The MDaemon Messaging Server is an enterprise-class email, contact and calendaring solution for businesses large and small ideal for those companies who do not require or do not wish to deploy and maintain a Microsoft Exchange infrastructure.
Following their acquisition by Research In Motion (RIM) last year, the company has now released the MDaemon Messaging Server BlackBerry Edition: a mail server product featuring BlackBerry Enterprise Server technology built in. User licenses purchased for the solution provide access to both email and BlackBerry service without the need to worry about separate mail and BlackBerry CALs.
Providing access to mailbox folders from within Outlook on the desktop as well as remote web-based access to data from any browser, not to mention optional additional support for Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol for use from Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Android, Symbian and iPhone devices, MDaemon Messaging Server can provide a feature-rich Exchange alternative.

In this article I shall focus on the BlackBerry Edition and the BlackBerry features available. For more information visit the MDaemon web site - http://www.mdaemon.co.uk

Installation

The installation process is quick and simple. A Windows-based server will be required, but there are no other pre-requisites.
A 30-day free trial is available for download from the web site. Running the installer package will install a copy of SQL Server 2005 Express, the Messaging components and the BlackBerry software automatically.

Click Next

Read the license agreement and select the option to accept the terms and conditions. Click Next

Specify where you want the program files to be stored. Click Next

Specify whether you want the BlackBerry services installed. Click Next

Select the option to install a trial version, or enter registration details if you have them. Click Next

If you selected the option to install a trial, the above window will be displayed. Click Next again

Select your country and click Next

Enter your registration information and click Next

Complete the required fields and click Next

After a few moments your trial key will be sent via email to the address you entered above. When you have it, enter it in the installer. Click Next

Click Next again. The installation will now commence. This may take a few minutes

When complete you will be prompted to enter mail delivery details:

Enter in the required information and click Next

Enter in the details of an administrative user account that will be used to manage the server. Additional administrators can be created later. Click Next

Specify whether you wish MDaemon to launch automatically when the server is powered on. Click Next

The installation is now complete. Specify whether you wish to start MDaemon now and click Finish.

If running a trial version, you will now be prompted to activate the solution - you will have 30 days of use from this point:

Adding Users

The administrative interface will now be displayed:

Click on the toolbar icon for New User to create a new user account:

Complete the user's name, username, password and email address fields and click OK to create the account.

Now edit the user account to enable BlackBerry service - you cannot enable BlackBerry service until the account is first created:

Select the option to specify an activation password for the user and type in the password twice when prompted:

You will be notified that the password will be valid for 48 hours:

The user can now run through the Enterprise Activation feature on their handheld to activate their device.

One nice feature of the MDaemon admin interface is that you can view email messages being send and received in real time. The screenshot below shows the activation email coming in:

Once activated the user's mailbox data will synchronise automatically.

Configuration

The IT policies available for application to BlackBerry devices is a restricted subset of the full BlackBerry Enterprise Server's capabilities. Available policies include:

• Password required
• Minimum password length
• User can disable password
• Max security timeout
• User can change timeout
• Max password age
• Set password timeout
• Set max password attempts
• Suppress password echo
• Max password history
• Forbidden passwords
• Force lock when holstered
• Content protection
• External file system encryption level
• Encryption on on-board device media files
• Password required for application download
• Disable organizer data access for social networking applications
• Allow web-based software loading

You can also specify how much mailbox data is synchronised to devices upon activation:

Once activated, devices can be remotely "killed" within the Account Manager:

It is important to note that in this architecture, web browsing from client devices does not go "through" the BES as with the BES Express and BES software, so it is not possible to enforce browsing restrictions on devices.

BlackBerry Internet Service

BIS users can also access their email from the MDaemon server. The webmail component of the server needs to be configured and enabled, which it is by default. Users can then enter the external web URL of the server into the BIS portal when creating a new email account:

and administrators can control which mailbox folders BIS users can synchronise:

For more information on the MDaemon Messaging Server BlackBerry Edition, visit the MDaemon web site - http://www.mdaemon.co.uk, or watch the below promotional video: