Need help getting BES working

April 17, 2007 3:12 AM

I've set up my BlackBerry Enterprise Server, but now I'm trying to connect via a GSM network and it won't activate. What have I done wrong?

The box hosting BlackBerry Enterprise Server is also our Exchange server and domain controller, and everything works fine when I plug in my BlackBerry via USB. This makes me think that the problem is almost certainly a connection failure between phone and server. We're a small office network - bordering on a setup similar to a large home. We have a Linksys router which everything sits behind on which we can enable port forwarding.

When I use Enterprise Activation on my BlackBerry, I enter my email address and activation code, whereupon it says "Activating [e-mail]". After about 5 minutes, it times out saying the server is unreachable. How does it know which server to look at? Do I need to forward any ports from the outside world to this machine?

It's a BlackBerry 8700 on Vodafone UK, running BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1.3. Any help is much appreciated!

posted by samstarling to computers & internet (13 comments total)

I'm not a BES admin, but 9 times out of 10 these types of issues are caused by the lack of service books.

Pure conjecture: I believe that when you're on a BES and you register the device it talks to you and not the provider. You should have the service books on your end to push to the device. Or, all else fails, go to Options->Network settings (on the device) and register. See what happens.
posted by purephase at 4:58 AM on April 17, 2007

Oh, and one of the primary focuses for support at RIM (and not your provider) is BES with Exchange. Try giving them a call.
posted by purephase at 4:59 AM on April 17, 2007

Why are you trying to connect via GSM? If you want data functionality, you need to use GPRS or 3G. Look at your BB. Beneath the time, you should see either GPRS or 3G. If it's not there, then you need to call Vodafone to have them enable the Blackberry for Business plan on the device.
posted by Optamystic at 5:38 AM on April 17, 2007

Sorry Optamystic, I'm using GPRS over my GSM network, just wanted people to know I'm not using WiFi or something like that. (I have GPRS in uppercase and not lowercase, which indicates that I am enabled for BlackBerry for Business).
posted by samstarling at 6:13 AM on April 17, 2007

It could be your spam filter or junk email blocker on your email client. Have you tried putting in an external email address like hotmail or gmail in the activation screen just to see if it is sending out mail? If you try that, and that external account gets the activation email (you'll know it when you see it), you may need to make allowances for that domain in your spam settings (if you have them). Also, do you have another blackberry device that you can send a test PIN message to? Sometimes the PIN is not active which would prevent any traffic from going through.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:13 AM on April 17, 2007

Thanks Burhanistan, thats got me one step further – I can see emails land in my Gmail inbox when I try using that address. How do I know which account my BES is watching for these emails though?

You're right though, they're not coming through on the address I am trying, so they must be being blocked somewhere.
posted by samstarling at 7:32 AM on April 17, 2007

The BES will look for whatever email address you specify, really. Mine is tied to an account in active directory, so it goes and pulls from the global address list.

But just offhand I'd agree with you that the activation email is being blocked (note how it looks rather suspicious with all the numbers and long smtp address). Did you check your outlook junk folder? Do you also manage whatever spam filter your network has in place?
posted by Burhanistan at 7:42 AM on April 17, 2007

I've whitelisted *@*blackberry.net, as well as the specific address. The mail comes from our ISP where some junk is filtered (the address is whitelisted here), and then to our Exchange server where it passes through SpamPal (whitelisted here too) and then into our inboxes. All external email falls into a central inbox, always, but we can email each others private accounts internally.

I'm trying to access one of these private accounts. When I add this user into BlackBerry Manager, I'm presented with a "Select Mailbox" screen. Maybe I'm missing something...
posted by samstarling at 7:49 AM on April 17, 2007

I'm no BES expert, and my solution is pretty simple since we host our own mail and it's all AD/exchange. Do those private accounts that you're trying to set up have associated AD accounts?
posted by Burhanistan at 7:58 AM on April 17, 2007

They do indeed, yes.
posted by samstarling at 8:00 AM on April 17, 2007

Hmm. I'm a bit stumped at the moment and having data collisions with other things at work here so I'll have to leave you to the mercy of AskMe. I'll check back later to see if you're still having trouble and try to diagram your setup to diagnose.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:03 AM on April 17, 2007

Thanks Burhanistan - much appreciated, my email is in my profile, should you wish.
posted by samstarling at 8:55 AM on April 17, 2007

One thing to note is that, in the US, there are usually different data plans if you are using BIS or BES. The BES plans cost more. I'm assuming this is because it requires a more "unfettered" data connection from the mobile service provider.

It's possible that your data plan will not support a BES registration?
posted by jeversol at 11:58 AM on April 17, 2007