Multiple Notes/Domino address books on your BlackBerry

Long has been the problem of having multiple address books sync to a BlackBerry hand held device.  In the past when we used Palm Pilots and Palm based solutions, we were able to have the users personal address book as well as a department directory, (based on pernames.ntf and shared with the department), sync to the Contacts section of the handheld.  In earlier versions of BES, users clamored for this same feature.  Well, one of the unexpected gems I picked up at BlackBerry admin training a couple of weeks ago was the ability to synchronize public contact lists like a department directory down to the Blackberry handhelds.  From what I was told, that Exchange thing was able to do it, but the functionality was not there in Domino.
New to BES 5 is the ability to provide to users this same option on Domino.  Win.  To configure the option, open your browser and log into the BAS server.  Follow these easy steps:  (Stolen from the online help!)

In the BlackBerry® Administration Service, on the Servers and components menu, expand BlackBerry Solution topology > BlackBerry Domain > Component view.

Click Email.

Click Edit component.

In the Published contact servers section, in the User synchronized public contact servers maximum field, type the maximum number of public contact databases that users can access from their BlackBerry devices. The default value is 20.

In the Contact server name field, type the name of a contact server.(Servername/org/cert)

In the Database name field, type the name of a public contact database.(database.nsf)

Click the Add icon.

Repeat steps 5 to 7 for each public contact database that you want to add.

Click Save all.

After you finish: To permit BlackBerry device users to access the public contact databases that you specified, use the BlackBerry Administration Service to control which public contact databases users can access, or instruct users to use the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager or BlackBerry® Web Desktop Manager to select the available public contact databases.

There is one IMPORTANT bug with this process that I discovered with the help of RIM's support desk.  Like most Domino databases, you have the default security in the ACL set to No Access and users rights granted through the user of groups.  It doesn't work that way with this process.  The default ACL access must be set to reader OR the users must be listed in the ACL individually.   While it's kind of a pain in the butt doing it this way, it does work.  After RIM pinged away at it for a couple of weeks, I heard back Friday that it has listed it as a bug that will be fixed in a future release....but no word on which release. 
Still though, a great new feature for the product!

MR1 for BES 4.1.6 available

The much anticipated MR1 for BES 4.1.6 is available for download. Probably the biggest fix included with this maintenance release is the fix when rich text is being used:

SDR 201970
In BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 4.1 SP6, if a message contains rich content and plaintext, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server might create hung threads.
In BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 4.1 SP6 MR1 and later, this issue is resolved.

Just wish it came out a couple of days ago when I did the upgrade. Oh well.

A BES 4.1.6 Upgrade Gotchas

For some reason, upgrading the BlackBerry server freaks me out more then does upgrading a Domino server. Not sure why. Probably because everyone has become so addicted to the CrackBerry that any downtime or loss of functionality in it would almost instantly cause them to go into convulsive fits. So when upgrading the BlackBerry server today from 4.1.3 to 4.1.6, I thought I had everything in order for a quick, "get in early, upgrade it and get outta here to enjoy my Sunday". That was my first mistake.
The upgrade itself went pretty smooth. No errors popped up while the software installed. After reboot, the server came up and appeared to be working okay. My BlackBerry almost instantly started to go through the Enterprise Activation again and within a couple of minutes was all nice and upgraded. But shortly after, a Sametime window opened on my screen from a user who saw I was working. He then asked me if anyone else was noticing calendar entries on their devices being duplicated after the upgrade. I thought that was kind of weird, so I looked at my BlackBerry and saw that I had it too.
I called into BlackBerry support and was told that this sometimes happens on a 4.1.6 upgrade. Doesn't happen to everyone, but does happen to some people. There are two different things you can try to do to fix it.

1. On the hand held, drill down through the following menus. Options-Advanced Options-Service Book. Once there, delete the Desktop [CICAL] server book. Then from the BlackBerry Manager either installed on your machine or on the server, click on the BlackBerry server that was upgraded, select the users name that is having the issue and then in the bottom right-hand window, expand IT Admin and click on Resend Service Book. That will update the user and get the calendar entries set back correctly.
   
2. Select all users in your domain, expand IT Admin and then click Resend Service Book.

I tried the first with the user and that got him working. After talking with BlackBerry support further, they did suggest that I could do the second option also, (which I did), just to make sure everyone gets an updated service book but, this issue could still occur if their original service book is corrupted during the upgrade.
A second gotcha that I've seen during the upgrade is some weird logging on the Domino console. In this case the BES is giving messages that state:
09/14/2008 12:51:14 PM {Domino User Name} Mail Server CN=BES-SERVER/O=ORG failed over to CN=HomeMailServer/O=ORG
09/14/2008 12:51:14 PM {Domino User Name} Mail Server CN=HomeMailServer/O=ORG failed over to CN=BES-SERVER/O=ORG
I asked BlackBerry support about this one too. They told me that it's an issue that will hopefully be resolved shortly but is known. Click here to see more information from RIM.
So after watching the server for a while longer, it appears things have calmed down enough for me to make my escape. I'm sure tomorrow morning will prove to be a busy one.

Distant Thunder?

News breaking today...well, rumor at least, that the BlackBerry Thunder is scheduled to be released on October 8th! The rumor included that it will include a 3.2 megapixel camera, micro SD slot and music downloads via Rhapsody. Lord knows that Verizon can't wait to start pushing this on everyone as a hopeful iPhone killer. Only time will tell.

Read all about it here.

A stormy fall?

