Howto do some Blackberry admin tasks and configurations

Setup Sametime OTA clients

This first section is on how to setup and use the Sametime OTA Clients.
I hope you can learn from my mistakes and help me build up this list.


There are a number of steps to be done in no particular order. The first is to download the sametime clients. Note that the default installs either gives you the 4.1.0 4.2.0 4.6.0 and that is via the sametime Desktop 2[1].1.15c client install or the storm install via 2[1].2.11c These instructions will show you how to get them all running together. The big thing to note is if you want these clients to install OTA (Over the Air) then don't use the OTA clients. (Yes crazy I know)
Blackberry Sametime clients
You want two clients.
BlackBerry V2.2 Storm only filename sametime_Desktop_2.2.11c.zip file size 582KB Date posted 6th January 09 and
samedtime_Desktop_2.1.15c.zip file size 1.16MB date posted 17th December 08.
Now you got to unzip these in the right order else you will lose the alx files we need.
The default location is C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ressearch In Motion\Shared\Applications
First you unzip the bold 2.2.11c zip and then you unzip the 2.1.15c zip. This will give you a file structure like the pic on the right.
Now we need to edit the alx files. When you open the sametime.alx file you will see the following:-
<director _appsVersion="[4.1.0,4.2.0)">For_4.1.0</directory>
<director _appsVersion="[4.2.0,4.6.0)">For_4.2.0</directory>
<director _appsVersion="[4.6.0,5.1.0)">For_4.6.0</directory>
You will need to change this to the following for every alx file in the root directory.
<director _appsVersion="[4.1.0,4.2.0)">For_4.1.0</directory>
<director _appsVersion="[4.2.0,4.6.0)">For_4.2.0</directory>
<director _appsVersion="[4.6.0,4.7.0)">For_4.6.0</directory>
<director _appsVersion="[4.7.0,5.1.0)">For_4.7.0</directory>
Your not there yet but your on the way
Now you need to download the latest Device.xml and Vendor.xml from blackberry.
You copy these files to c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader

Now set the file share for the "c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion" directory as in the picture on the right
You now open a dos box (had a new IT graduate ask me what a dos box was:-) and run
c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader>loader.exe /index
If you have run this before you can use the /reindex command. This will put the PkDBCache.xml and the specificaitons.pkg in the sametime directory.


The next thing to do is to select your BlackBerry Domain.
Once there you need to select the Software Configurations tab.
The once there you select the Add New Configuration option and that will show you the next screen.

Your so close now you can almost taste it. (This is why I work in IT only a True Lotus/Blackberry geek can get excited by getting this working) The potential having all our blackberry users tap into the sametime network. OK Sean calm down your not there yet.



Once you have the new configuration box up you can then select change. This will bring up the device Software Share Location. You can put in the 127.0.0.1 for the server. You could put in the server name but this is hard coding.

We have a number of servers in our domain so given a choice I will have a general name rather than a specific. The other thing is you could have a single server with the configurations on. This means only setting the OTA software up on a single server. But this also means a single point of failure. I guess it comes from supporting Brentford Football Club but I always assume the worst. If you have a single point of failure then it will fail. Murphy's law I think its call. Neil Murphy that is!!

When you select OK you don't get the next screen then its time to go back and check your share and the setup. Something has gone wrong before.








If everything has been right up until now you will get the Application Software box show up. Now even though it says 2.1.15 when you load onto a Storm it will load the later release onto the Storm. It will even tell you the correct release version on the storm. You could change this version number in the alx files if you wanted. This next screen shows you the delivery and if you just click you will get drop down boxes so you can set your Device Software Configuration screen as shown. The other thing to do is to select the Policies button. You define a policy for sametime and assign it to the application here. Once everything is done then you should see the software Configurations screen (Third pic on this page) with the sametime name under configuration. The next thing to do is to roll it out to users. There are a number of ways to do this but I will next document a few of the commands that will help you get started.

Administer Sametime OTA Clients

This section shows you how to administer the roleout of the sametime OTA clients once it has been setup.


Now you can do the big bang and assign sametime to everyone all at once. If this is your approach then you should find yourself another job. You should not be working in IT. Yes I know the big bang started the universe but look what a mess it made of it. Slow down and test. If it can go wrong it will go wrong. Neil Murphy's law. Take it one at a time.

In the Blackberry Managers Admin Screen you select the user you want to role it out to. (No not the CEO)
Then in the Device Management section you can hit the Assign Software Configuration button.
You then get the pop up box Select a software configuration.
If you have done the setting up section then sametime should be in your list. You can select sametime and hit ok. This will assign sametime client to be pushed OTA to this user.

