Kudos to RIM Tech Support
Last week, I was doing all of my DST updates (yes, that’s why it’s been quiet around here.) Anyway, one of the things I tried to do over the weekend was install the upgrade to the latest version of the Blackberry server. Needless to say, it crapped out in the middle and wouldn’t go past a certain point. Wouldn’t let me start over either. Just kinda kept me in limbo. So, I would exit out of the install and start the services manually. Despite never finishing the install, I was able to get the Blackberries delivering mail again.
Two days later (last week, leading up to DST D-Day) I called RIM’s Blackberry Enterprise support. I got a guy named Ned, and we walked through backing up the box, uninstalling, reinstalling and getting it running better than it ever has. This was the best support call I have EVER had. The guy was smart, and knew his own product better than me (which sadly almost never happens) He was also thorough, patient (with my slow server) and didn’t dumb it down or follow a script. He knew my tech level and ran with it. After about an hour and a half we had the new install up and running like a champ. This was the one black cloud that was hanging over me last week, and when we finished up I was like a giddy schoolgirl. I was ready for DST damnit.
So if you ever wondered if you should fork out the cash for RIM’s techsupport, there is no question. Simply the best I’ve encountered.
March 14, 2007 @ 8:06 am
Overall I’ve been extremely pleased with our BES and support. But I must say their upgrade process needs more testing. Every single time I’ve had to do an upgrade that required additions or deletions to the SQL databases, the upgrade fails miserably. Thus was my situation when I upgraded from 2.2 > 4.0 and when I did a test upgrade from 4.0 to 4.1, and even when I did my production upgrade to 4.1. They’ve been resolved via tech support, but it would be nice to just do an upgrade and have it work. Just my .02
March 15, 2007 @ 7:42 am
I agree with you for sure. The upgrades have always failed for me, but for some reason the server still always worked, even if it meant manually running services. So, despite itself, it still seems to be solid software.
I do agree though, but I think we are spoiled with Domino upgrades, maybe all software doesn’t upgrade as easily