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08May

OpenFire: a Java Jabber/XMPP server

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OpenFire
is an open source project from igniterealtime.
It is an IM (Instant Messaging) server that can be installed on any corporate
private network to provide IM solutions to its community. It uses the popular Jabber/XMPP
protocol so you can communicate with it through almost any multi-protocol IM
client (Pidgin for example). It has a
counterpart IM client, Spark.

OpenFire has many plugins that extend its functionality. Examples are the IM
Gateway, SIP phone, Content Filter… etc. The IM Gateway enables you to
connect to other networks (Yahoo! IM,
MSN, Google Talk, etc). Support for such
protocols in a Jabber server is a built-in functionality in the XMPP
(Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) itself. In an XMPP server you may
broadcast any number of services so that your XMPP clients can perform service
discovery and "register" in such services. Once they are registered,
they can "log in" and "log out" from services through the
XMPP exchange. Services may add/remove to registered users’ rosters
(contact-lists). You can send/receive messages to/from your roster contacts and
all through the XMPP XML messages. The XMPP server takes the responsibility of
implementing service-specific protocols, on behalf of clients.

Building on this, OpenFire created the Gateway IM plugin that implements
famous IM protocols: Yahoo!, MSN, GTalk, ICQ, etc. You can implement your own
protocol and configure the plugin to broadcast it as a service. Your Jabber
clients can discover such new service and log in to their favorite networks
without nearing the respective client.

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