As time goes on a greater majority of companies are deciding to upgrade to Exchange 2010.  This of course offers many updates and upgrades to mail functionality however, also brings a few more challenges, or additions to the “to do” list if it is to be used in conjunction with a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.  This guide will go through the requirements and the configurations as if you are setting up a new BES from scratch that will be working with Exchange 2010.  Should you already have the BES then just skip to the parts that apply to you.

Create a specific BES Administrator Service Account

When using Exchange it is imperative that you create an Active Directory account that is dedicated solely to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.  This is known as a “Service Account” and is usually defaulted in any of RIM’s documentation and “BESAdmin”.  The reason for this is because the BESAdmin account will need specific permissions directly related to the BES, Exchange, and SQL database that the administrator account will not be set up for.  Trust me when I say having a BESAdmin account will make your life 100% easier.

Assign Permissions for BESAdmin Account

When working with an Exchange Environment it is also crucial to give your BES service account the appropriate permissions.  Giving this account more or less permissions than what is stated in the BlackBerry documentation will only result in a BES that does not function or install properly.  In order to set the permissions you will need to follow the document – KB02276

*Note – If you are using Exchange 2010 you will need to configure a Throttling Policy as Exchange by default limits the number of concurrent connections to it to about 20.  This is not good if your BES has over 20 users as it will block all users trying to connect to the exchange over 20.

You will also have to enter in a few more added permissions that come along with some added functionality on the 2010 version of Exchange.  This information is listed step by step in the following article from the BlackBerry Help website – KB22601.  This article does have a lot of steps in them but make sure you read it very carefully and that you do exactly what it says, this will set up the overall permissions and prerequisites needed for the Exchange 2010.

Install Latest MAPI/CDO client from Microsoft

The way that BES communicates to your Exchange is through the use of a MAPI connections for email and messages and CDO for calendaring.  This client is available for free from the microsoft website here – MAPI/CDO Client.  The MAPI/CDO client takes very little time to install after which it is not required to but I personally recommend rebooting the BES server.

Install your SQL Locally or Remotely

By default the BES software comes with SQL 2005 Express which will be installed locally to the BES server if you don’t already have another SQL server available.  If you have a full version of SQL or you want the SQL on another box take the time now to install it on another box and then enter in the permissions as stated in the section above from KB02276.

Install the BES software package

You are now ready to install the BlackBerry Enterprise Server software.   The installation once done will ask for a reboot, again reboot the server and once it comes back up you will go through a configuration portion where you will need to enter in all of your environmental Information.  Once this has been done you will start the services and your BES will be successfully installed and configured.

*Important Points to Note*
1. Whenever doing any kind of work on the BES server ie. Installs, Upgrades, Updates etc always, always use the “BESAdmin” account.

2. Java is auto installed with the BES software, it is currently Java 6 Update 18, any higher and this could break the BlackBerry Administration Service.