BBM Meetings – #2: HowTo manage users

#1 of this blog series explained HowTo order BBM Meetings from BlackBerry Enterprise Store.

BlackBerry Identity Enterprise Admin Console

Now as you’re a lucky owner of BBM Meetings you’ll get an invitation mail as administrator:

If you followed #1 of this series you know that you need a BlackBerry ID to sign in:

If you still don’t have a BlackBerry ID you can register a new one directly from this site. Don’t forget to verify the mail address !

BlackBerry ID enables you to get access to a brandnew console: the BlackBerry Identity Enterprise Admin Console. The first product managed by this console is BBM Meetings.

Tap on “Admin”

From here you can see your Enterprise name, Users and Entitlements. If you need help -besides your profile name you’ll find the ‘Help’ button:

‘Help’ gives you access to a manual as pdf:

from ‘Entitlements’ you get a quick overview about your admins and users:

Invite Users (Hosts)

To invite new users click on BBM Meetings –> Invite Users and enter the email address.

Users in this context are users able to HOST BBM Meetings. Hosting can be done from all supported platforms (OSX, Windows, Android, iOS, BlackBerry10). Host – Users must have created a BlackBerry ID. If they’re hosting from BlackBerry 10 they’ll already have their BB ID, if hosting from iOS or Android and already a user of BBM or BBM Meetings they also will have a BB ID – in all other cases they have to create a new one.

As soon as you have invited a user, your dashboard will change:

Invited users will get an email like this one:

From here they can sign in with their BlackBerry ID – or create a new one.

After login the user gets access to the BlackBerry Identity Enterprise User Console, which looks similar to the Admin Console:

There’s nothing more to manage for the user.

Clicking on the BBM Meeting Icon opens the BBM Meetings website. Now the user can learn about BBM Meetings.

Scrolling down there are the download links for PC or Mac or mobile app stores:

Host BBM Meetings from OSX

After downloading and installing BBM Meetings on OSX you’ll get this:

From here you can attend meetings or host your own. To be able to host meetings click on ‘Login’ (Anmelden)

Only the first time you must login using your BlackBerry ID:

Then you’ll get access to the Meetings Host Menu on OSX:

You can start an Audio Meeting, Video Meeting or schedule Meetings.

Host BBM Meetings from mobile Devices

Here’s the workflow from a BlackBerry 10 device, but it’s similar for iOS or Android devices.

At first download BBM Meetings from BlackBerry World (if not already done)

BBM Meetings needs access to ‘Capture Screen’ if you want to share your screen with others and also to your Contact Info:

To start a Meeting the very first time you must login:

Sign in with your BlackBerry ID:

then enter your name for meetings:

add a photo:

and you’re ready to host your first BBM Meeting:

HowTo host BBM Meetings will be explained in part #3 of this series.

(Host) User Management

The BBM Meetings Administrator get’s an ooverview of his users from the Identity Console:

Good to know:

A (Host) User can only be added to ONE Identity Console – you must remove the user before another admin from another company can add again.

If you’re working on a PC at work, a MacBookPro at home and also use a BlackBerry 10 plus an iPad – then on all your devices you can log in with your Host user BlackBerry ID – this means: the Host user BB ID must not be the same as the BB ID from your mobile device.

Starting a BBM Meeting from one of your devices – per ex. from OSX and then also from your BlackBerry 10 – BBM Meetings knows that you’re the same person and automatically joins to your running conference.

In part #3 I will explain in detail HowTo host a BBM Meeting.

 

BBM Meetings – #1: HowTo order

BBM Meetings was introduced in November 2014 at BlackBerry Enterprise Day in San Francisco.

This Blog Series will help you to start with BBM Meetings if you’re the organizer of Meetings.

BBM Meetings is a product for Enterprise customers, but not only ….

BBM Meetings doesn’t need a BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES 10, BES 12) running !

BBM Meetings also targets Individuals, small groups or companies.

I’m an Independent Software Architect developing BlackBerry 10 Business Apps for customers all around the world and for me it’s important to discuss with partners and developers immediately. So BBM Meetings is great for me: I can meet others independent of the platform, because BBM Meetings supports:

• OSX (10.5.8+ Snow Leopard)
• Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1)
• BlackBerry10 (OS 10.2+)
• iOS (iPhone and iPad OS 6.0+)
• Android (OS 4.0+)

In another part of this series I’ll explain in detail how easy it is to use BBM Meetings – even if attendees never used BlackBerry software before. (YES: BBM Meetings is a great door opener for BlackBerry)

To manage BBM Meetings we have to distinguish these roles:

• BBM Meetings Administrator
• BBM Meetings Host
• BBM Meetings Attendee

Order BBM Meetings

There’s great documentation about BBM Meetings available online

From these documentation you’ll learn all about the features and HowTo attend at BBM Meetings.

You’ll also notice that you have to pay a monthly fee if you want to host meetings. (In Germany € 9,59 per month)

BlackBerry also makes it easy for you to start and offers a free 30-day-trial.

