Instant Messaging

[mattx]

I was thinking about setting up a trial for a IM just inside our network for staff only.

I was wondering if any school has implemented such a facility yet and if so, pros, cons, suggestions, tips, advice etc etc...

 

P.S. We DON'T use exchange.

[localzuk]

I have set up a Jabberd2 server on a ubuntu box and have been using it to chat with our bursar (she loves the ability to get my attention straight away). I also intend to roll it out to teachers so that they can message each other and so that (once I have it written) a nagios module will send them messages such as 'Printers are down' etc...

 

I've also installed a conference server and that works well too.

 

One of the things I am looking at is having a front end on the school website where a member of staff can log in via their normal client (from wherever) and then parents can log in as guests and ask them things. I'm just waiting on ports being unblocked by our ISP now.

 

If you have a nice fancy VOIP phone system you can probably also get modules for it which will inform a member of staff if they have a new phone message etc...

 

Oh, and it is joined to our AD so the user just uses their normal logon details to log in. At some point I will work on creating a .NET based client which uses NTLM or retrieves the details from the logged on account and auto-logs the person in. But that is a little time away I think...

[CyberNerd]

Jabber is probably what you want:

http://www.jabber.org/

 

lots of add-ons etc

[MK-2]

Set one up here too using Wildfire jabber server and PSI client.

Works a treat for all involved.

Just remember if you allow all teachers to use it on their laptops or whatever, if the client supports sending files or stuff like that, remember it possibly will be abused by staff....and increase traffic on the network.

Just a heads up....unless you disable it (the option, not the teachers!!)

[mattx]

Thanks - just looking at the site now - anyone suggest the best flavour to go for a server platform - [ I have space on a Windows 2003 server ] - also best client ?

[danIT]

we have communicator installed! nice

[MK-2]

Matt:

 

I had no option but use windows server and clients as we were limited on what machines to use. Wildfire (formerly Jive Messenger) server is win32 and can use its own built in database which should be fine.

The PSI client is quite good too (think affinix make it), only downside, which may be the case with all jabber clients I don't know. But they store info in the users local docs and settings. So if you logon and install it and set it up, when they log on the account isn't there.

It is a very good resource to set up though. It's just trying to convince teachers to use it....and remind them if they have their laptop connected to a whiteboard in the class not to send stupid messages as kids will see them (you know they will anyway!)

[localzuk]

I went with jabberd2 - the documentation for it isn't too great but that is because it is relatively new. The older, jabberd, is more highly documented but less configurable.

 

I think it is simply a case of have a look at what you require and see which server fits the description.

 

With clients, I went with pandion (and adium x on mac). It is easy to set them up and easy to show staff how to use it.

 

With regards logging in, the user should only have to put in their username (ie. [email protected]) and password and it should automatically connect to the correct server - no config required.

[plexer]

I'm sure there was some talk about jabber and ad authentication a few months ago.

 

Ben

[localzuk]

I'm sure there was some talk about jabber and ad authentication a few months ago.

 

Ben

 

The way I did it was to use Samba+Winbind and then use a PAM module to do the jabber part - something like this: http://www.dbzer0.com/the-penguin-migration/jabber/installation-setup/

 

To be honest, it was quite fun setting this up and getting it all working. A nice distraction from 'real work'

[webman]

I also made some notes on joining Samba 3 on Ubuntu to a domain when I created our BTEC FTP server.

[localzuk]

I also made some notes on joining Samba 3 on Ubuntu to a domain when I created our BTEC FTP server.

 

On that same issue, the community wiki has notes towards the same end:

 

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ActiveDirectoryWinbindHowto

[webman]

Hehe, so it does, never seen that

[plexer]

Sorry should have said wildfire ad authentication if you want the windows solution.

 

Ben

[mattx]

Hmmmm wildfire - did not want to connect to my DN at all - odd.

 

Can't get past:

 

'Invalid DN syntax or naming violation'

 

No matter what I enter. Not a good start ....

Trying its own database...

[plexer]

Have a look at this thread:

 

http://edugeek.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3937&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=jabber&start=15

 

Info on xml configs for ldap lookups.

 

Ben

[mattx]

Fixed that had to put in:

 

dc=name dc=local etc etc

 

Now got to find the correct LDAP for my users as its not sAMAccountName, its something else....

getting there slowly...

[mattx]

Now I can't login to the console - Hmmmm. Very rapidly loosing my patients with this bit of software.

 

Hang on, made an Admin account in my AD and moved it to the relevant OU. F**k me, there are easier ways to connect to a AD !!

[mattx]

Now I cannot connect PSI to it -

I'm going home....

[mattx]

Well this morning I tried every possible combo of connection to the wildfire server [ even forwarding ports ] and PSI refuses to connect, as there is hardly any documentation on PSI I'll try a different client.

On checking the PSI forum there seems to be quite a lot of posts on PSI and Wildfire.....

[plexer]

Why not just use spark?

 

Ben

[mattx]

Downloading it now.... :-)

[mattx]

HA HA HA - Spark - I spend hours trying to get PSI working, I DL spark - it asks me for a user name and password and logs in !!!

That will teach me....

[MK-2]

I know it may be stupid, but on our system (not using AD yet) the login is username@server so if the wildfire server is on a machine called test it would be user@test

thinking of implementing AD but to be honest, everybody is setup now so I can't really be bothered.

[mattx]

Working well now - Spark should be finished rolling out to PCs by the end of the day - knocked up a quick 'how to' for staff and placed a notice in the staff room - now sit back and watch ' Sparks fly ' sorry for the pun...

Thanks for the advice.