Environment
Novell GroupWise 7
BlackBerry Enterprise Server
BlackBerry Enterprise Server
Situation
BlackBerry can't log in.
BlackBerry device is unable to authenticate after information changes in GroupWise or eDirectory.
Previously-absent admin-defined fields may be present in GroupWise that show alternate information from the correct user ID's. The admin-defined fields may not show up correctly in GroupWise and may not be directly editable. BlackBerry seems to choose this new field as the UID from which to authenticate. Since it is different than the actual ID, the authentication fails.
BlackBerry device is unable to authenticate after information changes in GroupWise or eDirectory.
Previously-absent admin-defined fields may be present in GroupWise that show alternate information from the correct user ID's. The admin-defined fields may not show up correctly in GroupWise and may not be directly editable. BlackBerry seems to choose this new field as the UID from which to authenticate. Since it is different than the actual ID, the authentication fails.
Resolution
Please see the following articles as of 8.08.08 on RIM's site:
KB10325 - BlackBerry device user name or email address displays incorrectly in BlackBerry Manager after it is changed in Novell GroupWise
KB10325 - BlackBerry device user name or email address displays incorrectly in BlackBerry Manager after it is changed in Novell GroupWise
KB05182 - Synchronize GroupWise System Address Book
Note the first article discusses that a change in GroupWise may cause a change in the BES server that will require a user deletion and re-synchronization. This may or may not work, but is the least invasive step to use and has been shown to be effective in some scenarios.
The second article presents more detail about the GroupWise/BES synchronization.
In some instances it may be necessary to use a 'Clear and Synch' rather than a simple synchronization.
If an administrator is not familiar with or comfortable with using this process, they are encouraged to contact RIM or reference RIM's site 'www.blackberry.com' for more information or for direct help and suggestions.
Note the first article discusses that a change in GroupWise may cause a change in the BES server that will require a user deletion and re-synchronization. This may or may not work, but is the least invasive step to use and has been shown to be effective in some scenarios.
The second article presents more detail about the GroupWise/BES synchronization.
In some instances it may be necessary to use a 'Clear and Synch' rather than a simple synchronization.
If an administrator is not familiar with or comfortable with using this process, they are encouraged to contact RIM or reference RIM's site 'www.blackberry.com' for more information or for direct help and suggestions.
Additional Information
NOTE: The extra admin-defined fields were not present on new users, which might suggest that the strange fields were legacy fields left over from a past upgrade. It was found that these fields were somehow added via the synch to the BES server. The fields were visible only when the 'display object' was used on a GroupWise user. After the 'clear and synch' process finished these fields tended to disappear.
e.g. A user named 'John Doe' would have the field 'jdoe' as a user name. In the admin-defined field the user name would be 'jdoe2' or something similar. This field would be the one that BlackBerry would reference to authenticate. The user name would not be found and the authentication would fail. Somehow, the 'jdoe2' was added during the synch between the BES database and GroupWise and BlackBerry would use the name it had created as the authentication piece. It is, as yet, unclear which information changed that caused BlackBerry to push the edited name into the admin-defined field.
e.g. A user named 'John Doe' would have the field 'jdoe' as a user name. In the admin-defined field the user name would be 'jdoe2' or something similar. This field would be the one that BlackBerry would reference to authenticate. The user name would not be found and the authentication would fail. Somehow, the 'jdoe2' was added during the synch between the BES database and GroupWise and BlackBerry would use the name it had created as the authentication piece. It is, as yet, unclear which information changed that caused BlackBerry to push the edited name into the admin-defined field.