me about this are:
  1. IT Policy changes are queued and delayed up to 15 minutes by default ... WHY?!?!?
  2. There is no way to do an immediate push / change ... you've got to wait; #fail.

How do y'all feel about this throttling and the change in how this queue works versus with BES 4.1.x? ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/156-sending-policy-updates-blackberry-devices-bes-5.html Exchange 2010 Storage http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/155-exchange-2010-storage.html Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT I love a good Exchange blog ... and even if you're not an Exchange Admin/Engineer/Architect, this is a good read about some simple storage concepts that can really be applied in other fields.

Devin Ganger, an Exchange MVP wrote up a great article titled: From Whence Redundancy? Exchange 2010 Storage Essays, part 1.

Give it a read and learn a little about disks! ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/155-exchange-2010-storage.html How to change your MAC address in Windows http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/154-how-change-your-mac-address-windows.html Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT How is this BlackBerry related hdawg ... well, I'll tell ya.

I've got an upcoming flight with WiFi on it and want to use multiple devices, but not pay for multiple connections.

Now to be clear what I'm looking to do is have 1 device on at a time and connected and have no intention of trying to use multiple devices at the same time ... besides, multiple devices with the same MAC on the same network at the same time would be an EPIC FAIL.

So, I found this awesome software that'll change my MAC address of my laptop to match that of my BlackBerry: Technitium MAC Address Changer v5 Release 3 (FREEWARE)

I travel with 2 laptops and a BlackBerry ... so I'll get extra use out of it.

Alternatively you could muscle your way through the registry with this article: How to change MAC-Address in Windows Registry | Windows Reference

Come to think of it ... my travel router and bridge a wifi network ... so in theory I could use that and do the same (yes, my seat has a standard 110 outlet) ... that'll be for the next time around! ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/154-how-change-your-mac-address-windows.html Unable to synchronize organizer data with Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/150-unable-synchronize-organizer-data-microsoft-office-outlook-2010.html Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT Blech .... KB20654 - Unable to synchronize organizer data with Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 (http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB20654) ... :glare: ... Blech .... KB20654 - Unable to synchronize organizer data with Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 ... :glare:

Anyone got a work-around?

Suggested resolution by RIM: Downgrade the Microsoft Office 2010 environment to a compatible version of Microsoft Outlook.

Support exists for Exchange 2010 with BES, but no Outlook 2010 ... sure its beta ... but COME ON!!!! ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/150-unable-synchronize-organizer-data-microsoft-office-outlook-2010.html Recovery of a Mirrored SQL Database http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/148-recovery-mirrored-sql-database.html Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT There's no need to reinvent the wheel ... I say this to myself constantly when trying to figure out problems or come up with solutions. I tend to forget that I'm not the first person that had a given problem ... and that is where search comes in.

As BES Administrators we need to know how to recover a SQL database in the event of a failure ... here's another great article I found that saved my butt!

Posted by Vic Reavis (Support Escalation Engineer) of Microsoft's Enterprise Platforms Support at the Technet Blog of the Microsoft Enterprise Support Windows Server Core Team, and copied WITHOUT permission ...

Recovery of a Mirrored SQL Database

Recovering a mirrored database, whether it is to a SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 installation, requires that the existing mirror be broken. For simplicity, you may want to consider deleting both the Principal and Mirror databases and using the latest recovery point that DPM has in order to restore the data.

This blog post is geared towards a simple database mirroring recovery scenario and doesn’t discuss the replaying of transaction logs as part of the recovery process. As with any blog post, if there is additional information you would like to see provided or questions you would like to see answered, please pass those comments and questions along so that we can consider those for future posts.

This blog also includes a video demonstration of the recovery process involved in recovering a mirrored SQL database. (SEE SOURCE POST)

In our scenario, we will work under the premise that a bad transaction has been posted to the database and replicated without any means of backing it out cleanly. Now we have to restore the database to the servers and establish mirroring again. We will not consider the restoration complete until DPM is able to create a new recovery point after the restoration. This is a standard measure used to define when a recovery has been completed successfully.
Considering the scenario we have described, let’s begin.

