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Internal Instant Messaging Client / Server Combo?
strongmantim writes "I manage an internal help desk (25-30 people) for a medium-large company in the healthcare industry. We're looking for an internal, secure, FOSS (if possible) instant messaging / presence awareness client and server combo. Transmission of Protected Health Information is a sensitive issue, so the server has to be able to log any conversations that occur. It is preferred that the client not support outside protocols such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, etc.; if it does, I will have to promulgate and enforce yet one more policy that my techs not connect to them. All of the computers that will connect run Windows XP. The system should be scalable up to ~100 people (in case we decide to include our entire office in the roll-out). Hardware and OS for the server are not an issue. Oh, and one more thing: It has to be free. Suggestions?"
The question is which client and which server, and that I don't know. You should be able to lock it down by not allowing anyone to change its preferences.
--Sam
Use the encryption capabilities in Pidgin.
http://pidgin.im/
You can setup a SILC server.
That's what we used to use in a company I worked for and it worked quite nice.
You're looking for a jabber server and client.
I work for a credit card company, and we use ejabberd on the server end of things.
You probably have some jabber only client options, but those will still be able to connect to other jabber servers like Google Chat.
Live with it, because any IM server worth using is going to have _some_ public servers.
I'll leave the logging up to you, ejabberd can do it, but our company decided that the security issues involved with storing the logs were much worse then not having the logs.
(Having stored, unencrypted, card data for any length of time is something that, on the very optimistic (good luck with the auditor) side requires a great deal of security. And just encrypting the drive it's sitting on doesn't really do away with more then half of that. Health data should be as much of a nightmare, but maybe not.)
http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/index.jsp
Works very well. Meets all your reqirements. Client supports Mac, Win and Linux but is a resource hog. It's jabber though so you can use many clients.
I would try to find one that integrates nicely with Active Directory. This way you can have:
- True single sign on. The client should re-use current windows credentials for the person already logged into the workstation.
- Automatic team awareness: a person wouldn't need to "add buddy". Everyone on their team would already be a buddy. Especially handy for new staff.
I don't know of any product that supports these, though.
Company-Wide Instant Messaging with Jabberd by Oktay Altunergil
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/10/06/jabberd.html
-- A cat is no trade for integrity!
Open Fire is a wonderful Open Source server for jabber. I used it in a similar situation a few years back. There are many jabber clients- I'm sure you can find one that meets your needs.
Why not IRC? It does everything you need it to, is easy to use, is fully open source.
I've always found that IRC is pretty handy as a help service, most Linux distros host live help chat on it. Many other FOSS solutions seem to use it as well, such as VLC, OpenOffice.org, etc. I'm not sure how exactly one would go about setting up a server, but I can't imagine it would cost much of anything and it shouldn't be too difficult to set up. There is a pretty good wiki about it, it should have all the relevant links you could need for finding out how to do it. Cheers.
Use IRC. It's easily logged, there's a ton of clients, usernames can be enforced, it doesn't need to connect to outside servers. You can have multiple servers to enhance uptime. You easily have rooms where multiple can see what's going on allowing for more free-form input to conversations. Yet you still have person to person communications. Also, you can have bots. Have them setup to answer frequent questions, see who's oncall, all kinds of stuff.
This tutorial describes how to set up and run an UnrealIRCD server on OpenSuSE 10.2 and Fedora Core 6. It also shows how to install Anope IRC services. Anope is a set of Services for IRC networks that allows users to manage their nicks and channels in a secure and efficient way, and administrators to manage their network with powerful tools.
Its FOSS, you can setup SSL, and it should be fairly easy to log/manage. With the tools available each person would be setting up their own chat room (just by naming it) and logging should be a snap.
At our work the IT guys wanted to set up an IM network for similar reasons. They went with Jabber, and one of the jabber only clients (Coccinella, I think). They have it run through SSL, and set to log. They let some of us (the smart ones) use pidgin if we want multi-protocol clients. It works well and is tied into our Active Directory for accounts via LDAP.
It's jabber based. Free as in beer for both the client and server.
Lets us save logs of all chat sessions between employees, lets employees also save chat if they want to. Lets us do some filtering, overall a pretty good client/server.
http://www.coversant.net/
Oh, and I HAVE gotten Digsby to connect to the server, as well as trillian.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Have you evaluated Jabber? We used to use it in our office before they switched for some reason to a microsoft product that's not free (well, we have a corporate thing going on). The jabber client was customizable, and the server was very stable and robust. Also because the server is GPL it meets your FOSS requirement. http://jabberd.org/
http://www.bistolas.net
It sounds like XMPP (also called jabber) is what you need. XMPP is an open standard for instant messaging, and there are free/open source implementations for both clients and servers. One option for servers is jabberd. One option for a client is Pidgin (which runs in Windows and Linux).
I believe IRC would suite you well. UnrealIRCd is pretty easy to use.
Spark + openfire.
I implemented these with Active directory authentication.
Highly recommended, sure a couple quirks here n there with the advanced functions of the client, but for the basic features of needing to chat, and log... its the best i know of.
It sounds like your network, which contains confidential medical records, is connected to the internet.
So I have just one question: Dear God, why?
This sounds like a custom version of Pidgin. It runs well in Windows, but I'm not aware that the other clients can easily be disabled.
I'm confused what you mean by policy, as blocking outgoing ports for that protocol should be able to stop them.
If you have a developer familiar with GTK/mingw you can build a custom version of Pidgin without support for the undesired protocols. You may be obligated to re-release modified code, so study the developer's license carefully.
Pidgin can work with your existing Novell, MSN, Sametime or Jabber server very well, but the plugins and customizations that Pidgin offers may need to be disabled for your needs as well.
I am not aware of what Pidgin options exist (or which protocols support) for encryption, but there seems to be a site dedicated to it:
http://pidgin-encrypt.sourceforge.net/
I use the Sametime version at a workplace that is very lenient with it's technicians and it works flawlessly with our IBM Domino servers. If you have the infrastructure to support an already existing client that may be a good avenue to investigate, as the Novell, Microsoft and IBM solutions may have the server side cut out for you.
-Tres
I would recommend Openfire. It is a Jabber / XMMP implementation from Jive Software, and is open source (GPL).
See http://www.igniterealtime.org/
I can say from experience that it is fairly easy to administer, is multi-platform, and scales nicely. It has a rather nice size of plugins and should meet compliance standards.
Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
I used a Program called openfire/spark. It's client/server based and completely Free. It's OSS and very powerful. It uses the jabber protocol and it worked well for our company of over 200+ people. http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/spark/index.jsp
openfire is a jabber based FOSS server.
we use it with AD integration. I haven't implemented it yet, but they have plugins supporting full message transcript.
Spark is the client from the same company and it is jabber only.
If I remember correctly, openfire alos supports being a proxy for all other (most?) IM protocol's so even if someone gets a copy of AIM or whathave you on you network, there server can still log the transcript.
Easy to set up, free and robust.
