Question : BES and NSPI connections

Hi

We are looking to implement Windows 2008 DC's in our environment, however I understand there is potentially an issue due to the way that 2008 DC's implement NSPI.

http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/viewContent.do?externalId=KB17325&sliceId=1

"As of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has changed the default behavior of the Domain Controller with regards to Named Service Provider Interface (NSPI) connections. NSPI is the interface that allows Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) to interact with the global catalog server to use the Microsoft® Exchange address book and to perform name resolution tasks requiring the information stored in the global catalog. Prior to Windows Server 2008, any individual MAPI client could make virtually unlimited numbers of NSPI connections to a global catalog without consequence. In order to more appropriately manage these connections from MAPI clients, Windows Server 2008 introduced a limit of 50 NSPI connections per user. For more details, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2019948 at the Microsoft Support web site.

This limit has little to no impact on a single user MAPI client; however, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server has to monitor the mailbox for each BlackBerry smartphone user that is added and requires more NSPI connections than a client, such as Microsoft® Outlook® would.

The number of NSPI connections required by a BlackBerry Enterprise Server can vary based on the number of BlackBerry smartphone users and the frequency of calendaring activity. It is recommended to configure a value based on the maximum possible concurrent connections a BlackBerry Enterprise Server could possibly make, rather than the typical average.

It is suggested to account for 1000 NSPI Connections per 1000 BlackBerry smartphone users on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, rounded up to the nearest thousand. For example, a BlackBerry Enterprise Server with 0-1000 BlackBerry smartphone users could use 1000 NSPI connections. A BlackBerry Enterprise Server with 1001-2000 users could use 2000 NSPI Connections.

It is important to note that the above method of determining the number of required NSPI connections is on a per server basis. The limit on NSPI connections is on a per user basis. If there are multiple BlackBerry Enterprise Servers in the environment running with the same service account, the number of NSPI connections all the BlackBerry Enterprise Servers require must be added together.

For example, in an environment with five BlackBerry Enterprise Servers averaging 1500 BlackBerry smartphone users each where all BlackBerry Enterprise Servers run under the same service account, the maximum number of concurrent NSPI Connections required would be 10000. In an environment with the same five BlackBerry Enterprise Servers where each server runs under a different service account, the maximum number of concurrent connections required would only be 2000."

I had some questions on this:

We have about 10 BES 4.1.x servers and about 10,000 BES users. We have one Service Account for BES.

1) Does the BES use one MAPI client (the BES Admin mailbox) to monitor all the mailboxes of BES accounts?

2) Is NSPI used for GAL lookups only (e.g. when a BB user looks up a contact in the GAL), or for other tasks as well? So, basically, does this problem only affect name resolution in the GAL, or can it affect BES message delivery etc?

3) Given that we have one Service Account for our BES environment, do we need to change the reg . key value to 10,000?

4) Is it possible for BES to use multiple service accounts, if so how?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer : BES and NSPI connections

Hello,

1) BES uses one MAPI client per BES server. In your case, where you have 10 BES servers, you have 10 MAPI clients operating.

2) NSPI is used by the MAPI client to retrieve information from the directory. Without an NSPI connection, the MAPI client will not function and BES will stop working properly.

3) Assuming your 10,000 users are spread evenly over the 10 BES servers, you would need to set the reg key to 10,000 (1000 connections per server X 10 servers)

4) Yes, you can use multiple BES service accounts but it is a one-to-one ratio of service account to server. In your case, you could use 10 different service accounts (1 per server). In that case, you could set the reg key to 1000. Here is information on how you change the service account - http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/viewContent.do?externalId=KB04293&sliceId=1

JJ