Got a Blackberry Enterprise Server? Try BerryStats .ASP beta

Ok, first a disclaimer: I am not a web developer by any means, but I can put together decent VBScript/ASP stuff....I'm just not really that good with CSS and making them completely W3C compliant (in other words, it looks like crap in Firefox - but I'm working on that).

So with that, I will get on with today's post.

Way back when, Brent Grim made something that all of us BES administrators needed/wanted: a way to quickly report on our BlackBerrys in the field - i.e. what OS version they had installed, IMEI, PIN, memory, etc. -

In 2006, I added some functionality to BerryStats by including an interface to a BES resource kit tool (BesUserAdminClient), which would allow a person to add a user via a web browser.

This year, now that I am back in a job where I am administering a BES server again - I have continued to develop BerryStats into a more robust solution for administering users through a web browser, and have added many more options that interface with the User Admin Client.


BerryStats allows a BES administrator to:
User functions

• Search for device by user name/PIN/cell carrier/model
• Add/Delete a user account
• Set enterprise activation password
• Set device password
• Set owner information
• Assign an IT policy to a user
• Assign a user to a group
• List installed handheld modules
• List installed handheld applications
• Send email to user
• Send PIN to user
• Resend servicebook
• Resend peer-to-peer key
• Kill handheld

Server:

• List server statistics (SRP ID/link status, message stats, SRP key, BES version, etc.)
• Stop/start BlackBerry relevant services
• List BES client license keys
• List IT Policies
• List and count of distinct device models
• List and count of distinct device Operating Systems

The nice thing?

You can do all of this through the BlackBerry browser, which was previously not possible.

I've kept Brent's original (OK, somewhat tweaked by me) BerryStats code which means you can filter and sort on a variety of device/user statistics.

Now, I know that there are some similar tools out there that are all over the board as far as price is concerned (and have more functions), but I felt that the last thing that an IT department wants to do is spend a ton of cash on something that provides something that really should have been there all along.

What next?

I'm currently working on LDAP authentication for Active Directory, and some additional reports using the flash-based AMCharts module.

Also, I'm planning on working on a way to automate some reports.

BerryStats is currently in development, so there are lots of changes ahead, but the user functions work just fine. Give it a try and let me know which features you would like added.

You can keep track of the development (and find the download link) at my other blog: http://berrystats.blogspot.com.

Requirements:

• IIS with ASP support installed
• Relative server paths enabled
• Client: IE or BlackBerry Browser only (I'm working on this to support more browsers)