I literally pasted the article title (sans "Ask slashdot: ") into google, and the first 4 results are free client/server packages of which some have already suggested. There also appears to be someone else asking this same question to some other forum, with attached answer...
I realized ask slashdot has been for years now less about questions for geeks than kids wanting someone else to do their homework, but when did ask slashdot replace google search?
SoapBox Server from Coversant is probably your best bet. It's a stable platform, source is available.
http://www.coversant.com/
*or* ... ...
Number 3
The health care company isn't american and understands that being OPEN isn't a bad thing. Americans have a problem with that concept.
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
I wrote about this some time ago, right here.
/. address should be fine).
The short and simple answer, that should fully meet your needs, is to install jabberd2, configure it as needed (should have a logging module/plugin somewhere), and then to use Miranda IM with only the XMPP components as the client. Miranda is very easy to customize; if you don't want a protocol you simply don't include the relevant DLL.
Note: the links on that page are dead, namely the ones to the MSI installer package that I built. If you have a need for it, feel free to drop me an e-mail (the
--
So who is hotter? Ali or Ali's Sister?
Exodus is fairly simple to setup and administer. Zimbra provides much more than just Instant Messaging; we use it mainly for Zimlets and Collaboration; but the IM feature of Zimbra with auto-logging is very useful and sophisticated as well.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Do it as a web (intranet) server application in PHP&MySQL. Install WAMP and write it. It will be much easier to maintain. It will be available by the address, say, 192.168.15.10 . So what?
Can you imagine installing a client on a 100 work stations? Upgrading? Been there. Thank you very much.
It is sensitive, SO you _do_ want to log?
Well thats... bright.
Reason?
I imagine that, in the end, your solution will involve Jabber and XMPP in some way.
It has an intuitive/simple web interface for administration, and meets your logging needs and more. It can also support many gateways such as AIM, MSN, GADU-GADU, Yahoo! etc - But you don't have to enable them if you don't want them. I use this with the PSI IM client http://psi-im.org/ - A cross-platform Jabber IM client for MAC OSX, Linux and Windows. Check it out at: http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/index.jsp
Windows is not the answer.
Windows is the question.
The answer is "NO."
Spark is an Open Source, cross-platform IM client optimized for businesses and organizations. It features built-in support for group chat, telephony integration, and strong security. It also offers a great end-user experience with features like in-line spell checking, group chat room bookmarks, and tabbed conversations.
http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/spark/index.jsp
openfire and spark work like a champ....jabber protocol, with some solid server side security preferences
+ssh for secure communictions
+Sessions logged on the server.
+Each person can talk to other people in private - just like "IM"
+IRC client lists who is logged in - presence awareness #1
+IRC clients configured to auto idle after X minutes - presence awareness #2
+Scalable past 100 users
+Permanent channels can be created for each team.
+DCC for file transfer.
+Depending on the IRC client, ascii emoticons can probably be converted to gif animations.
Maybe ?? http://www.unrealircd.com/
Or is IRC not the protocol you are looking for?
Obviously, this, or something like it, is one of your main concerns (though you might not be American). I have thought some time ago that ktalkd was interesting because it was NOT designed to be large enterprise wide. It was a simple easy to used talk protocol, with a secured option. The client was ktalk, but it was for 1.0 and 2.0. It seems to me that something like this is really what you want, with an enforced port (code it in), combined with a firewall on that port. that approach would take care of the mistakes. Obviously, crackers could get by, but then again.....
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
FOSS? Where did he say FOSS? He never said FOSS. He said 'free'. Most likely free as in beer. What company _isn't_ looking for free software? My guess would be they just don't consider this essential and don't want to waste a shitload of money on it.
TELEPHONES!
Anybody want my mod points?
You know, I had the exact same issue this guy is having and, guess what - google gave me that exact answer (Openfire).
Of course, I used MirandaIM because I knew Miranda had Jabber support and it's a decent little client, but yeah, another vote for both Openfire and "just fucking google it next time".
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
Haven't had your coffee yet, dear?
Did you even look first? Jabber has been around for years now, and sounds like it'd be ideal. Technologically it is similar to email in principle. It's an open standard, so there are many clients and servers to choose from (I'm a fan of ejabberd myself.)
Any policies you like, such as connecting to other servers or protocols, logging, encryption, whatever can all be enforced from your server.
Open source.
Cross platform.
Cool name.
Teamed with Openfire, golden
BTW -and don't take this wrong- if you really are at a HMO/HCP, you should have policies in place that prevent IM to the Internet already in place. There's this thing called HIPAA, don't you know?
Sig this!
Hey look, another Ask Slashdot that should have been Ask Google! Wow! You never see those on here or anything. Maybe this could have been an Ask Freshmeat if they still want a solution from OSDN.
Boooooo. It's not a rumour, you do suck. Perhaps you should stop pissing in your Cheerios every morning and realize that perhaps he wanted a professional or experienced opinion.
That sinking feeling deep in your gut when you KNOW you screwed up bad summed up with: {head desk} {head desk}
I set up Openfire sync'd with LDAP, using Pidgin as the client, for my company. Very easy to set up and supports everything you asked for. :)
Is it really too hard to go and see people in person?
This is a perfect use case for AltME, which is set up specifically for running your own private, secure server, that logs all messages. It is very easy to install, set up and to maintain (I've been running servers with no problems for a few years now).
Tonic ? Free not FOSS no server needed client side logging from the product page : http://www.r2.com.au/software.php?page=2&show=tonic You want the power and convenience of instant messaging, but don't need or want the clients to talk to the outside world. Be it a bunch of friends having a LAN party, or a large corporation - instant messaging makes working together easy. Unfortunately, existing instant messengers allow users to communicate with the entire planet, not just your local network. Also check out the latest betas very stable . http://www.r2.com.au/publicbeta.php?page=12
You definitely want to try out the Citadel groupware server. Even if you don't need it for its mail system, address book, calendar, etc... it's got a built in XMPP (Jabber) service that integrates nicely across the entire environment. It also logs all of the instant messages sent through it. Each user can review their own logs too, which is nice. And you have the ability to journal everything that comes through the system, perhaps to an external archiving service (this feature was built with industries like yours in mind, where anything that gets read by anyone *must* be archived).
... GPL 3, to be exact.
And it's free software
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
I for one welcome our soon to be sued Overlords
Personally, I anxiously await for the first company to get heavily sued so that some sort of understandable standard is documented.
So many of us are over engineering our systems for the "Fear of HIPPA". Once we cross that evil bridge we can see what is "sueable" and what isnt.
My favor line from an early HIPPA session was "we should protect patient data like a bank protects bank data". What on god's green earth that that actually, describably mean?
Since when did /. become the "please help me with my job and solve this for me cause I can not do the research for myself, so I'll post on a NEWS site for help instead of a forum related medium." place.
We're looking for an internal, secure, FOSS (if possible) instant messaging / presence awareness client and server combo.
(emphasis mine)
Nice job reading. I quote from the Ask Slashdot itself:
He didn't say it HAD to be FOSS, but if possible, he would like it.