It seems there’s a huge demand and you’ll have to wait some time before getting your invitation to test BBM Meetings.

From featureset and demos at Enterprise Day in San Francisco for me it was clear I want to buy BBM Meetings to be able to host Meetings.

And there’s a way to order BBM Meetings 🙂

As you probably know the new BlackBerry (2014/2015) is strictly focused on Enterprise.

BBM Meetings is a special kind of app: on the one side it’s a great tool for Enterprises – on the other side it’s also great for ‘proactive’ consumers, freelancers, small companies or groups. I imagine there will be an easier way to buy BBM Meetings in the future, but the Enterprise way already works.

(this workflow below is working without the need to install a BES12 – in another blog series I’ll explain HowTo install and use BES12)

BlackBerry Enterprise Store

Enterprise Orders must be done from BlackBerry Enterprise Store

You can order the new BES12 or BBM Meetings. I’ll report about BES12 in another blog series.

If you never have ordered from BlackBerry Enterprise Store at first you have to register your company

As next from Enterprise Store select BBM Meetings from eBBM Suite.

Attention: As an enterprise customer you must pay the annual fee of € 115 (== € 9,59 per month) – prices for your country may differ.

Now add BBM Meetings to your Cart and follow the payment process.

From your “Hello xyz – Menu” you get access to your Subscriptions, Orders, Downloads, …)

Here are your Subscriptions:

Please note: BlackBerry also added Universal Advantage Support for you.

Hint: After placing the order you’ll get confirmation emails. Some times it takes some time – please be patient.

BlackBerry ID

For some operations BlackBerry is asking you to enter your BlackBerry ID. BlackBerry ID is FREE and if you’re an owner of a BlackBerry 10 Device you already will have a BlackBerry ID. It’s up to you if you want to use the same ID for Meetings Management or if you create a new one.

I’m a developer and so besides my personal devices I’m using many other devices to test apps with and so I’m using more then 10 BlackBerry ID’s

😉 I decided to create a special BlackBerry ID to manage BBM Meetings and other (upcoming) enterprise software .

Here you can register for you BlackBerry ID: https://blackberryid.blackberry.com/bbid/registration/registration_eula.seam

Important: To be able to use this BB ID with BBM Meetings you must verify the email address. Simply click on the link, wait for the email and reply.

Again: it can take some time before getting the mail.

Now you have ordered your BBM Meetings 🙂

Next part of this series will explain HowTo manage users.

 

 

KeePass on BES10

KeePass is a free and open source Pasword Safe.

There are downloads for many different OS: http://keepass.info/download.html

If you want to use KeePass from your BlackBerry 10 devices, here’s the KeePass for BlackBerry App in BlackBerry World:

Users trying to run  KeePass from their Work Perimeter and KeePass databases stored at BlackBerry Work Drives, couldn’t open the database. Unfortunately the developer couldn’t help – he had no time to support the code.

That’s where I got a request if I can take a look at this. The good thing on Open Source projects: The sourcecode was available at Github, so i did a fork here: https://github.com/ekke/KeePassForBlackBerry

Soon I found out that the developer constructed path names using some constants and he wasn’t aware that there’s an additional ‘-enterprise’ included if getting pathes from Work Perimeter, so it always failed to open the KeePass database.

I fixed this and pushed back to Github into my fork – perhaps the origin developer will find some time to pull the changes.

Install KeePass on your BES 10

In the meantime I built a deployable BAR file and published this file here to download:

Download the BAR file and install as an internal app on your BES 10. Here I have described HowTo install internal applications.

Publish the APP and your users will get it on their BlackBerry 10 Devices:

Open KeePass and open your database from BlackBerry Work Drives:

Select your KeePass Database from BlackBerry Work Drive, enter the Password and Open your Database:

Now you have access to your KeePass entries from BlackBerry 10 in Work Perimeter:

Hint: I’m not the developer of KeePass for BlackBerry – I only fixed a bug 😉

Using BlackBerry Work Drives

I have to admit: some weeks ago I never have heard about BlackBerry Work Drives 😉

I also wasn’t aware that there are Applications available from BlackBerry World running only in the work perimeter – so you need BlackBerry Balance and BES 10 to use them.

As a developer you should know about BlackBerry Work Drives – it’s really cool: imagine shared network drives from your Enterprise Server being available on your BlackBerry 10 Devices like normal shared files. That’s what BlackBerry Work Drives will give you. For FREE 🙂

Searching in the BlackBerry World for ‘BlackBerry Work Drives’ you’ll find this application:

It’s a good idea to copy the URL – we’ll need this one soon.

Add Application from BlackBerry World

I already have explained how you can add applications to your BES 10. See this article here.

You should read this article to understand HowTo add and publish applications. Now we’re doing the same for public BlackBerry World Applications. To add the application please copy in the URL:

As next we have to publish the app to your BES 10:

Now it’s the same workflow as described for the internal applications. Manage your Software Configuration:

and save it:

Prepare Shared Network Drive for BlackBerry Work Drives

As usual share your network drive on your Enterprise Server.

