Jabber software review

This page has information on jabber software solutions tested for the new Fellowship jabber server

Requirements

• Support for LDAP auth
• Support for enforcing secure connections (we can't afford transmitting the Fellowship password as cleartext)
• Transport for other protocols
• Migration path from jabberd
• If possible: listen also on port 443 (and/or 80?), for Fellows that are behind firewalls
  • Check if jabber server allows multiple ports
  • Needs to be installed on a host that doesn't run https
• If possible: Debian package

Possible software solutions

TESTED:

• jabberd

  • URL: http://jabberd.org/

  • Features: http://jabberd.org/

  • Packaged for Debian: yes (but latest debian version: 1.4.3 vs latest upstream version: 1.6.x!)
  • Notes:

    • The main site doesn't seem to provide updated documentation; you can find documentation about the 1.4.x versions at http://jabberd.org/1.4/doc/ and http://jabberd.org/1.4/docs/

    • The LDAP authentication module is not reliable (tested on cavendish) and unmaintained

      • http://jabberd.org/1.4/doc/j14extauth

      • http://www.snoogans.co.uk/jabber/

• ejabberd

  • URL: http://www.process-one.net/en/projects/ejabberd/

  • Features: http://www.process-one.net/en/ejabberd/desc

    • LDAP auth: yes
  • Packaged for Debian

    • yes (official package): http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=ejabberd

      • etch: 1.1.2
      • etch-backports: 2.0.1
      • lenny: 2.0.1
      • lenny-backports: 2.0.5

    • installation tutorial: http://sysmonblog.co.uk/2008/06/ot-installing-ejabberd-on-debian-ubuntu.html

  • Migration from jabberd:

    • Tools and procedure available at: http://www.ejabberd.im/jabberd1-to-ejabberd

  • Language: erlang
  • Meets requirements?:
    • LDAP: yes, but only unencrypted; cannot make changes to the DB
    • enforce encryption: yes
    • transport for other protocols: IRC, not sure about others
      • People can use transports of other servers
    • can run on multiple ports: yes (ssl enforcement can be configured per port)
  • documentation looks good to me (gollo)

NOT TESTED:

• jabberd2

  • URL: http://jabberd2.xiaoka.com/

  • Features: http://jabberd2.xiaoka.com/wiki

    • LDAP auth: yes http://jabberd2.xiaoka.com/wiki/InstallGuide/BasicConfiguration#OpenLDAPconfig

      • uses OpenLDAP v2 syntax, see the docs

      • supports encrypted LDAP connections

  • Packaged for Debian: yes (but only in sid!): http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=jabberd2

    • Ubuntu packages: http://rpmseek.com

  • Migration from jabberd:

    • A migration script is provided (/tools/migrate.pl in the source package)

    • See also: http://jabberd2.xiaoka.com/wiki/InstallGuide/CommonAdministrativeTasks

      • ("6.2. Converting from Jabberd 1.4")
  • Language: C?
  • Meets requirements?:
    • Enforce encryption: yes
    • multiple ports: couldn't find anything, further investigation required

    • transports: "Jabberd 2 provides backwards compatibility for Jabberd 1.4x compatible transports." (not sure what this means for us)

• openfire

  • URL: http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/index.jsp

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openfire

  • Features:
    • LDAP auth: yes (including encryption)

      • http://www.igniterealtime.org/builds/openfire/docs/latest/documentation/ldap-guide.html

  • Packaged for Debian: unofficial package: http://www.igniterealtime.org/downloads/index.jsp

  • Migration from jabberd: must be researched

    • See this forum post

  • Language: java

  • multiple ports: see this discussion

  • This was suggested on the fellowship@ list on 09-02-06