There are a couple of commercial products which will handle the job. I'm most familiar with the Barracuda IM Firewall. For about $2k, you'll get everything you've listed - full logging of conversations and file xfers, plenty of capacity, integrated client, plus a few other nice features like keyword administrator notification & message blocking, LDAP integration, and reporting.
The biggest feature you might appreciate is its ability to BLOCK the public IM protocols. The larger models also connect to the public IM networks, so you can log & apply policy to those conversations on a per-user basis. Some people _insist_ on bypassing IT policies, so allowing those folks to connect in a way you control might make both you and them happier.
The factors I think need to be weighed are 1) the cost of your time 2) the cost of a HIPPA violation, and 3) your ability to set up something bulletproof (no offense intended - I wouldn't trust myself to do it right the first time!)
Disclaimer: I used to work for Barracuda a couple of years ago. Some of their technology is crap, but the IM firewall is IMHO one of the best things they've ever released.
Your point is that he's wasting your time? You probably shouldn't have replied then. My boo stands.
That sinking feeling deep in your gut when you KNOW you screwed up bad summed up with: {head desk} {head desk}
Bonjour (aka, Zeroconf) is a zero-configuration link-local protocol that you may find suitable. The protocol is built into Mac OS X and Linux (as Avahi); Windows XP just requires Apple's port of Bonjour to be installed. Once that's set up, you can tell Pidgin, iChat, Adium, Kopete, etc. to announce your presence. Just type in your name, and your Buddy List will instantly populate with all of the Bonjour chatters on your LAN.
It's not as manageable as Jabber or SILC, but from a technical perspective, you can get the entire office chatting in minutes. In my opinion, it's definitely worth a look.
Pluses:
Pitfalls:
I also recommend Ignite Realtime's Openfire. I have run it since Jive owned an Enterprise version of it (~2005) and all I can say is that it's rock solid.
It can run the server under either Windows or *NIX, offers integrated or external Database Server options, can be deployed to your website via Fasthpath to offer online chat services and offers several client options.
The best part of it is that it's easy to learn and deploy. A definite must to check out.
Neos sounds like the messenger you need. It's free and doesn't support the other major messengers unless you install that yourself.
Unless you are looking for massive scalability (as in: 500 users in a single chat room), Jabber / XMPP can handle everything better than IRC. There are things like automagic contact lists (have everyone in your department on the list, centrally administrated), working encryption, publish-subscribe ... and of course the XMPP standard is easy to extend, as it's XML based.
gotcha.
That sinking feeling deep in your gut when you KNOW you screwed up bad summed up with: {head desk} {head desk}
I agree.
The OpenFire Jabber server is rock solid and integrates with LDAP, has the ability to log conversations and generally speaking is very elegant and easy to maintain.
We also use the Spark client, which is made available by the same group.
Very solid setup if you ask me.
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
We use achat in our organization: http://sourceforge.net/projects/achat/ It covers all our needs.
http://code.google.com/p/slmmachine/
SLM Messenger is well suited for your requirements since it is free-open source and specifically developed for in company(intranet) use with encryption support and designed for low network traffic (No broadcast message flows).
And it is based on peer to peer architecture; there is no need to server, clients can directly communicate each other.
I have a program called RiseOp (wwww.RiseOp.com) that fits your problem. It is a highly secure, private communication system supporting IM, Chat, VoIP and file transfer among other services. It is fully decentralized, and very safe in that all members use public key crytography to personally encrypt and sign all communication. It scales very well, is user friendly and easy to manage - the organization structure of your company is mirrored in the program itself. IM me riseop@live.com on MSN if you have any questions.
All IM protocols are, at one level, reimplementations of IRC. So why not use IRC?
Dag B
... and we've had very few problems (the Miranda client gave us a hard time, but we just stopped allowing people to use it).
When I am king, you will be first against the wall
With your opinion which is of no consequence at all
Secure Internet Live Conferencing, or SILC is what you need (or might want to look at anyway:). Pidgin can be used as the client.
At a company I left recently I installed Openfire and our supported IM client was their spark client (however despite my ex-bosses rants a lot of clients ended up being used by employee's) Spark works really well. Openfire is rock solid. It runs on Linux or Windows (better on Linux less server load). Without a hitch. Live upgrades work, and if you use mysql as the DB backend you can have auto failover. SSL 3 and TLS are supported as well.
I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.
Perhaps he also wanted some insights from people who have been in similar situations?
There is a big difference between a website found on google and a testimonial from someone who's done it.
OpenFire, as many others have noted, is an open source jabber server, that's highly extensible, and already has support for the logging you require (via the monitoring plugin).
The same group also has a web based client, SparkWeb, that you can lock down to your OpenFire installation. You can also lock down OpenFire, so that it only supports your official client. One of the nice things about a web client is you don't have to deploy to 100 desktops. You just send out a link. :)
Set up a policy if you really have to but wanting to block services is just a waste of time and doesn't add anything to your security unless you have totally incompetent personnel or fully locked down computers. Otherwise they'll start using web clients or simply work around firewall blocks or the like - which at the end might cause more security issues than the usage of the service in the first place.
It's much better to invest this time to educate your people and teach them why it's a bad idea to use MSN.
Lots of companies set up ridiculous firewall rules and think that they are safe - not knowing that the overkill is causing exactly the opposite of what they want to achieve. People don't like to be locked down if they don't understand why.
I had a similar problem to solve in the (small) company that I work for. We ended up with Openfire and Pidgin. This is not safe from the outside but better than what our big mother company did. They force everyone onto Sametime and have their system locked down like no tomorrow - which ends up in people using a multitude of services and wasting a lot of time to work their ways around the firewall to be able to use MSN, Facebook, Jabber & Co.
While I know what I have to deal with and act accordingly, teach the people that they please stay away from insecure services on their work PC the mother company trusts in their rules and unintentionally provokes insecurity.
Security never works against the people, only with the people.
Cyn.in is an Adobe Air app and may be just what you are looking for.
http://www.cynapse.com/products/cynin
I support a 7-site network with ~80 PCs. I use the Spark client because it comes packaged as an MSI--easy to push out via Group Policy. I also have a batch file which creates an initial settings file for the users the first time they sign in.
Initially we had an internal (old junker box) linux server which was only accessible from the internal network and everyone had Jabber IDs of user@customer.local. We recently switched to user@customer.tld so people could access it from their iPhones and Windows Mobile phones using the Palringo client.
ejabberd on linux has nice LDAP integration with Active Directory on Windows. You could also use the OpenFire server which is made by the same people that make Spark. It has a free version and a commercial version IIRC.
There's no place like
...would be Pandion. It only supports XMPP/Jabber, so you wouldn't have to worry about outside clients quite as much(Gtalk could still be a problem, but IMOA an easily solvable one). The major benefit of using Pandion is that it "automatically encrypts your connection to XMPP servers." Considering the sensitive nature of the data that will be transfered via your IM system, this is a major benefit. It's also extensible through the use of plugins. Hope this helps.
