BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoftż Exchange: Installation and Administration [Paperback]

Dan Renfroe (Author), Mitesh Desai (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2007

This book describes the installation, configuration, and administration of BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange, with background information on the BlackBerry architecture, security, and disaster recovery planning. Written by mobile and wireless technology experts, this book provides a straightforward approach to setting up your first BlackBerry Enterprise Server, provisioning users and devices, and implementing administrative techniques. This book is written for IT professionals and network administrators who need to implement a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The text assumes basic familiarity with Microsoft Windows Server administration, but provides detailed instructions for administrators with varying levels of experience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dan Renfroe has been a technology professional for over ten years, working in diverse environments such as higher education, public safety, and federal government. He has a broad range of technical experience, including systems administration and analysis, multimedia development, technical writing and quality assurance. He is currently a consultant for OST, Inc., a management consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He has authored multiple mobile and wireless technology articles for Network Computing magazine on topics ranging from mobile e-mail servers and mobile VPN applications to WLAN infrastructure and analysis tools.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Packt Publishing (October 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847192467
• ISBN-13: 978-1847192462
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,295,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not the best book on the subject, December 6, 2007

By 

Gary Slinger (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoftż Exchange: Installation and Administration (Paperback)

I was offered a copy of "Blackberry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange Installation and Administration" for review. This is the one published by Packt Publishing, written by Mitesh Desai and Dan Renfroe. I readily accepted the offer.

I was pre-disposed to like this book - I really was. I've worked with BlackBerry's, and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), for quite some time; have written about them, and am a big fan of the devices, technology and platform.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Right off the bat, just looking at the book made me blink. It has a list price $44.99, and is currently available on Amazon.com for $41.03, yet it is only 166 pages of content, plus a couple of pages for the index, with an overall print quality - just flicking through the pages will tell you this - that looks like a systems administrator put this together one afternoon and printed it out on the office laser printer. And not a good, current laser printer either. The screenshots show this particularly well (and this is a "fully released" book, not an advance copy, in case you're wondering).

Look, I know technical books "cost more", but let's keep things reasonable and in perspective, shall we?

So, on to actual content. The co-author and reviewer of this book are the same, and his biography is printed twice at the start of the book - sorry, but that's sloppy reviewing and editing, and doesn't really inspire me with confidence as to the rest of the book. And sure enough, now I'm at the table of contents, merely at page "ii", and there's a spacing error on one of the chapter titles. Petty? Trivial? Sure, on one level. But again - it's an indication of the level of detail that has (not) been paid to this work.

Alrighty then, on to the real, actual content. No, I'm sorry - one more. Is it "BlackBerry", or "Blackberry"? Yes, I know the correct answer, but it appears the folks behind this book don't. At that point of discovery, I was tempted and inclined to stop reading the book, but I did feel obligated to continue.

So, in brief - there's nothing in the meat of the content that isn't already in the published RIM documentation, but there's something to be said for having it bound together. Better quality screenshots would've been nice too. The text assumes you know nothing going in to this task - documenting, step-by-step, for instance, the creation of the service account and mailbox. I may have "big-company" fixation here, but I'd expect - or at least prefer - that my BES administrator already had that level of knowledge.

Look, bottom-line - if you've absolutely no experience with the BES, and have little to no knowledge with the underlying operating system, this probably would get you up and running - this is an "installation and administration" book, so don't look too hard for anything in the troubleshooting area, which is a shame, because you definitely need that as well.

I wouldn't purchase this book, and I don't and won't recommend it. Other opinions may vary, but this is mine. Sorry Packt.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth your time and money, February 2, 2008

By 

Derek L. Batey (Salem, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoftż Exchange: Installation and Administration (Paperback)

I saw nothing beneficial from this book outside what I received from RIM's own website. I found myself skipping through obvious step after step on setups. Nothing insightful at all here. My own training I provide in Word documents to my internal help desk provide better information.

I was really hoping for more. Over priced for what you get. Spend your time on forums or RIM's own resources.

How do I return???

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really no information in this book that was useful., April 15, 2009

By 

bbhorrigan (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoftż Exchange: Installation and Administration (Paperback)

I've found this book as a collection of screen shots, but no actual useful information about BES. I guess this could be used as a install guide for the BES but that is about it. Missed plenty of key points though. As a BES Engineer, this book had potential to be so much better, a real let down.


Refund?