Chapter 18 Configuring Im Presence Information; Overview Of Im Presence Information - Netscape DIRECTORY SERVER 6.2 - ADMINISTRATOR Administrator's Manual

Configuring IM Presence Information
Netscape Directory Server (Directory Server) 6.0 included a preview release of a
new feature called Instant Messenger (IM) Presence Information. This chapter
provides an overview of this feature and information that will help you
configure Directory Server to provide an IM user's online-status information as
a part of the user-profile information stored in the directory.
The Presence Information feature is described in these sections:
• Overview of IM Presence Information (page 511)
• Schema For the Presence Plug-In (page 512)
• Performance-Related Information (page 513)
• Troubleshooting (page 514)

Overview of IM Presence Information

The IM Presence Information feature is implemented as a Directory Server
plug-in, giving you the flexibility to turn this feature on/off. The plug-in
enables you to configure Directory Server to provide instantaneous knowledge
of an IM user's online status or online presence. A user's presence information
can be extremely useful in a corporate environment, enabling users to know the
online status of other users without having to configure their IM accounts for
querying those users' online status.
Currently, there are many IM products in the market, each making the presence
information available in different ways, including via HTTP, buddy lists, and
SDKs. For example, in one of the IM products, each user must create a buddy list,
comprising the IM IDs of people whose online status he or she is interested in
knowing. Creating a buddy list can be a tedious task, especially when one has to
track IM IDs of a large number of people and include those IDs in the list.
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