Deployment Guide for IM and Presence Service on Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Release 9.1(1)
Chat configuration on IM and Presence
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Chat configuration on IM and Presence

About chat

Chat

Point-to-point Instant Messaging (IM) supports real-time conversations between two users at a time. IM and Presence exchanges messages directly between users, from the sender to the recipient. Users must be online in their IM clients to exchange point-to-point IMs.

You can disable both the chat and availability functionality on IM and Presence.

Related Tasks

IM forking

When a user sends an IM to a contact who is signed in to multiple IM clients. IM and Presence delivers the IM to each client. This functionality is called IM forking. IM and Presence continues to fork IMs to each client, until the contact replies. Once the contact replies, IM and Presence only delivers IMs to the client on which the contact replied.

You can disable offline instant messaging on IM and Presence.

Related Tasks

Offline IM

Offline IM is the ability to send IMs to a contact when they are offline. When a user sends an IM to an offline contact, IM and Presence stores the IM and delivers the IM when the offline contact signs in to an IM client.

Broadcast IM

Broadcast IM is the ability to send an IM to multiple contacts at the same time, for example, a user wants to send a notification to a large group of contacts. Note that not all IM clients support this feature.

Chat rooms on IM and Presence

IM and Presence supports IM exchange in both temporary (ad-hoc) chat rooms and persistent (persistent) chat rooms. By default, the Text Conference (TC) component on IM and Presence is set up and configured to handle IM exchange in temporary (ad-hoc) chat rooms. There are additional requirements you must configure to support persistent chat rooms, described further in this module.

Temporary chat rooms are IM sessions that remain in existence only as long as one person is still connected to the chat room, and are deleted from the system when the last user leaves the room. Records of the IM conversation are not maintained permanently.

Persistent chat rooms are persistent IM sessions that remain in existence even when all users have left the room and do not terminate like temporary IM sessions. The intent is that users will return to persistent chat rooms over time to collaborate and share knowledge of a specific topic, search through archives of what was said on that topic (if this feature is enabled on IM and Presence), and then participate in the discussion of that topic in real-time.

The TC component on IM and Presence enables users to:

  • create new rooms, and manage members and configurations of the rooms they create.
  • invite other users to rooms.
  • determine the presence status of the members displayed within the room. The presence status displayed in a room confirms the attendance of the member in a room but may not reflect their overall presence status.

In addition, the Persistent Chat feature on IM and Presence allows users to:

  • search for and join existing chat rooms.
  • store a transcript of the chat and make the message history available for searching.

Chat room limits

Number Of...

Maximum

Persistent chat rooms per node

1500 rooms

Total rooms per node (temporary and persistent)

16500 rooms

Occupants per room

1000 occupants

Messages that appear in chat history.

Note   

The default value is 15 messages.

100 messages

File transfer

IM and Presence supports point to point file transfer between XMPP clients compliant with XEP 096 (http:/​/​xmpp.org/​extensions/​xep-0096.html).

For information about enabling or disabling file transfer, see Enable file transfer.

Important notes about IM and Presence Service and chat

For SIP to SIP IM, the following services must be running on IM and Presence:

  • Cisco SIP Proxy
  • Cisco Presence Engine
  • Cisco XCP Router

For SIP to XMPP IM, the following services must be running on IM and Presence:

  • Cisco SIP Proxy
  • Cisco Presence Engine
  • Cisco XCP Router
  • Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager

Chat settings configuration on IM and Presence

Configure service parameters for IM Gateway

Users of SIP IM clients must be able to exchange bi-directional IMs with users of XMPP IM clients. Turn on the SIP-to-XMPP connection on the IM and Presence IM Gateway for IM interoperability between SIP and XMPP clients.

Restriction

SIP clients cannot participate in chat rooms because this is an XMPP-specific feature.

Before You Begin

The IM gateway is turned on by default. We recommend that you leave it on. Only turn it off if you want to actively prevent XMPP and SIP client communication.

Procedure
    Step 1   Select Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration > System > Service Parameters.
    Step 2   Select a IM and Presence server from the Server menu.
    Step 3   Select Cisco SIP Proxy as the service on the Service Parameter Configuration window.
    Step 4   Set IM Gateway Status to On in the SIP XMPP IM Gateway (Clusterwide) section.
    Step 5   Set the Inactive Timeout interval (in seconds) of IM conversations maintained by the gateway. The default setting is 600 seconds, which is appropriate to most environments.
    Step 6   Specify the error message that you want users to see if the IM fails to deliver. Default error message: Your IM could not be delivered.
    Step 7   Select Save.
    What to Do Next

    Configure persistent chat room settings

    Enable file transfer

    Administrators can enable or disable IM and Presence server support for file transfer capability (XEP-0096). Enabling file transfer support allows XMPP clients to extend file transfer capabilities to end users.


    Note

    File transfer between a local user and an intercluster peer contact is only possible if both clusters have the feature enabled.

    Procedure
      Step 1   Select Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration > System > Service Parameters.
      Step 2   From the Server menu, select an IM and Presence server .
      Step 3   In the Service Parameter Configuration window, select Cisco XCP Router as the service.
      Step 4   From the Enable file transfer drop-down list, select On or Off.
      Step 5   Click Save.
      Step 6   Restart the Cisco XCP Router Service on every node in the cluster. For more information, see Restart Cisco XCP Router service.

