BlackBerry Enterprise Server Application Push FAQ

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1 BlackBerry Enterprise Server Application Push FAQ We have a custom BlackBerry application that is dependent on certain versions of the BlackBerry OS. Can we use an IT Policy to install the application based on the BlackBerry OS that the user is running? When you are writing your custom BlackBerry application, it is possible to stipulate which smartphones your application is intended for. During the application polling that is performed by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, information regarding the BlackBerry model type that users have is utilized, to ensure that the target BlackBerry smartphones meet the criteria for the delivery of the source application. Can you prevent BlackBerry smartphones from resetting after a software push? If the application that has been pushed included file level changes that require a reset of the BlackBerry, then the reset must occur, to make sure that the requisite files are updated. It is also possible to provoke a reset programmatically, if the newer BlackBerry Java Development environment (JDE) is used when developing a custom application for BlackBerry smartphones. What are some examples of BlackBerry applications that are being pushed and enforced? BlackBerry customers are pushing and enforcing many applications, according to the unique needs of their respective business environments. Examples include various CRM and financial applications, emergency contact lists, games and useful business utilities. If an application is central to the function of your business, it is a common practice to enforce the associated applications, so that users always have access to those applications at their fingertips. The ability to disallow applications gives administrators the flexibility to ensure that applications that are not required or that pose a security or productivity risk can be controlled and kept from user access. Do users have to do anything when we push down the BlackBerry smartphone software? The BlackBerry smartphone software is not pushed according to the same mechanism as applications. Users are not responsible for performing any actions, however when the loading of the BlackBerry smartphone software completes, a reset must be performed, so that the BlackBerry OS is started with the updated software. Are MDS IS BlackBerry applications included in BlackBerry Enterprise Server application push? BlackBerry Enterprise Server application push is done by leveraging the BlackBerry Policy server. It is possible to use this mechanism to push down an application and have the data pushed to the application using BlackBerry MDS; however there is a difference in what BlackBerry MDS does and what the BlackBerry Policy server does. Using BlackBerry MDS, you can perform operations such as channel pushes, which allow an administrator to push a custom icon to target BlackBerry smartphones and using that icon, the BlackBerry user can access various resources that have been configured to be accessed (for example, a custom intranet page or back end application data).

2 How much RAM should your BlackBerry Enterprise Server have to accommodate pushing applications to 500+ BlackBerry smartphones? Is there a limit to how many pushes can be performed? The requirements for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server include enough resources to facilitate application push. Please refer to the System Requirements for further details about the suggested hardware for running the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The appropriate documentation for your specific messaging platform (IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange or Novell Groupwise) can be found here: Generally speaking, the more RAM that you make available to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the better performance you will observe. Additionally, administrators can deploy their applications in segments, rather than to all users at once. This practice will minimize any concurrent resource strain on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. To measure the expected resources during an application push, administrators are encouraged to perform testing and benchmarking before pursuing a production deployment. There is no limit for how many BlackBerry users that can receive application pushes, however performing the application pushes in batches is recommend for network and server resource conservation purposes. At which point should I consider using a separate host server for our BlackBerry applications? We have 1 BlackBerry Enterprise Server with about 300 users? Customers with large enterprise environments are typically those who choose to host applications on a separate host server. Many BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (coupled with target users across all or many of them) necessitates that continued communication take place between each server; the host server, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the BlackBerry configuration database. If you currently have one BlackBerry Enterprise Server with less than 500 BlackBerry users, a separate host server is not needed but is certainly optional. How do the loader.exe utility and the Apploader folder get positioned on the host share if the share is configured to reside on a server that is not housing the BlackBerry Enterprise Server? The indexing of the BlackBerry applications is performed by running the loader.exe application locally on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Although the loader.exe resides on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, since you have configured the BlackBerry Enterprise Server with the location of the applications (during the setup of the Software Configuration), the loader.exe knows exactly where to check for the BlackBerry applications that must be indexed. When is it appropriate to use the /index and /reindex commands against the loader.exe application? I ve had some confusion in the past about when to use the different commands. The Application Loader builds the directory structure in the shared software directory and adds any missing index files for installed software upgrades. If you modify an alx file after creating a software index, re index the Handheld Software, using the loader/ reindex command. Using both of the aforementioned commands will ultimately perform an indexing operation against the application share.