You can firewall it off from outside nets and there are tons of free clients that don't support other protocols. Logging is easy too.
If you want free, open, secure and cross-platform, then it's definitely XMPP/Jabber. No surprise there - open protocol, plenty of servers and clients to choose from - it really is good. From your description, you'll almost certainly want that.
However, For all-Microsoft shops with AD and Exchange, a pretty decent option is Office Communicator (+ the corresponding Server). It doesn't really have many advantages as an IM, but it does integrate with Outlook, Exchange and SharePoint (from shared address book, to minor bits such as auto-setting your status to "Busy - in a meeting" when you have a meeting scheduled on your Outlook calendar, and storing conversation logs in Outlook mailboxes, which indexes them for search). It's also pretty good for conferences. Still, main feature there is that integration - on its own, it's hardly worth the bother. And, of course, it's not free (in any definition of the word), and the protocol, while SIP-based, is not without proprietary quirks.
Citadel can do IM and whole lot more and it only takes about 20 minutes to set up using the Easy Install script. Once up, it will keep running with zero maintenance. It is definitely the lazy man's groupware system and it can handle tens of thousands of users per server.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Openfire rocks, on windows I suggest you use Pandion as a stable client...
NIX talk ... simple, local, and somewhat idiot proof, well, you know
Install Bonjour for windows, already installed to your system if you installed iTunes. Otherwise download for free at:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/windows/bonjourforwindows.html
then, use Pidgin for IM.
Best part, it server less, no need dedicated server for running at network.
As to where the parent post "should" have asked his question, the parent post asked an intelligent question on a forum that harbours a lot of people who can provide a good answer in under a minute. Slashdot.
There are lots and lots of applications like Jabber, Openfire and whatnot about. And yes, if you want you can create a great big (useless) list of them by Googling for a few minutes. And then what? What are the pros and cons of each app? Where can you find comparative tests? Are those tests any good? Has anyone got practical experience with the app? Any show-stoppers that aren't immediately apparent?
The point about most questions like this is that people who already know the answer consider them "easy". People who don't know the answer consider them hard, and will have to expend a lot of time finding out. Time that's wasted if you could simply have eliminated 90% of the options by asking. That's why you ask. At least if you'd rather get some useful work done instead of being the umpteeth person researching the same wheel.
It's a compliment to Slashdot that people ask such questions, and they do that because they even tend to get useful answers. It shows that Slashdot has value apart from serving as a forum for inane bickering.
If you already have office / exchange, Office Communicator is exactly the product you're looking for. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/communicator/FX101729051033.aspx) It's not free, but with volume licensing it's fairly inexpensive.
Hikery.net - The best hiking site ever. Made by yours truly.
Healthcare IT policy?
HAH.
Sorry buddy, that's just funny. Usually the only "policy" is "we want it cheap, we want it now, and the doctors get to decide", or something roughly approximating it in result.
The only actual 'policy' in most small/medium hospitals is "we don't change anything, even if we have to, unless the regulators say so". Ergo, you've got 15-year-old Windows with an ugly 17-year-old application port running on a single disk.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Encrypted communications, logging, and as it is an IM firewall, you can also use it to prevent users from logging into external services.
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Honestly? Just block outgoing connections to oscar.aol.com and the other IM services. If you want to be really paranoid, you can even block outgoing XMPP to make sure that people will only connect with the internal server.
However, as has been said, XMPP is the only reasonable way to go.
If you want to avoid paying for licenses, you have the choice between XMPP, IRC, Bonjour (Apple).
Bonjour is server-less and ad-hoc, which is great if you don't have the infrastructure in place for a central server. At an office building you do, so I think you get a worthless feature at not inconsiderable inconvenience. Bonjour is free as in beer (but I'm not sure whether that extends to business use, so check), but not FOSS.
IRC excels at providing an open chat-room, but one-on-one conversations are less well supported. There's no persistent contact handle, no good presence announcement and even the identity check has to be run as a separate service (NickServ).
XMPP allows you to sign up everyone with their own internal account (employee@xmpp.company.com), and if you need to you can tell the xmpp.company.com server not to forward any connections from or to outside servers.
All conversation over the server can be logged. You may want to put a policy in place to forbid direct (peer-to-peer) connection as that is harder to log, or end-to-end encryption via OTR messaging.
For a client, I'd recommend Pidgin (which you can recompile without the AOL/MSN/Yahoo libraries, or just leave it in and block the servers), though Psi (XMPP only) isn't half bad either.
I can recommend the voip server and client from mizutech http://www.mizu-softphone.com./ It has built in encyption capable for handling up to 10000 client. Unfortunately it is not free.
Install jabberd2 with mysql backend and PSI for the client. Then ask me nicely for my roster scripts that ensure that all users see all users, grouped nicely etc..
Block 5269 to your jabber server and make sure your users do not have direct internet access and they can't use the server or the clients to talk to anyone outside your server then.
We use an in house IRC server with all IRC traffic blocked at the firewall...
Goofy, Geeky Gifts and More!
Hello,
Zimbra is a good platform that we use for a company with just over 3000 users. The open source edition may do what you need. We currently use the fully loaded version with paid for support because it has "active-sync" support etc. however you maybe able to get the most from the FOSS edition.
Thanks for the recommendation. I wish that people who don't like a story wouldn't visit it and clutter the story with negative comments.
This is the exact attitude that pushes people away from FOSS in the first place.
It is almost impossible to get a real answer from people with experience when all you get in return is "RTFM n00b."
R'ing TFM does not always give you practical information or experience. Especially since there are quite a lot of people out there who are great at writing software but cannot write a manual to save their life. Either it is too technical and boasts about all of the incredible feats of writing the program with very little usability information, or overly verbose about how the program works with very little usability information.
Google does not have all of the answers. It has a wealth of information, but sometimes no answers.
OpenFire is the tool we used at the last shop I worked at - for exactly this. (it's a java-based server and will run on many server types including but hardly restricted to most Linux distros and Windows) They've got some great commercial tools as well.
for something requiring more technical workings of the software - jabber2 and ejabberd both are superior - but take more configuration.
For clients - there's the Spark client also from IGN software - which works well enough. otherwise a wide variety of opensource clients support Jabber/XMPP. You can firewall out the ports externally to lock people into being able to only sign into the local net as well, easily enough.
note: I currently do not work for anyone so I do not speak for any agency.
I don't know about plain LDAP but I had serious trouble getting OpenFire to work with Active Directory. It integrated fine on the server side but single sign-on for the clients never worked. It seemed like it works great for 95% of people but for certain setups it's just impossible to get right. It's highly dependent upon your DNS setup, although I can't think of anywhere our DNS would be different from the norm. I also got in a little trouble because my users aren't all in cn=users but based on testing I don't think that was where the issue was.
I tried for a long time to get SSO working and eventually I had to just roll it out with separate user accounts. I suppose I could have paid for support but if I was going to do that I would have just bought one of the Windows-based enterprise IM packages that's out there.