Remember: don’t use the shared network drive we added for internal App – Management !

As next add all the users who should be able to use files from this shared network drive and give all permissions to read / write.

Attention: You need a special permission to allow the user to use these shared network drives local on their BlackBerry 10 devices  !

As first users should be added to a user group – in this example it’s the bb10users group.

Here’s HowTo set the permission:

Open the Group Policy Management Editor on your server, then go to Policies | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | User Rights

and set the permission ‘Allow log on locally’ for this user group.

Thats it on the server side

BlackBerry World Apps on the Device

Open BlackBerry World – Work:

There are three Tabs to manage the applications in your work perimeter: Search for internal Apps, Public Apps and take a look at ‘My World’ to get an overview. From Public you’ll find the BlackBerry Work Drives to download. This looks similar to the BlackBerry World in your private perimeter.

Download the app !

Map Shared Drives from Enterprise to BlackBerry 10

Now you can Open  BlackBerry Work Drives and map your shared network drive to a local one. Use a name you like and enter the credentials and pathes from your server:

Now you can use your work drives same way as local drives. BlackBerry 10 does all to synchronize the data.

You can think about this as your own Secure DropBox 😉

Here you can see how all is integrated:

Top Left: File Manager from Work Perimeter gives access to Device (Work) and BlackBerry Work Drives

Top Right: File Manager from Private Perimeter gives access to Device (Private), SD Card and Cloud (DropBox, Box)

Bottom Left: BlackBerry Work Drives are managing the Mapping between Enterprise Server and local Device.

BlackBerry Work Drives from a Developers POV

Files from BlackBerry Work Drives behave like Dropbox or Box and you cann access them as /shared.

So in our sample /shared/ekkesServerDrive would be the correct path to read from or to write to shared network drives on your enterprise server.

Isn’t that easy ?

But attention: if you’re working with full path names – there will be append ‘-enterprise’ to the account path. If you’re not aware of this perhaps an app can be broken using BlackBerry Work Drives . You can read about here in this article.

Install internal APPs on BES 10

Some of you perhaps only install public applications from BlackBerry World on your devices managed by BES 10. This can easy be done from BlackBerry Administration Service: your administrator selects the applications and then they appear in your ‘BlackBerry World – Work’. (see also this article explaining HowTo install an app from BlackBerry World)

But there’s more flexibility from BES 10: you can also install ‘internal’ applications. Internal applications are applications where you got a BAR file to install from your IT or a developer. (If you need a specific application built for your company feel free to ask me 😉

It’s easy to install internal apps – here’s a short step-by-step guide.

Add the Application

The application you want to install should be on your server.

From browser open your BlackBerry Administration Service and go to Software | Applications | Manage Applications

Now you can add the application: select your BAR file from the file dialog, add the application and publish.

If you’re publishing internal applications the very first time probably you’ll get an error like this one:

BES 10 needs a special shared network drive to manage your internal applications. It’s best practice to use this shared network drive only to manage deployment of internal apps. So let us create such a shared drive.

Add the BES 10 Administrator as user and set all permissions:

Now we have to add this shared network drive to BES. Go to Servers and Components | BlackBerry solution | BlackBerry domain | Component View  | BlackBerry Administration Service

and select this shared network drive:

Save and again we’re trying to publish an internal application – this time without an error.

Now the BES knows about your app and has stored all what’s needed into the shared network drive. (Hint: don’t forget to include this drive into your backups)

Add to Software Configuration

BES 10 manages applications through Software Configurations. You can group your software into those configurations and then add to users. An easy and flexible way to manage application deployment.

If there’s no software configuration, please create a new one from Software | Create a Software Configuration  and enter a name.

Then go to Software | Manage Software Configurations and click on Edit Software Configuration

As next click on Add Applications:

Select the application(s) and configure the Disposition. Required applications will be installed automatically on all software – configuration – users, otherwise it’s up to the user to install manually.

Click to Add the application(s) to the Software Configuration, then Save all:

Add to User

If your users already are connected to the software configuration, you’re ready. If not here’s how to add the software configuration to users for the first time. Go to User | Manage Users:

Now click on Add Software Configuration:

From the overview of all your software configurations add all you want to use for this user:

Save this and you’re done.

Waiting for the Update at User Devices

Of course you want to test if all works well, but nothing is there on your device, you hit refresh from your BlackBerry World – Work, but nothing appears.

Don’t worry – the BES 10 server publishes all the changes not immediately and does this step-by-step: at first sending policy updates, then apps. There are some default values you can set to speed it up.

Go to Devices | Deployment Jobs | Specify Job Schedule Settings

Now you can change the defaults:

Hint: this will work for the next deployments – not the current ones. You still have to wait 😉

App at World – Work

Finally the application appears on the devices:

If you set the app as required there’s a lock icon notifying the user that he/she cannot delete the app.

Congratulations: you installed your first internal App 🙂