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Category: BlackBerry Enterprise Server TechNotes

Created: 03 April 2011

RIM have launched a web site dedicated to troubleshooting commonly-occurring problems with BlackBerry devices and identifying possible faulty units.

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Category: BlackBerry Enterprise Server TechNotes

Created: 02 March 2011

Citrix XenServer is an enterprise class server virtualization platform, similar to VMWare ESX. It is based off the open source Xen project, and supports bare-metal (Type-1 hypervisor) installation, multiple virtual CPU, and flexible memory management. Both Intel and AMD have contributed modifications to Xen to support their AMD-V and Intel VT architecture extensions. This has been a significant development because it allows proprietary operating systems (such as Microsoft Windows) to be virtualized since the guest system's kernel does not require modification when the host runs on Intel VT or AMD-V hardware.

As RIM moves forward to certify more enterprise level virtualization environments, Citrix XenServer should be considered as a leading product, as it is one of the only real enterprise competitors to VMWare and Microsoft, and Xen is the leading Open Source virtualization solution.

Some customers are already virtualizing Linux and Microsoft Windows servers on Citrix XenServer as it is a more economical solution than VMWare ESX, or Microsoft Hyper-V. Currently Citrix XenServer is available for free. Xen is included by default in Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Fedora Linux 7, and other Linux distributions.

• Dell sells PowerEdge servers shipped with the bare-metal hypervisor to support Citrix XenServer.
• Hewlett-Packard has also announced support for XenServer virtualization on HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers.

As more customers virtualize their environments to take advantage of the multiple benefits, they will expect definitive support for these environments. Currently customers running Citrix XenServer are supported “best effort” only, which could cause reluctance to upscale their BlackBerry® Enterprise Server deployments.

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Category: BlackBerry Enterprise Server TechNotes

Created: 10 March 2011

As a result of recent customer queries, we started making a comparison of Lotus Traveler and Blackberry Enterprise Software.

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Category: BlackBerry Enterprise Server TechNotes

Created: 05 January 2011

Here is an explanation on how the version of Lotus Notes client and mail template affect the synchronization of contacts between the Blackberry smartphone and the Lotus Notes mail file.

A Lotus Notes user's Personal Address Book contacts can be synchronized, or replicated, to the mail database using functionality that exists in the Lotus Notes mail client.

1. Synchronization via Action > Synchronize Address Book is a function of a mail database template which exists in Lotus Notes versions prior to R8.
   
   This action creates a Contacts_<Replica ID> field in the iNotesprofile Profile document
   
   In BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SP6 to 4.1 SP7, such users are recognized as Lotus iNotes users and the Location - Server and Location - Relative Path fields in BlackBerry Manager are automatically populated with user's mail database location
   
   
2. Synchronization via Replication is a function of the Lotus Notes client which exists in R8 and higher.
   
   It does not create a Contacts_<Replica ID> field in the iNotesprofile Profile document, where <Replica ID> is a 16-character Hex value of the ReplicaID of the address book that is the source of contacts
   
   In BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SP6 to 4.1 SP7, such users are not recognized as Lotus iNotes users and the Location - Server and Location - Relative Path fields in BlackBerry Manager are not automatically populated with the Lotus Notes users' mail database location unless the AllowUnsyncedINotes registry key is set to 1. When this registry key is implemented, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server recognizes all users as Lotus iNotes users. If the registry key PrepopulatePIMForiNotesUsers exists on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, then the value should be zero
   

Important: Both types of synchronization should not be used at the same time, as this can result in unexpected contact synchronization behavior in Lotus Notes.

What is a profile document?

• A profile document is a special type of document that cannot be seen in any view in Lotus Notes
• It can be viewed only with programming or special tools such as NotesPeek or ScanEZ
• Each profile document has a unique name. For example, when modifying any items under the Preferences option in a Lotus Notes user's mail database (for example, set Out Of Office, Archiving options, etc.), a user is working with different profile documents

Profile documents are not design elements and are not deleted or replaced during database design modifications. Therefore, if a user with a mail template prior to R8 synchronized contacts using the Action option, this function would create a Contacts_<Replica ID> field in the iNotesprofile Profile document. If the template of the mail database was subsequently replaced with an R8 template and the Lotus Notes client was upgraded to R8 and the contacts were configured to be synchronized with replication, then when this user is added to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SP6 to 4.1 SP7, the BlackBerry smartphone user will be recognized as a Lotus iNotes user because the iNotesprofile Profile document still has the Contacts_<Replica ID> field that was created in Lotus Notes prior to the Lotus Notes client upgrade.

When troubleshooting contact synchronization issues, it is recommended to check the following:

• The Lotus Notes client version that is currently affected
• The mail template that is currently in use
• The method used to synchronize contacts (Action > Synchronize or Replication)

For example, if a user has an R8 Lotus Notes client and the mail database uses an R6 mail template, the following behaviour will be observed:

• When this user synchronizes the Personal Address Book with Action > Synchronize, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SP6 to 4.1 SP7 recognizes the user as a Lotus iNotes user, even though it is an R8 Lotus Notes client
  
  
• When the user synchronizes the Personal Address Book using the Replication option only (i.e., has never synchronized with Action > Synchronize), then BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SP6 to 4.1 SP7 does not recognize the user as a Lotus iNotes user even though the user's mail database template is R6