Other than that it's been great. I was using Psi for a client but I can't seem to get it to alert people consistently. I (and the users) want something that will pop up the message and take focus no matter what. But Psi seems to be erratic in this regard.
We use Zimbra and the Jabber zimlet too. I can't say that I'd recommend installing Zimbra just for the IM tho. It does work and is a fairly simple addon. If you can get passed the Zimbra high requirements for what it does.
As far as worrying about connecting to outside services - fix your network so that can't happen. Kill off the default route to the external world and only allow the proxies to see the internet and DNS. Don't let your internal clients see anything except internal servers and the proxies, period.
I (together with some friends) hacked up a rather powerful chatroom at http://www.iwannachat.net/
It seems to fit your criteria except that it is not "free" in either sense, but we don't have any concrete plans for commercialization of the thing, and I believe it should be possible for us to license the code to you for zero cost.
It's not an IM per-se, but we have dozens of active users and it's working quite well as an inclusive chatroom for a relatively small group of people. It started as (and is still) a hobby project, so most advanced features are not properly documented, but I'll be happy to show you more on request.
Leave a reply if interested. I can point you to a room of active users if you wish to see more than a rather "empty" demo room.
Don't quote me on this.
Here's another possible solution
http://ebox-platform.com/
You should try PinkNotes Plus (www.pnp4.com)
As the guy has very specific needs with very strict requirements and exchange, perhaps Jabber.com products (now part of Cisco) are the way to go.
http://www.jabber.com/CE/JabberHome2
It is still XMPP, not a byte of non standard thing.
Another vote for OpenFire/Spark. We used it at a former employer and it worked very well.
Really.
You will find plenty of testimonials if you Google for them.
So why not take it a step further and close down Slashdot.org?
After all, the articles on slashdot are not written by slashdot staff but borrowed of the web so anything on here can be found via Google. Most websites also have a comment section so the trollish comments can be found not only on Slashdot.org
So get over yourself, some people here may actually try to learn from the experience of others.
Don't like a story? Don't fucking reply!
Everyone who buys Wild Hunt will receive 16 specially prepared DLCs absolutely for free, regardless of platform.
people keep suggesting jabber but what about IRC?
Cisco Unified Presence Server, aka Cisco Personal Communicator. It's an IM client / server, it's also for a VoIP phone system so it does much more, and it's probably way too expensive for what you want to do... or maybe not.
I'm like a superhero, but with no powers or motivation.
I work for a Health Care company and we (IT) use Spark. You can find it here. I'm not sure of cost as my internal proxy won't let me access the site, but it works well. www.igniterealtime.org/projects/spark/index.jsp
Speaking as someone who provides IT for clinical departments at a (American) teaching hospital. FOSS is not evil, or verboten. My employers, and the people I support, are more interested in results than methods, they just want to know that someone (even if it's us) will take responsibility for the system.
I'm looking for health care. It has to be top quality, immediate, and available to my family and all my employees.
Oh, and one more thing: It has to be free. Suggestions?
Reading the summary/question sounds almost exactly like one of my college assignments. A free, open source internal only chat system that runs on Windows. Maybe I should dig my copy out and e-mail it to him...
Do you generally make a point of walking into stores that sell things you don't like for the express purpose of complaining to the management that you don't like them?
Nobody is forcing you to be exposed to his inadequacy. It's perfectly possible for you to just toodle on by without ever having to set foot in this thread.
Your time was wasted not because of anything he did but because you chose to waste it.
I think that says more about your own sense of inadequacy than it says about any displayed inadequacy on the part of the original topic.
"It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
Disclamer: I work for Barracuda.
What you're looking for is the "Barracuda IM Firewall", conversations are encrypted inbetween clients and the server, conversations can be logged, you can block external services, and it scales. We use it internally(~500 people).
PS: It's based on XMPP and you can use any jabber client with it, including pidgin or trillian.
IPSWITCH, makes one that sounds like what your looking for. We have used it for atleast 5 years with great success. I do wish they had the message logging in a sql db.
I have seen mIRC used in situations even more secure than the one you describe.
there are 2 kinds of people. those who divide people into 2 kinds, and those who don't.
We've had stability issues but we're running an older version and haven't gotten around to upgrading yet.
Logging is pretty easy.
I don't know about SSO in it's truest form, I assume you mean that after the user logs into the workstation, that they don't have to also login to the IM client. I never worked with that at all.
As for using the same user account to log in to both the workstation (XP I assume?) as well as the IM client, I had that working in about 5 minutes.
If it's not working, it's probably more to do with your ldap authentication than with either server.
Are you able to perform lookups from the CLI on the Jabber server? I would check that. Assuming that you can, the OpenFire server has a couple of tests that it can perform to help troubleshoot.
BTW - is this an OpenLDAP server or AD?
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
WASTE can be a pain to setup initially, but it is the most secure messaging program available. Not sure if it will scale up to 100 people well and honestly it is more of a chat room thing than AIM although it can be used to chat with a certain person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASTE
LDAP connectivity with AD works fine. We just set up a filter on a group in AD and put the users that need access to IM in that. Users just use their normal logon credentials. Haven't really worked on getting the SSO option to work, just tested it briefly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASTE might work, it was developed by Nullsoft for internal communications and file sharing, is encrypted, and has no central server.
I thought I was going to be the savior, but bioborg beat me to it. Waste is great. Not the prettiest program, but definitely great.
'Those are my principles. If you don't like them, well. .
twitter.com/scld
I'm the Senior SysAdmin for a large datacenter in Florida. We currently employ over 50 people in our building. We recently migrated from Pidgin+OTR(Encryption) to OpenFire+Spark with ActiveDirectory Integration. I had the server installed and pulling down a list of accounts from the AD server in a matter of minutes. The server has worked flawlessly for us for months and has tons of options. It supports the ability to either allow or lock out 'other' clients(AIM,YIM,etc). This coupled with ACL or Firewall restrictions will ensure that your users are ONLY using the Spark client. It also has chatrooms built into it which you can force your users into when they log on. It's pretty neat stuff.. oh.. it supports SSL connections, and will provide LiveChat for your website as well. It also support logging of all chat conversations if you have a need for that. The only downside that I've run into.. there's a bug on the linux client that has to be fixed manually(associated with the tray icon not showing up). The Windows client has a tendency to run slightly slow. While I read that it runs slow under Windows, in practicality I have not received even one complaint regarding the use of Spark. Oh.. while there is a history in the Spark client, it shows it all as one realllly long page so it's a little clunky having to hunt through your own personal chat history. Look no further. OpenFire+Spark is your answer.
We have OCS deployed at 7 locations worldwide... It works wonderfully for this sort of application, as well we can do Livemeetings /screen sharing if we need to collaborate with a tech in North America and Europe.
Server: Jabber
Client: Pidgin
Jabber is mature, it doesn't crash and it works. Pidgin is multi platform and looks consistant across those platforms. We did have a couple of users who are Trillium holdouts.