3 How do I allow some BlackBerry applications (downloaded by my users) without maintaining.alx/.cod files internally? Is there a way to do this? If an administrator has not disallowed such applications from residing on BlackBerry user smartphones, they are free to download them and use them without the involvement of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Only the applications that an administrator intend to push via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server will have the associated files monitored on the host application share. If a user has an existing software configuration assigned to their BlackBerry Enterprise Server account and they activate a new BlackBerry, does the software automatically get re pushed to the new BlackBerry? Yes. During the periodic polling that is performed by the BlackBerry Policy server, any user with an assigned software configuration will have a check performed, to determine if they are supposed to have any applications but do not. When the check has been completed, any BlackBerry users who need to receive the applications have these application queued and pushed to their BlackBerry smartphone automatically. Is there any reconfiguring we will need to do if we upgrade all our smartphones to a different model BlackBerry? No. All BlackBerry smartphones that are running a minimum of BlackBerry smartphone software 4.0 (or higher) have the ability to receive applications via application push. No added configuration is required, beyond what is typically done to create a software configuration and assign that configuration to a target BlackBerry user. Do these applications take up space on the smartphone or do they run off the host computer? The applications that are pushed to the target BlackBerry smartphones will do not run from the host server; they are delivered to and reside on the BlackBerry smartphone. It is possible to have such an application leverage data from a back end application server but the physical application that the user has delivered to them is resident on their BlackBerry smartphone. Our company was previously using LCS 2005 and recently upgraded to LCS BlackBerry smartphones that originally had the BlackBerry LCS 2005 client application installed on them cannot be seamlessly upgraded wirelessly. These BlackBerry smartphones have to have the existing client deleted manually or both clients will be present. Is there a workaround for this? Applications that are developed by RIM are signed differently than those developed externally. This disallows conventional removal of applications using the disposition options within the BlackBerry Enterprise Server software configurations. We are aware of this behavior and are planning to address it in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 release (tentatively), in conjunction with BlackBerry smartphone software 4.5. In the interim, we are investigating possible solutions.

4 I ve seen applications not get pushed, after waiting for more than 4 hours. Ultimately, we used the Deploy Applications option and that seemed to work fine. Why? It is likely that a condition was encountered that prevented a successful software push. The debug logs for the BlackBerry Policy server should be reviewed, to determine what the condition is. There may also be relevant information in the ITAdminQueue in the BlackBerry configuration database. Is it possible to increase the 4 hour AppProvisioningPollInterval to 24 hours? Yes. The AppProvisioningPollInterval registry key affords administrators the opportunity to increase or decrease the polling interval. If you would like to increase the polling interval to a value that would cause the polling to occur every 24 hours, this is optional. How do you know what the minimal time requirement is before beginning another push? Are there any feedback parameters that we can monitor to know that the process has completed? The goal is to safely minimize the push frequency (reduce from 4hrs to 30min) for urgent app push requirements. There is no method to use for gathering the exact time differential between application pushes, as this is highly influenced by the amount of users that are being pushed to, hardware specifications and the availability and resources on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. There is however, a debug log line in the BlackBerry policy server logs that can be utilized to know when an individual application push has been completed successfully: [30000] (01/16 03:17:03):{0xFDC} {john.h.chacanaca@usps.gov, PIN=23C853ED, UserId=4288}RequestHandler::HandleAPPDDataCommand - Send Application to smartphone succeeded for entryid Where are the config status messages actually stored? Is it in ITAdminQueue Table? Yes. The BlackBerry configuration database contains dedicated columns in the ITAdminQueue table that store the status messages (and the applicable status codes). Can a user belong to multiple groups? Yes, a BlackBerry user can belong to multiple groups. My company is currently using BlackBerry Enterprise Server How do I access the ITAdminQueue table in the BlackBerry configuration database? The ITAdminQueue table is present in the BlackBerry configuration database. It is possible to access and interrogate this database using various tools, such as those provided by Microsoft with SQL Server and MSDE or those provided by IBM for use with DB2 databases. Any software application that can make a SQL connection to a database can access any of the tables in the BlackBerry configuration database. Does the BlackBerry MDS service need to be started and configured where Is Push server=true?

