Openfire is a free, open-source and full featured Jabber-based Instant Messaging server.

This book is a guide to setting up Openfire, tweaking it, and customizing it to build a secure and feature-rich alternative to consumer IM networks. The features covered include details about setting up the server, adding and handling users and groups, updating, and extending the service with plug-ins, connecting with users on external IM networks, connecting with external voice over IP solutions and more, with user-friendly instructions and examples so that you can easily set up your IM network.

The book deals with several features of Openfire to streamline communication within an enterprise and beyond. It shows how to configure Openfire to allow only secured connections. It then explains how Openfire complements other existing services running on your network. Managing and fostering IM as a real-time collaboration and communication tool is what this book is about.

What you will learn from this book?

• Explore the advantages of IM over other communication modes and Openfire's features so that you can choose the best communication tool with the best server
• Install and run Openfire; configure different IM clients over Windows and Linux
• Extend with plug-ins to make your network feature-packed
• Manage your users and groups; add users via a Directory Server like OpenLDAP and Active Directory and import/export users from other networks
• Connect with users over external IM networks, connect with external VoIP solutions expanding your network's ability
• Monitor and filter content, audit messages, and manage archives as per regulation
• Set up an Openfire cluster and scale Openfire with connection managers
• Set up server-to-server communication, add users from a remote network, and transfer files across servers
• Enable database support in Openfire to handle thousands of users concurrently
• Install Fastpath and webchat to create and configure a helpdesk
• Maintain the server by monitoring sessions, reports, and usage statistics

Approach

This book is a functional step-by-step, easy-to-follow reference guide that explains how to use Openfire to develop a secure instant messenger network. Each chapter will tell you how to add features to your IM.

Having a simple practical approach, this book is very user-friendly.

Who this book is written for?

This book is for System Administrators who want to set up an in-house enterprise IM system using Openfire.

The reader will need experience in managing servers on any operating system.