It works great. We've just had to work on educating our users a bit in regards to what should be sent via internal IM and what's cool to be sent via AIM.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
Another vote for OpenFire. I am the IT manager at a healthcare facility and I have implemented this successfully. The latest version was very easy to setup and integrate with Active Directory. It has been working like a champ for almost 8 months now. I also enabled the web client and Red5 video plugin for video chat. This saved us quite a bit of cash in travel fees since we have numerous clinics spread out over the area. We did not eliminate traveling (nothing beats face-to-face time). Instead we do weekly video meetings and monthly travel.
Jive server worked like a charm for my company for years. My users loved the Pandion client and were very disappointed when we migrated to GTalk.
I keep forgetting my place. Jesus is for losers. Why do I still play to the crowd?
We are using openfire with AD integration with no SSO and users are not in cn=users. There is somne configuration to be done, but it all works. You have to tell it where to look for the users in AD. Sounds like you really didn't research or spend enough time getting it working. We created NT groups also to pre-populate the clients with all the names too.
Spark is a great client and it can be locked down pretty easily through the openfire server.
The Sarbanes Oxley act makes it mandatory to keep backups of EVERY(!!!!) internal communication, including instant messaging. (Think Enron, "gonna screw those customers..", etc.) If your firm is big enough to be covered - publicly traded? - then you or your boss of IT could go to jail for not ensuring complete traceable logs are kept of every conversation...
You will need at least one Edir Server and they can be the same box ( I Think, it might work with ldap ) and from there you are off and running.
It supports complete logging and log search ability ( by user or full text ), the client supports no other protocols it supports SSL has both linux and windows clients.
It is VERY light weight on both the server and client side.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
Openfire and the server, Spark is the client. http://igniterealtime.org./ We use it in healthcare where I work and it's pretty solid. Archiving is an optional module and works well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_LAN_messengers
Have you looked at this list? The good thing with LAN messengers is that the traffic never leaves your local network, you won't get spammed either. Maybe have a look at Softros LAN Messenger, Borgchat, Pichat. Many LAN messengers can do what you are looking for: Run on Windows (and Linux), users can exchange private messages, chat on public rooms, message logging... only a few are freeware.
Alternatively I agree with other posters: it is not too hard to set up a local XMPP/Jabber server and use Pidgin/Miranda.
http://www.igniterealtime.org/ It's an excellent combo, and if you don't want it to connect with Yahoo and all, just don't turn the feature on for the server. We've had it up and running for about 3 years, and it's been flawless.
I had serious trouble getting OpenFire to work with Active Directory
That would be the case for two reasons:
1. SSO is not LDAP. You can, in theory, use an LDAP directory to provide the settings for SSO, but it's not SSO. Off the top of my head, you need a gina to do all of the SSO-stuff for you.
2. Microsoft's implementation of LDAP is non-standard. It's very quirky outside of the very simplest LDAP operations. To which the legions of Microsoft domain admins will cry out "What?! He doesn't know what he's talking about!" To which I reply, you don't work with LDAP. You are an Active Directory admin. The two are not the same thing.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Well, in my experience I have used Openfire and Jabber (via ebox). Both are easy to install and use. Ebox is a bit harder, but if you don't already have a server with SSO, it is the best option in my opinion. I have scaled both at companies with ~200 employees.
Word of warning though, I only use communications internally, have not tried to connect either solution via Internet (only as corporate intranet), though it is possible.
For the client, I find Pandion works best on XP clients, if you do not need other protocols as MSN, Yahoo, etc.
Did I just say that??
http://www.igniterealtime.org/index.jsp We've had good luck with this combo.
1st, fix your firewall to disallow *all* outgoing ports.
2nd, open up the ports that are needed.
I've seen one company disallow DNS to external addresses and force everyone to use the internal web proxy.
Now, you don't care that they connect to external IM servers because you've blocked them.
Set up an internal server recommended here with internal clients pointing at it.
If you're worried about installing a client that might be able to connect externally and you haven't already blocked that possibility, you're doing it wrong.
Consider this another vote for SILC. We have many teams of devs here and one of the larger ones implemented their own SILC server and we use it all the time whenever we have to discuss issues related to their area. Works nice in conjunction with pidgin since I think for now that is the only cross platform client for it.
Echoing what tbuskey said, it does seem as though you should already have something in place that blocks nonessential outgoing ports (firewall) and if you really do have as strict of requirements as you say, something like an 8e6 device that blocks outgoing access to undesirable servers running on ports 80 and 443. If this is the case, you should have no trouble keeping your users from connecting to external servers. If either of these aren't true and you choose an open source XMPP client that does only XMPP, you could modify the program by either hard coding in your server address or by having it ask a network service (DNS or similar) where the XMPP server is. No options = no problems.
One additional oversight you are making is that the asker is the only one who might benefit from having this question asked and answered publicly. I happen to also be in a position where we are thinking about deploying an internal-only IM for a small business. I have already Googled the topic and have learned a bit about Jabber, but happen to have not put the time into it yet to go poring through each of the different implementations to find the one that best fits our needs.
So, I open the article, and start reading the comments hoping for some knowledgeable colleagues who have already gone through this to share their experiences and wisdom. Unfortunately, I get people like you, wasting my time. You could have skipped this article as a topic you aren't interested instead.
Google is great for a search engine, but doesn't always provide the experienced advice one seeks.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
You know, I enjoy reading both these questions and the answers. Sure, there are the occasional trollish responses that are unfriendly and uninformative, but usually there is at least one poster who adds something to the conversation that I genuinely didn't know/realize/have the background to appreciate. And that's why I keep reading /.
Mon chien, il n'a pas du nez. Comment scent-il? TrÃs mauvais!
I set up OpenFire for a financial svc company (a bank). SSL, full AD integration with SSO, made a little widget to display who was available on the intranet.
The AD bit took a while to set up, but once I got that sussed, it was really great.
Microsoft Office Communicator is integrated with Exchange, but doesn't actively "log" chat sessions, you have to email the conversation to yourself. I'd say Lotus SameTime is probably the closest thing I know of that would achieve what you're trying to do.
Get an Xserve with OS X server software, it has a built in Jabber based IM service. You can chose to federate it with other servers, such as gmail etc.
Don't know what clients it requires on the windows side, but we are a Mac shop, and it gives us state-wide audio/video capabilities.
Rock solid too.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
I was looking for a similar solution and after some research I decided tried OpenFire and Spark as they appeared to be he most mature solution for this. My experience went as follows: Server install was a piece of cake, took about 15 minutes from start to finish, including active directory integration. Installed on a Debian Etch box. Spark client install was easy enough, and it has an MSI package for AD deployment. Just check the "single sign on" box and it logs you in with your current Windows credentials. I did run into trouble, however, with the directory publishing. You're supposed to be able to publish an Active Directory group to buddy list of all users of the system. It worked kinda, but users were missing etc. So there you have it...free, easy, but quirky.
