Only one BlackBerry message folder?

Having factory reset some client devices and configured them with their new BlackBerry Professional Server everything was good until a user reported that all his work and personal emails were going to a single message folder along with any SMS.

Having checked the config and resent the service books and then forced a network reconciliation it's still not right, checked for hidden folders, no not that either, Vodafone technical don't know so it's off to the BlackBerry forums and the solution is a simple option change:

Select OPTIONS, then GENERAL OPTIONS, scroll down the list and select seperate against SMS and EMAIL and that will filter the messages into the appropriate message folders on the frontscreen

Exchange - bulk calendar permission changes

If you've ever needed to change the permissions on many Exchange calendars and wished for a tool to make things simple you need to checkout these posts relating a free MS tool PFDAVAdmin

http://www.msexchange.org/articles/PFDavAdmin-tool-Part2.html

BlackBerry Enterprise Server & Firewalls

If your firewall allows outbound connections on port 3101 from your server then you're good to go.

Despite what the install instructions say you don't need to configure a rule for inbound traffic on port 3101 as can be shown here in a test from the server we've just deployed:

C:\> bbsrptest
NetworkAccessNode is srp.gb.blackberry.net.
Attempting to connect to srp.gb.blackberry.net (193.109.81.33), port 3101
Sending test packet
Waiting for response
Receiving response
Checking response
Successful

BlackBerry - the factory reset procedure

To erase all the data on your BlackBerry device, complete the following steps. This option is available with BlackBerry Device Software 3.8 and later.

1. In the device Options, click Security
2. If you are using BlackBerry Device Software 4.1, click Security Options > General Security.
3. Click the trackwheel and select Wipe Handheld. 3. Click Continue.
4. Type “blackberry”. All the data on the BlackBerry device is erased.

On some new versions of blackberry software the menu navigation is slightly different:

1. Go to Options
2. Select Security Options.
3. Select General Settings
4. Click the Menu key
5. Select Wipe Handheld
6. Click Continue
7. Type “blackberry”. All the data on the BlackBerry device is erased.

Both options require that once it is wiped, hard-reset the handheld (remove the battery and reinsert). You can now perform Blackberry Wireless Activation again.

Testing SMTP based email

To manually perform a mail transaction through telnet, perform the following steps:

1. From a Command prompt, Type:
   telnet mail.domainhere.com 25
   This specifies to telnet to port 25 on a mail host for domainhere.com
   220
   The mail host identifies itself. This should be accompanied by several lines of introductory text:
   
2. Type:
   HELO hostname.com where hostname.com specifies your domain.
3. 250 OK followed by the server you are connecting to.
   
4. Type:
   MAIL FROM:
   where you@hostname.com indicates the address the mail should appear to be from.
   Note: You must include the equality(< >) signs
   250 OK
   
5. Type:
   RCPT TO: Note: You must include the equality(< >) signs
   250 OK
   
6. Type:
   DATA
   START MAIL INPUT, END WITH "." ON A LINE BY ITSELF
   
7. Type a brief message, followed by . (Type a period on a line by itself, then hit ENTER.)

250 OK

Where's all my space gone?

A client's SBS2003 Premium server has started to alert us to low disk space on the C: which is bit odd as it shouldn't have been growing.

A quick download of the trial of Treesize Pro to see where the space is going highlighted an issue with the directory C:\WINDOWS\INSTALLER which had jumped to 7.6Gb - ow!

So how do we sort the installer problem - if you're very brave you could just zap all the files after taking a backup - not recommended.

The sensible solution is to use the Microsoft tool desgined to sort these installer problems, so d ownload the "Windows Installer CleanUp" utility from Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301 

Then from the command prompt run "MSIZAP G"

The G option tells MsiZap.exe to remove all orphaned cached Windows Installer data files

Remote Desktop Disconnected - error in data encryption

We've just rebuilt a Dell 2950 system  running Broadcom NetXtreme II NIC's with Windows Server 2008 64-bit for a client and had issues with RDP dropping the session stating "error in data encryption"

The fix is simple, you need to disable IPv4 Large Send Offload on the network card - either from Control Panel - Network Connections or using the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite