It's been a long time since the days when IBM and Microsoft dominated the EIM market. Now, there are a range of EIM platforms in addition to IBM Lotus Sametime and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. Some of the most popular ones are ejabberd, jabberd2, Tigase, and Jabber XCP. According to Wikipedia, there are about 90 million users using Jabber-based servers. Openfire is one such server.
Note: The protocol on which Openfire is based on is now formally called XMPP or Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. It was formally known as Jabber, but some people confuse this with the company of the same name (Jabber Inc.). In this book, both terms are used interchangeably to refer to the protocol.
But what's so special about Openfire? There are many Jabber-based EIM servers available on the market. Openfire, which is written in Java, implements most features of XMP, according to Jabber's own website. As a product, Openfire is cross-platform, and is also very easy to setup and administer.
Openfire has lots of features designed to streamline communication within an enterprise. Some of Openfire's features, such as its secure design, are due to its well respected Jabber protocol. Jabber uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) by default, and will establish a secure connection if one is available. Openfire can be configured to allow only secured connections.
While the basic version of the server is available free of cost, an enterprise version, which can be bought for a fee, has features suitable for a large multi-office corporation. Openfire will suit a wide range of enterprises, from home office set-ups to large multi-site enterprises, as it is dual-licensed under GPL along with a commercial extension.
As we'll see in the course of this book, the free GPL'd version is no dumb cousin and has a variety of features that you'd need in an IM server, such as centralized administration of user lists, the ability to broadcast messages to entire groups, and customizable presence states, and tops it all off with a secure feature-rich client. Openfire is designed to complement other existing services running on your network. So, for example, it can plug into a directory server for authenticating users, or into an Asterisk setup for telephony.
Here's a list of some of Openfire's features:
1. Standards compliant.
2. Easy to install.
3. Works with multiple external databases in addition to a built-in one: Openfire can work with several databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MS SQLServer, and IBM DB2. Its own embedded database is powered by HSQLDB.
4. Can interface with OpenLDAP or Active Directory.
5. Cross-linked, easy to navigate web-based front-end: Irrespective of what setting you are trying to tweak, the interface provides you with lots of information and offers you various options to choose from. For example, if you want to change how Openfire handles offline messages, the server offers you various permutations to store, bounce, or drop messages. The interface is also cross-linked, which allows you quicker access to relevant portions of the configuration. For example, in the "Server Information" section, along with a list of ports in use, Openfire has a link to the "Security Settings" section from where you can edit the security settings of the ports.
6. Easy to create and manage user groups: These user groups can be shared to easily pre-populate new users' contact lists with the right people.
7. Custom audit policy: Openfire can audit IM traffic on the server and save the data to XML files. Audit policy settings allow control over how auditing occurs.
8. Group chat and room administration: You can easily create and manage chat rooms. Options allow control over room moderation, maximum occupancy, presence information, and more. The group chat room summary page allows you to view and edit current chat rooms and create new ones.
9. Act as a gateway to other public networks: Gateway settings allow you to authorize individual client applications so that only clients that have been audited for proper security are allowed on your network.
10. Lots of security options: Security settings allow you to control who your users can and can't talk to. Client control allows you to determine which features are enabled in users' IM clients, such as enabling file transfer, message broadcasting, or group chat.
11. Has a secure client: The developers of Openfire also make available a free and open-source client called Spark. Spark is written in Java and is designed to make full use of Openfire's security features.
12. Extend with plugins: A host of plugins are available for functionality such as importing and exporting data and exposing presence data as a web service. Plugins can be fully administered from inside the Openfire administration console. Even the Spark client can learn new tricks with plugins.
13. Advanced Reporting tools: Openfire has advanced reporting tools, which include statistics on active users, conversations, group chat rooms, packet counts and more. With the enterprise edition, you can generate reports for preset time frames or enter specific dates to narrow results. Openfire reports can also be exported as a PDF file.
14. Client control: Openfire Enterprise lets you control the features that are enabled in users' IM clients (for Spark and other clients), such as enabling file transfer, message broadcasting, or group chat. You can also control the version of Spark deployed by users from inside the administration console.
15. Distribute Loads: When deployed in a large enterprise, Openfire has a couple of tricks up its sleeve to distribute and manage loads with other Openfire servers.
16. Run an online helpdesk: With Openfire's Fastpath service you can establish a communication link with users outside your network. This can be used for something as simple as communicating with visitors to your website or as comprehensive as an online helpdesk.
This is just a brief round-up of Openfire's features to get you excited about the book. Again the book is not written to show off Openfire. Instead it's designed to help you setup a usable instant messaging workhorse of a server to kick out any communication blues and enhance the productivity of anyone using the system.