I've been using IServerd with ICQ clients in an enterprise environment. It supports IM, online notifications, file transfer etc. After 7 years it still works fine with several hundred users , but we had to tune the machine (mbufs & comp) for intensive network I/O.
OK, this isn't really about which app to set up, but I work for a very large bank, and I work from home. The standard is Office Communicator. While there are things I really don't like about the setup (no tabs, I can't log coversations automatically), there are things I do really like. I'm not trying to sell you on it as a solution, but there are features you could look for in other solutions.
a. Everyone has their standard login assigned to them... I don't have to chat with people's made-up logins. It's their full name, not some goofy nickname.
b. Integration with calendars. If someone is in a meeting, it shows their status as such. Integrates with Out of Office reminders, and you can set notes on your account too. Very handy.
c. The ability to add people to a conversation, having a virtual conference... couple that with...
d. The ability to screen share via a communicator session. Invaluable. You don't have to start up a livemeeting (although, you can do that too from Communicator), you can just quickly share your app/desktop with one or more people.
e. Although I can't log conversations, I can email them to myself. Good for referencing back to. However, being able to log everything would be much much better. I've lost conversations due to network glitches/closing the window accidentally.
Communicator may not fit the bill, but it does have some nice features for use in the workplace. Consider some of them in whatever you do choose.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
I was going to say Jabber, but it's not a fully enclosed system.
If you have an internal email server, you should be able to prop up a Jabber server.
I see 'healthcare industry', and I think HIPAA and healthcare privacy concerns.
How about Good, Old-fashioned 'write'? ...
----
unixbox:/~ # write joe
write: joe is logged in more than once; writing to pts/4
hey there- what's new?
-- 8 --
Joe sees:
Message from admin@unixbox (as root) on pts/0 at 10:04
hey there- what's new?
EOF
----
No external logging, no third-party server, etc.
If we haven't progressed beyond this, I'm not surprised.
On the complete other hand, this doesn't jibe with your request, but I can recommend MessageLabs corporate messaging system. Works like any other, except everything passes through /their/ system. All conversation, all files, etc.
Double-edged sword..
CommuniGate Pro is not FOSS and my opinion is biased as I have business interest in this platform. However I do believe it is the best solution to this problem and many others despite not being "Free". It is available on most any platform you would want to run it on, supports Linux (not just specific distros) and has implemented enough RFCs to be regarded as a comprehensive communications operating system. The Flash client "Pronto!" has IM auto-archive. There is a PKI built in permitting the actual storage of the archives to be automatically encrypted by the rules engine on the storage device.
Full Documentation
http://www.communigate.com/communigatepro/default.html
Jabber Server
http://www.communigate.com/communigatepro/XMPP.html
Stored message encryption
http://www.communigate.com/communigatepro/PKI.html#SMIMERules
Pronto! Flash client
http://www.communigate.com/communigatepro/Pronto.html
Live Demo
http://talktoip.com/ (use sign-up link to get a full running demo account)
MirandaIM is the only piece of software I miss from my distant Windows days.
Pidgin is OK, but Miranda was awesome.
factor 966971: 966971
Communicator.
I know it won't be popular with this group, but don't mod down for that. A good IT person will consider all options.
Why communicator?
Given the industry, there are specific regulations that may apply. Possibly SOX/PCI/HIPPA. I know that Communicator does fine with SOX and PCI, if setup right.
But I'll admit there may be FOSS that do meet those requirements, I just can't speak to those.
Those who can, do.
We use GroupWise Instant Messenger.
Though yes, you would have to be running Novell eDirectory I think.
Internal, encrypted, logged, has stand-alone client. :\
Not FOSS though
But hey, if they already are running Novell stuff then this is right up their alley.
Yep - I second this. I have an Openfire/Spark setup here at work integrating with a Windows 2003 AD environment. Straight-up SSO doesn't work, meaning the person has to enter their password, but it does notice when people change passwords and it does match AD passwords perfectly. Sure, it's mildly inconvenient, but not catastrophically so.
ugh. Spark client sucks IMHO. Pidgin works much better.
You can set Jabber up so it doesn't federate with other servers and you can also set it up to not allow non-SSL connections. I have Apple's iChat Server solution which is basically a Jabber server with a nice management interface (although for your specifics you might have to delve a bit deeper), it integrates in my directory and if you want also Active Directory. There are clients for all platforms and as I said, you can set it up entirely how you want it.
If you're looking for something else, look for HL7-enabled clients/servers which is a standard that can communicate with modalities even though some of those platforms don't have any interface for any type of chat client. It also integrates in workflow software etc. Apache's Camel and Mina projects are something to look for if you want to implement that, if you want to combine it with your DICOM-compatible PACS and/or RIS see DCM4CHEE
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Tonic is purely peer-to peer and discovers everyone on your broadcastable subnet.
http://r2.com.au/software.php?page=2&show=tonic
I do love a good self-fulfilling prophecy. Thank you, AC.
Fancy pointing out these LDAP "issues"?
I've migrated a metric crapload of LDAP apps from OpenLDAP, Sun LDAP and BT X.500 to Active Directory and AD/AM (aka AD-LDS) and haven't found a single issue with the LDAP interfacing apart from where apps were relying on non-RFC features in the original LDAP servers.
Your anecdote != data.
Yeah right...
Most data is not information.
Most information is not knowledge.
Most knowledge is not wisdom.
From wisdom comes answers.
And it's dumb fucks like you that ruin the intellectual collective of news forums, how about instead of replying. You first need to understand what a complaint is and why it was brought forth instead of spewing your brainless IQ on the internet for all to see.
You work for Google, don't you?
Ignoring for a moment that we are on /. :), when you consider the total cost of any such deployment over the long term, free is not possible. Your time costs money, one day you will leave and will require significant time to handover whatever solution you have implemented.
Free is not an option in any such decision, stop undervaluing yourself by perpetrating the myth to your managers that your experience and hard work is at zero cost to them!
Its not a server combo, but if you bring your email to their hosted exchange service - you get the ssl encrypted instant messaging for free! Hosted exchange enables you to share calendars, to-do lists, and contact lists while having your email synced in realtime. It might make more sense to go with a hosted service due to the high TCO of buying, maintaining and managing your own service. The business instant messaging is available as an add on to their web hosting and email hosting services.
This is the exact attitude that pushes people away from FOSS in the first place.
It is almost impossible to get a real answer from people with experience when all you get in return is "RTFM n00b."
Then good riddance. As the maintainer of several open source projects, I am constantly amazed by the number of people who ask a question on a mailing list that is answered in the top 5 questions of the FAQ.
People who expect not only to have amazing software written for them for free but also to be spoon-fed every step of the way don't do anyone any favors, so why should FOSS authors worry if they leave?
Google does not have all of the answers. It has a wealth of information, but sometimes no answers.
If Google doesn't have the answer, then install the software yourself, try it out, and then blog about what you found out. That's at most a half-day proposition for most FOSS projects. Not only will go gain good experience, but others will benefit from your efforts and you'll add to the discussion.