Once again, the Boy Genius Report website is first with big news regarding the iPhone-esq offering from BlackBerry code named Thunder. They are reporting that there will be a HUGE marketing push in September followed by a mid-October release on Verizon. Hopefully that timetable holds and hopefully they fix some of the problems that had been earlier reported with the device. Only time will tell! Stay tuned!

And if you haven't checked out BGR, it's worth adding it to your RSS feeds.

BGR gives Thunder a FAIL

The "Boy Genius Report" site today came out with some new information regarding BlackBerry Thunder. You can read all about it here, but from what it sounds like, it doesn't look good for the device any time soon.

I really hope BlackBerry is able to pull it together quickly. I'm beginning to think that RIM is putting out devices too fast as of late without fully testing them like they had done on the earlier, more reliable models. As we have been rolling out more and more BlackBerry's at work, I'm seeing more and more having problems almost similar to what I had seen in the later days of Palm Treo's we used to have. For a while, we saw ALL kinds of quality problems with them.

Lotus on BlackBerry slide from WES.

Lotus on BlackBerry.JPG
Originally uploaded by BlackBerry Cool

I was browsing through BlackBerry Cool's Flickr and tripped across this from the WES OGS. I wonder what they had to say about it!

Lotus Connections also got a mention as well. Full WES OGS details here

BlackBerry 9000 first look!

The gang over at Crackberry.com posted a YouTube video showing off a BlackBerry 9000 and the 4.6 OS. The rumor mill was hot a couple of weeks ago with the 9000 for sale on eBay, was it real and all that. From the looks of it, it is. Check out the video. Looks pretty cool so far, but I'm sure the final production will be much better!

Emails disappearing from a BlackBerry?

I've had this one happen to me a couple of times recently and wanted to share what to do about it. As I posted a couple of days ago, I installed Guitar Hero III for the BlackBerry. It's a pretty neat little application even with the half of a song they give you on the trial. But I noticed something Friday night....I lost all of my email from the week on the BlackBerry! The server copy was intact, just the local ones on the BlackBerry.
Well, the easy answer is....uninstall stuff from your BlackBerry to free up memory. Sure, all those Google apps and Yahoo! to Go are cool, but they eat memory on the handheld and when the memory pool is low, email is the first thing to go. Not sure how much memory you have left on your BlackBerry? Simple.

• Options
• Status
• and then note File Free. That's the amount in bytes left on your BlackBerry.

After uninstalling a couple of Google apps and Monopoly, mail started saving again. It would be nice if you could install applications to run off of the memory card I installed in the device. Hopefully thats on the road map for the future.

GUITAR HERO III....on a BlackBerry?

When I saw this the other day, the date was April 1st so I thought that it was just a joke.
Nope. It's for real. I downloaded the trial version today and I have to admit that it is kinda cool for a BlackBerry game. The trial version included my favorite GH3 song Santana's Black Magic Women, (which I normally rock out with at least a 95% hit rate on the Wii. Easy mode of course). Not sure if I'm going to spend the full $15 bucks for the game or not, but it is something cool to play with on a rainy Friday.
Visit Bplay for more info and to download your free trial too.

Curve on Verizon

Verizon announced today that the 8330 Curve will be released on their network in the near future.
I, of course, have one question. Will it have the WiFi feature enabled or will that be another one of the Verizon "we'll charge you to use a built in feature" deals. Only time will tell. I have one on order with our sales rep.

BlackBerry outage on Saturday?

As I'm tip-toeing through my RSS feeds this morning, I'm seeing a couple of reports that RIM is having a scheduled outage Saturday morning between 2AM - 6AM EDT for both BES and BIS. While I haven't yet found anything from the company themselves, it is posted on several sites I visit often. Check it out here.

The fun of BlackBerry and other stuff

I've been working with the BlackBerry ECL, (Emergency Contact List), application that is available from RIM for free for a while now and haven't had a lot of luck with. The browser push would work, but after a while the cache would become corrupt and the data could not be displayed. So, I kicked it up a notch and decided to push the ECL application down to the handhelds so the information would be stored locally instead of only being cached. Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, I had to learn the hard way that when you set up a new software configuration in the BlackBerry Manager and you assign that config to a user, it can take up to 4 hours for the application to be installed on the device. I, of course, had expected it to happen instantaneously and when it didn't I called support. They are good people there. After about 2 hours, the new configs started showing up on the BlackBerry's and all was right with the kingdom.

So with being the hero of the day, I decided to use the opportunity to ask for permission to go to Notes/Domino 8 upgrade seminar that is a part of Admin2008 in Boston...and it was approved! Had to remind the boss folks that the ND6 seminar cd's that we purchased from The View a couple of years ago REALLY prepared me for that upgrade. So, I now that that to look forward to.
Just hope that I don't get food poisoning at this event.

This just in: "Critical" outage on BlackBerry!

Something seemed odd shortly after 3 today when the BlackBerry's stopped working. Became even odder when I tried to contact BlackBerry support and couldn't get through. That's to Reuters, I was able to finally find out why.

TORONTO (Reuters) - E-mail service of Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones experienced a "critical severity outage" on Monday, the company told clients in an e-mail.

"This is an emergency notification regarding the current BlackBerry Infrastructure outage," stated an e-mail from RIM support account manager Bryan Simpson. The e-mail said the outage affected enterprise clients and "users of the Americas network."

RIM was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; editing by Rob Wilson)

I think it's going to be a long night.

Update: It appears around 6:50 PM EST, mail was flowing to my hand held properly. Stay tuned to Andy's House O' Blog for continuing team coverage.