Now it can take up to 4 hours to get pushed out. But you can speed this up if you want. You can deploy sametime ASAP to the user if you don't want to wait. In the IT Admin section just hit the Deploy Applications option. If you look in the POLC log on the server you can see which version of sametime client is being pushed to the user.

I would give it 10 to 20 mins for the software to get out to the device you can then use the "update Configuration Check Status" option in the Device Management menu. This will go out to the device and check it has everything it should. It will then update the persons entry with its details. The Status Check Time is the time that you hit the "Update Configuration Check Status" and you can see that the "Application Status" is Up to date for the Configuration Sametime. OK your now up and running. Don't forget to send Sean some Beer tokens.

Issues I have found with Sametime OTA

I updated the sametime with new coded. These instructions were for 2.1.1.15c there has since been a 19c I replaced the later cod files on the BES servers with the 19c files. This update then got pushed out to the users. Just that on some users in the bes it gave a number of errors such as "device state invalid" and "upgrade required". Under the covers the SQL database is out of step with the device. The solution is to edit properties for the users and change "Automatic BlackBerry Device Management Enabled" to False and apply. This will clear the SQL data out of the database for the users sametime. You then set this back to True and it will re-populate the SQL database and bring the two back into line.

Find your BlackBerry Phone Number

On the phone where you would enter a phone number you enter *#100# and this then will show you your phone number.

Find extra log info on the BlackBerry

Alt LgLg will show you the logs on the BlackBerry.
Alt VIEW will show you the uid of the email you are in so you can look in the logs
On the storm the Alt key is the "!?123" key. Trouble is when you press this you can't see the letters. You then type $-21 (that is VIEW but with the character keyboard)

Hidden Menu Commands

There are some hidden menus and powerful commands relating to BES synchronisation.
These shouldn't become a 'fix all' and we should be careful with them (probably not expose them to end users where possible), but they are worth trying if the solution would have previously been to wipe the device anyway.
Here are two issues I've fixed already with these:
Issue: Events were duplicated (appearing twice) in the BlackBerry calendar but not on Lotus Notes.
Fix: Go into calender options, hold down ALT and type RSET. This command wipes the Blackberry's calendar and requests a new copy from the server. This fixed the issue so events showed only once.

Issue: User has stopped receiving email on device.

Fix: Force a 'slow sync' by going to the Enterpise Activation menu, hold down ALT and type CNFG. Turn 'Wirelss Reconile' off. Wait a few minutes then turn back on. After a few seconds an activation screen will appear. Let is complete and the issue was fixed.

Hidden Menus and Commands

Source: http://www.blackberryforums.com.au/forums/blackberry-general-discussion/2915-hidden-menus.html
Enterprise Activation(Options->Advanced)
ALT+CNFG - Settings for Enterprise Activation

Address Book
ALT+VALD - Validate the data structure and look for inconsistencies
ALT+RBLD - Force a data structure rebuild
from the Options menu, type the following (No ALT+ required)
RSET - Will prompt to erase & reload for a reload of the Address book from the BES
(n.b. this will wipe all entries, but you can goto SIM Phone Book & copy entries back afterwards)

Browser
ALT+RBVS - View web page source code

Calendar
Open up a Calendar item
ALT+VIEW Inside any Calendar item Show extra info for a Calendar event
(including message ID - handy for BES log troubleshooting)

from the Options menu, type the following (No ALT+ required)
SYNC - Enable Calendar slow sync
RSET - Will prompt for a reload of the calendar from the BES
RCFG - Request BES configuration
SCFG - Send device configuration
DCFG - Get CICAL configuration
SUPD - Enable detailed Cal. report for backup
SUPS - Disable detailed Cal. report for backup
SUPN - Disable Cal. report database
LUID - Enable view by UID
SRSL - Show Reminder status log

Messaging
ALT+VIEW - For messages, displays the RefId and FolderId for that particular message. For PIM items, displays only the RefId.

Search Application
ALT+ADVM Search Application Enabled Advanced Global Search

Home Screen
ALT(left)+Shift(right)+Del - Restart the Blackberry (only for full-keyboard Blackberries)
ALT+JKVV - Display cause of PDP reject
ALT+CAP+ H - Displays the Help Me screen
ALT + EACE - Displays the Help Me screen
ALT + ESCR - Displays the Help Me screen
ALT + NMLL - Switches the signal strength from bars to a numeric value.
ALT + LGLG - Displays the Java™ event log.