You don't have to be a developer to contribute to the FOSS community. Even if the only thing you contribute is your user experience or a simple "thanks", that's better than being a leech who expects someone else to do all the work. The OP didn't ask a single question that couldn't be answered by 30 minutes of Googling and another 4 hours of kicking the tires on some software.
Another network guy in favor of Openfire/Spark. While the Java-ness of the client slows it down, the end-users have found it intuitive and easy to learn.
Secure communications, no outside world chatting, logged conversations (if you want), FREE.
We looked at Wired Red's chat client solution but they wanted something well into the 4 digits. A few hundred bucks, maybe. But not just to chat in a business environment.
Been using it on OpenSuse for a year and a half now, no problems. BIG "win" here...
Communicator can be logged at the server level with the right configuration. It is a supported feature of the server.
I'd love to replace Communicator with FOSS, but Communicator does SSO, file transfer, AD integration and Outlook integration so that it can update your status according to your calendar. It even does a Mobile and Web client, though I haven't tried those. So far I haven't found anything FOSS that can match that.
Once a month or so I consider quitting my job and writing the code to do that.
B) Eliminate all the stupid users. This is frowned upon by society.
Many environments do not lend themselves to "4 (sic) hours of kicking the tires on some software" and then blogging about it. And you are indeed right, there are a lot of people who refuse to read FAQs, but that does not make legitimate questions any less legitimate.
The OP wanted a reliable answer from a reliable source, a community of fellow geeks, nerds, twerps, dweebies, grunts, krunks, dorks, and the like.
And, hey, while I am at it, I think I will throw in another famous response in FOSS forums: "write your own patch and submit it." Yeah, I have seen that one plenty of times to feature recommendations or requests.
A lot of FOSS developers forget that there are people using their software who are not programmers. FFS, you should be flattered. And while I understand you have to deal with a lot of dumb-asses who ask the same dumb-ass questions you have already put in your FAQ, but that is part of dealing with the customer. You do not like that? The hire Smykowski to act as the go-between for you and your customers, because it seems that dealing with them has depleted your people skills.
And therefore, frankly, good riddance to you and your software until you learn how to address your audience.
You can set up an IRC server with Pidgin (or other) clients, then firewall access to any external servers. You then have the option of running customized bots, having common chat rooms, and person to person chats.
We used this for internal communications in the networking group where I used to work. It had the added benefit of having a client that worked on a text Linux console in the server room. Of course the only bot we ran was one that interjected comments about local restaurants when we were deciding where to eat lunch. ;)
http://www.jivesoftware.com/
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I don't know if my toy project fits in your case. Take a look anyway, it's developed in Java (1.6.x) and GPLv3'ed:
http://ezim.sourceforge.net/
The downside I've noticed so far is that it only works within a single network segment. i.e. no cross-router communication
I am the author of FOSS web-based instant messenger software called Yafumato (http://sourceforge.net/projects/yafumato/) that I think can meet your needs. The web client uses HTTP streaming AJAX with JavaScript chat windows.
The software was originally designed to support external messengers, but I have a non-public build that supports internal-only messaging. External messengers could be disabled with a code change. Chat rooms are also supported for internal messaging.
The software uses a MySQL database to log all messages. This is an option when setting up your user, but could be made required via a code change.
A demo version is available at https://randomtask.org/yafumato/. Please note that the demo is not the build with internal messaging; the internal messaging build includes all the features of the demo plus internal messaging, chat rooms, and user account maintenance.
I heard somewhere you might be able to set up a private Jabber server using an Internal (private network address for all in company that can access) Private IP Address. Set up the server in it's settings to not connected to global network or private only. Their may be a encryption addon to add to jabber on top of that. Make sure you are using a Jabber only client.
Build Your Own Jabber Server for Private Communication
http://www.mutaku.com/geeklog/article.php?story=20071129154823176
Since you are talking health care, you also need to be in compliance. That requires not only logging, but encryption. While I can not make specific recommendations (I believe there are some good ones here) I would make sure that you can make encryption an integral part of this system. That would help make sure you are in compliance without having to add extra steps later in the process. Just food for thought. Most of the open source alternatives you get should be able to work nicely with PgP. Since you want the system to be closed, I would recommend setting up and using your own key server.
Open Source: Eroding the Digital Divide
Why not use a private P2P application?
With this one you get secure chat, forums and file transfers :
http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/
We use Java Instant Messaging. It works great. Its based on the Jabber protocol and comes with a Java client that runs on any OS with Java VM installed. You can also lock it down to where clients cannot connect to public IM servers (Yahoo, AIM, etc.)
Yeah, I wanted to have the client get the authentication from Windows (XP + AD on 2003) and then auto-login. It seemed like everything was happening correctly...from what I remember I had to generate matching kerberos keys on the Openfire server and the KDC and a special user account on the domain controller.
There's tons of logs from java, the server, and the client, and you can actually watch the packets as they go. But the problem was that everything looked good according to all of the forum threads. Getting official support and rebuilding the DC weren't options so I just used separate accounts with the same names. We don't have enough users that it's even an issue, though obviously doing it the right way would have been nice.
I do remember being able to get it that far. In my particular case auto-login was more important than using the same accounts, because my users aren't too savvy and I wanted to make it painless for them to IM each other. In spite of all this they still barely use it :D
Do you mean that the client software doesn't use a password at all? That's what I was trying to accomplish. And it seemed like it can be done but after a few days I stopped trying.
What I probably should do is grab the accounts from AD but then just save the password in the client.
It's very possible that I was mistaken and that SSO for Spark simply doesn't work with Active Directory. But I had done a bunch of reading and I was under the impression that not only was it possible but that a lot of people had it set up that way.
There are many threads like this one:
http://www.igniterealtime.org/community/thread/26839
Jabber should solve your needs. It is free and open. There are many client and server implementations. Almost every Jabber client and server supports SSL. There are servers that do server-side logging. You will want to prevent connection to external Jabber servers by use of a firewall rule. However, servers can exist on non-standard ports, and the only complete way to prevent access to that is to restrict the client's configuration (not sure which clients make that easy), and restrict your users from running software on their computers not installed by an administrator; you have to decide if it is worth being so Draconian.
Visit www.jabber.org a long list of servers and clients. Evaluate them to see which fit your needs. My recommendation for a client in Windows is Psi, as it is good, easy to use, flexible, and only talks to Jabber. I have experience with ejabberd and jabberd 1.x, and I've heard decent things about jabberd 2.x and Openfire; you'll need to evaluate them yourself to get the one that gives you the features you need.
I've migrated a metric crapload of LDAP apps
Yes, you've migrated them into ActiveDirectory, not another LDAP server.
Here's a little taste of the LDAP-like problems.
http://www.openldap.org/lists/openldap-software/200312/msg00240.html
As my original post states, you are an Active Directory admin. You have made the classic mistake of thinking the *very* limited LDAP functions in AD are similar to running an LDAP server.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html