Boxer work during upgrade (SEG)?

[syarbrou]

I am using WS1 on premise with SEG server 2.19 and Boxer client.  When we start the upgrade process for WS1 Boxer complains the device server is down and no email.  I changed it for other reasons to allow off-line mode for a couple I'm on the plane requests, however that will probably be worse for those not noticing the message it's offline.  Anyway, does anyone know if it's possible to actively do email thru the SEG with Boxer when the device server or console server are down for updates?  

[JacquesPerrolle]

Yes I do, and yes they are, with a caveat...

The SEGs are (or should be) set up to store their own notion of device compliance and will continue to allow mail flow while the Consoles/ACC and/or the Device Services/AWCM servers are down for upgrade. The only email-related impact for existing users will be that device compliance cannot be updated (meaning I should get email now that I'm compliant on the device) while the consoles and device services are down.

The caveat:  If you have Boxer enrolled users, meaning they are NOT enrolled using Hub, then the below is NOT true. Boxer enrolled users will lose their ability to get email and will have to wait until the upgrades are complete. Hub enrolled users who use Boxer, they'll get email through the SEGs just fine.

I've managed our on-prem environment from v8.4 to the current v21.05 and done this many, many times.

[syarbrou]

Thanks for the reply.  That's what I thought.  Now let's take one person in particular at my company.  She loves the MDM system and loves Boxer.  Uses it all day everyday.  Last time we upgraded the system, Boxer came back and told her it couldn't connect to the Device Server and Offline mode is not enabled by your administrator.  Now Offline Mode is something else entirely, but we saw this message last upgrade.  One question I may surface from this, is there a limit to how long the device server can be offline before things stop working on purpose?  So if you are upgrading for say 6 hours would things stop working.  Just making up a time. 

[somemdm]

That sounds like it could be SDK policy to me.

Check what SDK policy is applied (if default or a specific one) to Boxer by clicking its link and going to the SDK tab. Then go to All Settings > Apps > Settings and Policies > Security Policies (or Profiles if one other than default is used) and ensure offline access is enabled.

[JacquesPerrolle]

So offline access is definitely configurable in the SDKs, as somemdm indicates. I never really thought about it much (I set ours to be 3 days, the weekend +1 (Monday Holiday) was my thinking), but I just assumed it was for content that was cached on the device. I don't know what the impact for email might be. In my experience the email must flow, and for Hub enrolled it did while anything other than the SEGs was down. I've had marathon upgrade sessions that took me 12+ hours (don't ask), and the whole time email flowed through the SEGs (again, for Hub enrolled).