One of the questions that frequently comes up, is the use of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) settings that are entered within the mobile Administrator.
The BlackBerry Enterprise Server settings are only used by Real-time Windows Service to construct a PUSH request to sent to a device. This specific request is to inform a user that data is available. The retrieval of the data is pulled down (not pushed) just as if the user was performing a manually synchronization.
In order to have push properly configured on the BES side, a BES needs to be setup as a central Push server. In a scenario where multiple BES servers are serving many users in a management database, and load balancing is frequently done, having a central push server will ensure that the same push URL can be used, regardless of what BES is used for a users email traffic.
The mobile settings that are entered for a PUSH request are as follows
BES Server: (the address of the central push server)
Port: (the port of the push server, default is 8080)
The two settings above can be set globally if the customer has only 1 Push server, or can be specified on per user basis
Other settings (per user)
Device PIN: (the device PIN, this should be automatically populated when the user/device first initializes ( i.e. when first sync is done))
Device Port: (listening port on device for Push requests)
These settings are used to construct a Push request in the following format
http://<SERVER_URL>:<PORT>/push?DESTINATION=<DEVICE_PIN>&PORT=<CLIENT_PORT>&REQUESTURI=/
This can be entered into a browser, and a blank screen should be displayed if a 200 (Ok) status is returned.
The most common errors that seem to be encountered, are 403 (access denied) errors
Some background on the 403 error from a BlackBerry perspective
403 | Access control error, or unknown email address, or BlackBerry PIN specified. Note: This response code was added in Mobile Data Service 4.0. Previous versions would respond to this error with response code 400. | The email address or PIN used in the Push was not recognized as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server user enabled for Mobile Data Service. Push access control has been enabled on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the user or computer that is performing the Push has not been granted permission to perform a Push. |
In our test, our with mobile settings are as follows
BES Server: 10.227.66.241
Port: 9001 (Default here is 8080)
Device PIN: 20755C1A
Device Port: 10000
The URL would be as follows
http://10.227.66.241:9001/push?DESTINATION=20755C1A&PORT=10000&REQUESTURI=/
If I paste this into an internet explorer, I get a blank screen (i.e. a 200 response code without errors).
If I change the PIN to an invalid PIN I get the following
On the BES, if the MDS Connection Service settings are set to use authentication with encryption (SSL) I get the following
Since the push request from the mobile server does not currently support SSL, the following should be configured for the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service
After making any changes, the service should be restarted (this can be done from within the BlackBerry Manager).
Hope this is helpful in providing a better understanding on how to configure and troubleshoot the basic use of Push in Sage SalesLogix Mobile
