[HCoop-Discuss] Jabber Server

[Clinton Ebadi]

"Aaron Hsu" <arcfide at sacrificumdeo.net> writes:

> Hey everyone,
>
> I wanted to get general feedback from everyone on what they thought of the  
> current Jabber Setup. Has anyone had any unresolved issues or wishes on  
> the Jabber Server? I know that the last time I used it I was having some  
> trouble with the server and other people being able to see me logged in.  
> Since it only happened with select people, it appeared that we were not  
> going to solve the problem very quickly. However, with the advent of these  
> new servers, I have renewed hopes that I will be able to have a fully  
> functional Jabber server to use with my Hcoop name. :-)
>
> I was hoping to get in touch with unknown_lamer/Clinton and discuss what,  
> if anything, is being done differently for the Jabber servers this time  
> around. I am not sure (reading from the migration wiki pages) if the  
> Jabber work on the new servers has been done already, or if we are still  
> waiting a while to do that.

It has yet to be done, and is going to be one of the last things to be
done. My plan for the time being was to clone the ejabberd database
and config and drop them onto the new machines as they are now,
perhaps with the clustering stuff enabled in the near future.

> I understand that the decision has been made to stick with the same thing  
> that you are all using now, but I wanted to check and see if perhaps there  
> is a chance of being able to work out some of the bugs (the disappearing  
> nick being the highest, possibly only, priority)? I personally find Jive  
> Software's IM platform much easier to implement and use than Ejabberd,  
> which we are currently using, but since the decision has already been made  
> to stick with the same software, I guess there is no changing that. Is the  
> SoftwareArchitecturePlans page up-to-date regarding the Jabber decisions?  
> If so, would it not make sense to have every user automatically be given a  
> Jabber account at signup? Forcing SSL and integrating the server with the  
> users database would seem to be ideal.

I was under the impression that the current config already forced SSL;
I at least can't connect with Gaim unless I have SSL enabled.

We are also not tied to ejabberd as long as any of the people using
Jabber now don't mind losing their current contact lists as a
consequence of switching servers. It may be worth doing that just to
switch to using LDAP for authentication to unify everything, and to
switch to the Jive platform if it is indeed better. Are there Debian
packages available? If not, someone will have to maintain it manually
(which may not be a huge deal, but I know that we're trying to keep
the amount of non-Debian stuff to a minimum).

> Has a decision been made about whether or not virtual jabber server  
> support is going to be allowed?

I think it would be nice to have this once we're migrated. It should
even be possible with ejabberd, but I have yet to test it.

So, to conclude, the Jabber plans for the new machines are *not* set
in stone, and now would be the time to decide if we're going to switch
implementations. I at least have no problem with switching to another
server as long as it isn't a huge PITA to configure, or, if it is,
someone who has used it before can assist in setting it up, and it
isn't prone to random breakages.

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