In the screenshot below, we see that we have database corruption which needs to be recovered.



We begin by opening the properties of the Principal database and going to the Mirroring page. On the right side of the page is a button titled “Remove Mirroring”. Click on this button and confirm the selection by clicking on the “Yes” button in the following dialog to remove mirroring. After mirroring has been removed, you will be able to begin the restoration process.

If mirroring is left enabled, then DPM will fail on the restore with a detailed error message indicating that mirroring is still enabled and must be removed before the restore can be completed successfully.



With mirroring broken, delete both copies of the database on the Principal and Mirror servers. During the restore, you will decide which will be the Principal and which will be the Mirror based on how the restore to each server is performed.

With each database deleted, begin the recovery process by navigating to the Recovery tab in the DPM Admin console and selecting the recovery point you wish to restore. When the “Specify Database State” page of the Recovery Wizard appears, you will have the option here to choose whether this server will be the Principal or the Mirror.
In the screen shot below, you will note that the “Leave database operational” radio button has been selected which indicates that the server selected will become the Principal server.



Before you start the recovery to the Mirror server, you must make sure that you are recovering using the same recovery point that was used for the Principal server’s recovery. If not, you will receive errors when attempting to establish mirroring between the two copies of the database.

When the recovery has progressed far enough along that you can begin another recovery, you can start the Mirror database recovery. In the “Specify Database State” page of the Recovery Wizard, make sure that you choose the radio button for “Leave database non-operational but able to restore additional transaction logs”. This will restore the database with the “Restore with NoRecovery” option enabled. As you recall from the blog on establishing a database mirror, this is a requirement when seeding the Mirror server.

This radio button helps to minimize the number of steps involved in the recovery process.



Once both of the restores have been completed and the Principal and Mirror database servers have the same copy of the database restored, you should verify that the necessary data has been restored to the server. If the expected data is still missing, you may need to consider restoring from a different recovery point.

If there are additional transactions that need to be replayed, consider creating the mirror and then replaying the transactions so that SQL will replicate them on the fly to the mirror.

With the data having been restored to both servers, now it is time to run the “Database Mirroring Wizard” from within SQL Server on the Principal server and setup mirroring on the database. Once mirroring has been established, you have completed the portion of the data restore that your users are concerned about.

You have not completed the restore from a DPM perspective, however. There is still an additional step to consider.
Since the database was recovered to its original location, DPM will not be able to create any additional Recovery Points until a consistency check has been run on the database. Once this consistency check has completed successfully, a new recovery point will be created.

From the DPM perspective, this newly created recovery point confirms the successful completion of the mirrored database recovery.

Summary
In recovering a mirrored database, the mirror must be broken first. After the mirror has been broken, the same recovery point must be used when populating the Principal and Mirror servers.

After the restore has been completed and the data verified, the mirror can then be recreated. Before DPM can continue to protect the mirrored database, a consistency check will need to be run. Once complete, a new recovery point will have been created and DPM will be able to continue protecting the mirrored database moving forward. ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/148-recovery-mirrored-sql-database.html GSM / GPRS / EDGE/ 3G / UMTS Coverage Indicators http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/147-gsm-gprs-edge-3g-umts-coverage-indicators.html Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT As a follow-up to last weeks post on CDMA Coverage Indicators, here's some info on GSM / GPRS / EDGE/ 3G / UMTS Coverage Indicators.

The two RIM KB's:

GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G Coverage Indicators

UMTS Coverage Indicators

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to add for this; it looks like all the bases are covered! At least now you know where to get all the info. :) ]]> hdawg http://blog.port3101.org/hdawg/147-gsm-gprs-edge-3g-umts-coverage-indicators.html