[isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006

  • From: "Thor (Hammer of God)" <thor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:29:31 -0800

Jeeze... I sent that over 4 hours ago...



t



From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Thor (Hammer of God)
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 11:20 AM
To: isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



If you put the server inside Windows Virtual Server, you don't have to
pay for the license... And of course, if people don't want BES, they can
always just allow IMAPS or POP3S to the Exchange box directly from the
BB config...



t



From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Mayo, Bill
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 11:02 AM
To: isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



This isn't what you are asking, but I thought I would mention that we
had a similar dilemma about a year ago with a limited number of users
wanting Blackberries.  We set up our BES on a virtual machine, and they
managed to negotiate to get the BES software for just the cost of the
user licenses (~$90 each).  That made our investment relatively modest
(cost of Windows Server license + the roughly $90 per user).  We have
had no problems at all with the virtual server being sufficient for the
number we have (around a dozen now, initially only 5).  This does, of
course, require that you have that virtual server infrastructure already
available, but I thought I would mention it since you indicated hardware
cost was a factor.



Bill Mayo



________________________________

From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Ball, Dan
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 1:47 PM
To: isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006

Yep, we went over all the options before we agreed to let them use the
Blackberry.   We also told them that if they couldn't get it working
with OWA then they might as well cancel their service, as we won't be
spending $4000+ for another server for two-three people to use.



There are some subtle changes with Exchange 2007 OWA that seem to be
confusing the Blackberry servers...   For example, with OWA 2003 it
would access the mailbox with this URL:
https://owa.domain.com/exchange/username.  But, with 2007, that URL no
longer works.  I initially thought it was
https://owa.domain.com/owa/username, but that URL does not work either.
I'm thinking it might be https://owa.domain.com/owa/username@xxxxxxxxxx,
but I cannot get that working either.



Like I said, their tech support claims it will simply will not work with
the ISA server involved, and they've had about a 60% success ratio with
other firewalls.





From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Jerry Young
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 1:11 PM
To: isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



Dan,



There are several ways to get corporate email to a BlackBerry handheld.



In the enterprise, the most common method is to purchase a BlackBerry
Enterprise Server (BES).  A user is created on the BES box, which points
to a mailbox on an Exchange server. A service account for BES is used to
access the users mailbox and send updates via TCP port 3101 (to
na.srp.blackberry.net in the States) to the user's handheld.  Updates
generally include complete PIM data (Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Notes,
Tasks) - wireless synchronization.  The information is pulled via a MAPI
(a lot of them - 10/user is a good start) connection handled by the BES
service account, which needs Send As permissions to the mailbox in
addition to other Exchange permissions, and then routed to the handheld
via the carrier network after reaching the RIM box mentioned earlier.



Another means is to use the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS - gets
confusing, I know!) offered by the carrier.  This is just a web page
that the user can access to configure BIS to pull email from different
accounts.  To my knowledge, the only data that can be "synched" is
email; no Calendar, Contacts, Notes, or Tasks synchronization.  This
service allows several means of contacting mail servers - POP, IMAP, and
OWA (HTTP).  My guess is, based on your description, this is what your
users are using and what they probably need to have updated to point to
the correct page - this is a user function, though, and not something an
admin would do unless the user and admin were *really, really* friendly.




A third method is to use the BlackBerry Desktop Redirector.  This is a
"poor man's" version of BES.  A program sits on the user's workstation
and monitors the Outlook profile's mailbox.  Changes made to the mailbox
are then forwarded to the handheld, although, I'm not sure if by the
same destination/port.  This requires, however, that the user's
workstation is on all the time and connected to the Exchange server at
all times.  When the BlackBerry Desktop Redirector isn't running, no
magic happens.



The final method - and one I hate to try using because of the silly
browsers on BlackBerry handhelds - is to access web mail and acces your
mailbox via a web page.  This will almost always requires JScript to be
enabled on the device and as others have reported, is spotty at best.



Honestly, I think the only thing that needs to happen is that the users
update the URL used to pull mail from OWA via their BIS accounts.



I hope this helps.  If you have any other questions about
BES/BlackBerry, let me know... I'm fairly familiar with the technology.



I am an independent contractor now so ah... ;)  Yeah. :D

On Jan 18, 2008 12:40 PM, Ball, Dan <DBall@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Figures... We have 2 users...



From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ] On Behalf Of Steve Moffat
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 12:16 PM


To: ISA Mailing List
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



Get a bes server...you'll never go back. Free for 1 user....



S



From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ] On Behalf Of Ball, Dan
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 1:13 PM
To: ISA Mailing List
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



No, I don't have a BES.  Blackberry servers actually log into Outlook
Web Access and do all their work through there.  I had it working with
Exchange 2003 and ISA2006, but when I upgraded to Exchange 2007 it no
longer works.



From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ] On Behalf Of Thor (Hammer of
God)
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 11:47 AM
To: isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [isalist] Re: Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



What do you mean "working with outlook web access 2007"  - what exact
config are you using?  You don't have BES?



t



From: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto: isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:isalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ] On Behalf Of Ball, Dan
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 8:36 AM
To: 'isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: [isalist] Blackberry, OWA2007, and ISA2006



Has anyone gotten a Blackberry working with Outlook Web Access 2007
through ISA2006?  Blackberry tech support is claiming that it will not
work at all, and is currently not supporting that configuration.










--
Cordially yours,
Jerry G. Young II
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

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