Correct Order to Start and Stop BlackBerry Enterprise Server Services Using PowerShell

A common activity I perform after patching Exchange Servers and Domain Controllers is to restart BlackBerry services on client BlackBerry servers. Failure to do so can lead to issues for BlackBerry users such as failed delivery, lookup failures and inability to send. RIM recommends a specific order for these services to be stopped and started. Since patching occurs typically occurs in the dead of night to avoid impacting end users, you want to get things done quickly but accurately so you can get some sleep. In the code samples below, I take advantage of Get-Service, Stop-Service and Start-Service to execute the correct order of the process. I store the required service order in an array and take advantage of the natural looping order of elements in "foreach" to manipulate the services. The remaining services are discovered by obtaining all services with the name BlackBerry and filtering out the services that required a specific order for stopping and starting. If there are any issues with stopping or stopping the services, the code immediately exits so you can take manual intervention, research and resolve the problem.

Stopping BlackBerry Services:

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
Set-Variable -name selectedServices -option Constant -value @("BlackBerry Controller","BlackBerry Dispatcher","BlackBerry Router")
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
foreach($selectedService in $selectedServices) {
 if((Get-Service -Name $selectedService).Status -ne "Stopped") {
  Write-Output "Stopping $selectedService..."
  Stop-Service -Name $selectedService
  if((Get-Service -Name $selectedService).Status -ne "Stopped") {
   Write-Output "$selectedService failed to stop. Exiting..."
   exit
  } else {
   Write-Output "$selectedService successfully stopped."
  }
 } else {
  Write-Output "$selectedService already stopped!"
 }
}
foreach($blackberryService in (Get-Service -Name Blackberry*)) {
 if($selectedServices -notcontains $blackberryService.Name) {
  if($blackberryService.Status -ne "Stopped") {
   Write-Output ("Stopping " + $blackberryService.Name + "...")
   Stop-Service -Name $blackberryService.Name
   if((Get-Service -Name $blackberryService.Name).Status -ne "Stopped") {
    Write-Output ($blackberryService.Name + " failed to stop. Exiting...")
    exit
   } else {
    Write-Output ($blackberryService.Name + " successfully stopped.")
   }
  } else {
   Write-Output ($blackberryService.Name + " already stopped!")
  }
 }
}

Starting BlackBerry Services:

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
Set-Variable -name selectedServices -option Constant -value @("BlackBerry Router","BlackBerry Dispatcher","BlackBerry Controller")
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
foreach($selectedService in $selectedServices) {
 if((Get-Service -Name $selectedService).Status -ne "Running") {
  Write-Output "Starting $selectedService..."
  Start-Service -Name $selectedService
  if((Get-Service -Name $selectedService).Status -ne "Running") {
   Write-Output "$selectedService failed to start. Exiting..."
   exit
  } else {
   Write-Output "$selectedService successfully started."
  }
 } else {
  Write-Output "$selectedService already running!"
 }
}
foreach($blackberryService in (Get-Service -Name Blackberry*)) {
 if($selectedServices -notcontains $blackberryService.Name) {
  if($blackberryService.Status -ne "Running") {
   Write-Output ("Starting " + $blackberryService.Name + "...")
   Start-Service -Name $blackberryService.Name
   if((Get-Service -Name $blackberryService.Name).Status -ne "Running") {
    Write-Output ($blackberryService.Name + " failed to start. Exiting...")
    exit
   } else {
    Write-Output ($blackberryService.Name + " successfully started.")
   }
  } else {
   Write-Output ($blackberryService.Name + " already running!")
  }
 }
}