5 The push server setting that is available to configure in the BlackBerry MDS is not the same push mechanism. The push server role for MDS is responsible for data push exclusively and application push is performed using the BlackBerry Policy server. When you configure a MDS push server, you are configuring a MDS server as the principal in data push, leveraging a back end application server. Does the 4 hour poll interval performed by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server apply to the wired software delivery method in a software configuration? Yes. The polling performed by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server occurs at the specified polling interval, regardless of the method of delivery (wireline or wireless). How can I prevent a BlackBerry user the BlackBerry Enterprise Server from deleting an application that has been distributed as a required application? If an application has been configured by an administrator as required, BlackBerry users are prevented from removing it. If an administrator would like to provide their users with the option to remove the application after it has been delivered, the application must be configured to optional in the disposition of the Application control Policy. Is there any way to remove BlackBerry applications other than using the Disallowed disposition setting in the Application Control Policy? The only other way to remove an application involves user interaction; the BlackBerry user must delete the application on the BlackBerry or use the BlackBerry Desktop Manager to remove the application via the Application Loader. Is there a way to assign a blank software configuration policy to a BlackBerry user? It is possible to leave all options blank in the software configuration policy but doing so is uncommon. Most administrators are creating software configurations that they can use to deploy and govern existing BlackBerry applications, so this necessitates some modification of the software configuration. When setting up groups for specific BlackBerry application pushes, is it possible to pull groups via OpenLDAP or do the groups need to be created manually? The groups that you intend to push BlackBerry applications to need to be manually configured using the BlackBerry Manager or through using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit. Is the AppProvisioningPollInterval DWORD value set in minutes or hours? The value for the AppProvisioningPollInterval registry key is entered in minutes. Is Application Push a standard part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server? Yes Application Push is a native functionality of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.0 and later. BlackBerry smartphones must be running version 4.0 or later of the BlackBerry Smartphone software.

6 Is it possible to determine at what hours the poll occurs? In the debug logs for the BlackBerry Policy server, the polling sequence can be reviewed by searching for the string PollForMissingApps. This is the BlackBerry Enterprise Server function that is used to perform the polling process and runs within the BlackBerry Policy Server. How can I determine which applications are currently installed for each BlackBerry user on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server? The BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit has a utility named the BlackBerry Application Reporting Tool that can be leveraged to audit the BlackBerry applications that are in use throughout the BlackBerry Domain, and to identify any unapproved applications. How would BlackBerry Enterprise Server application push work for BlackBerry users that are overseas or currently travelling in a remote country (with BlackBerry coverage)? The BlackBerry solution is designed to connect users with their information while they are mobile. Similarly to how the other core functionalities operate (such as , calendaring and web browsing), a user does not have to be local to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server in order to receive an application push. The BlackBerry user is simply required to be in an area of adequate BlackBerry coverage and the source applications will be pushed to them automatically. Is the immediate push feature available via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit? No, this functionality is available exclusively in the BlackBerry Manager on each BlackBerry Enterprise Server (it is called Deploy Applications in the associated menu). The option to control the software configurations (that BlackBerry users are assigned to) is available in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit, however. Where do you find the Deploy Applications feature that avoids the polling interval (for testing)? The Deploy Applications feature can be found in the BlackBerry Manager, by right clicking on the desired BlackBerry user (in the Users tab) and selecting Deploy Applications from the context menu. What options are there for deploying applications which do not have alx/cod files? If the application is a commercial one, contact the vendor to see if they can help with providing these files. While access to the physical cod files is necessary, an alx file can be created manually, as well. What is the best way to clean up the package cache directory on each BlackBerry Enterprise Server? The host file share must be maintained manually. Each time that changes are made, it is recommended that the host folder share be re indexed, to ensure that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server has the most up to date inventory of the applications residing within the host folder share.

7 After attempting an application push to a BlackBerry user, I have seen a 907 invalid cod error. What would be a good method to correct this? Please refer to BlackBerry Technical Solution Center article KB15438 for details on how to resolve the 907 invalid cod error that can be experienced following an application push: =SAL_Public&dialogID= &stateId=0%200% How are existing BlackBerry applications on BlackBerry user smartphones (and in the host application share) affected by BlackBerry Enterprise Server upgrades? Will there be any adverse effects? Applications that exist on BlackBerry user s smartphones (and in the host application share) are not affected by BlackBerry Enterprise Server upgrades.