      Configure number of sign-in sessions

      Administrators can limit the number of sign-in sessions per user on the Cisco XCP Router. This parameter is applicable to XMPP clients only.

      Procedure
        Step 1   Choose Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration > System > Service Parameters.
        Step 2   Choose a Cisco Unified Presence server from the Server menu.
        Step 3   Choose Cisco XCP Router as the service in the Service Parameter Configuration window.
        Step 4   Enter a parameter value in the Maximum number of logon sessions per user in the XCP Manager Configuration Parameters (Clusterwide) area.
        Step 5   Select Save.
        Step 6   Restart the Cisco XCP Router Service. For more information, see Restart Cisco XCP Router service

        Configure persistent chat room settings

        You need only configure persistent chat settings if you use persistent chat rooms as opposed to temporary (ad-hoc) chat rooms. This configuration is specific to persistent chat and has no impact on IM archiving for regulatory compliance.

        Restriction

        SIP clients cannot participate in chat rooms because this is an XMPP-specific feature.

        Before You Begin
        • To use persistent chat rooms, you must configure a unique external database instance per node.
        • If you use an external database for persistent chat logging, consider the size of your database. Archiving all the messages in a chat room is optional, and will increase traffic on the node and consume space on the external database disk. In large deployments, disk space could be quickly consumed. Ensure that your database is large enough to handle the volume of information.
        • Before you configure the number of connections to the external database, consider the number of IMs you are writing offline and the overall volume of traffic that results. The number of connections that you configure will allow the system to scale. While the default settings on the UI suit most installations, you may want to adapt the parameters for your specific deployment.
        • The heartbeat interval is typically used to keep connections open through firewalls. Do not set the Database Connection Heartbeat Interval value to zero without contacting Cisco support.
        Procedure
          Step 1   Select Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration > Messaging > Group Chat and Persistent Chat.
          Step 2   Check Enable Persistent Chat.
          Step 3   (Optional) Specify how to store chat room messages, if required:
          1. Check Archive all room messages if you want to archive all the messages that are sent in the room. This is a cluster-wide setting that applies to all persistent chat rooms.
          2. Enter the number of connections to the database that you to want to use for processing requests. This is a cluster-wide setting that applies to all connections between chat nodes and associated databases.
          3. Enter the number of seconds after which the database connection should refresh. This is a cluster-wide setting that applies to all connections between chat nodes and associated databases.
          Step 4   Select from the list of preconfigured external databases and assign the appropriate database to the chat node.

          Troubleshooting Tips

          • If you turn on the Archive all messages in a room setting, we recommend that you monitor the performance of each external database used for persistent chat. You should anticipate an increased load on the database server(s).
          • If you enable persistent chat rooms, but do not establish the correct connection with the external database, the chat node will fail. Under these circumstances, you will lose the functionality of all chat rooms - both temporary and persistent. If a chat node establishes a connection (even if other chat nodes fail), it will still start.
          • Click the hyperlink if you need to edit the chat node details in the Cluster Topology Details window.
          • If you update any of the Persistent Chat settings, restart the Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager. Select Cisco Unified IM and Presence Serviceability > Tools > Control Center - Feature Servicesto restart this service.
          What to Do Next

          Turn on Cisco XCP text conference service.

          Related Tasks
          Related Information

          Chat node alias management

          Chat node aliases

          Aliases create a unique address for each chat node so that users (in any domain) can search for specific chat rooms on specific nodes, and join chat in those rooms. Each chat node in a system must have a unique alias.


          Note

          This chat node alias, conference-3-mycup.cisco.com, for example, will form part of the unique ID for each chat room created on that node, roomjid@conference-3-mycup.cisco.com

          You can assign your aliases cluster-wide, in these ways:

          • System-generated - allows the system to automatically assign a unique alias to each chat node.You do not have do to anything further to address your chat node if you enable the system-generated aliases. The system will auto-generate one alias per chat node by default using the following naming convention: conference-x-clusterid.domain, where:
            • conference - is a hardcoded keyword
            • x- is the unique integer value that denotes the node ID
            • Example: conference-3-mycup.cisco.com
          • Manually - You may choose to override the default system-generated alias if the conference-x-clusterid.domain naming convention does not suit your customer deployment, for example, if you do not want to include the Cluster ID in your chat node alias. With manually-managed aliases, you have complete flexibility to name chat nodes using aliases that suit your specific requirements.
          • Additional Aliases - You can associate more than one alias with each chat node on a per-node basis. Multiple aliases per node allows users to create additional chat rooms using these aliases. This applies whether you assign a system-generated alias or manage your aliases manually.

          Key considerations

          Changing chat node aliases can make the chat rooms in the database unaddressable and prevent your users from finding existing chat rooms.

          Note these results before you change the constituent parts of aliases or other node dependencies:

          • Cluster ID - This value is part of the fully qualified cluster name (FQCN). Changing the Cluster ID (select System > Cluster Topology: Settings) causes the FQCN to incorporate the new value and the system-managed alias to automatically change across the cluster. For manually-managed aliases, it is the responsibility of the Administrator to manually update the alias list if the Cluster ID changes.
          • Domain - This value is part of the FQCN. Changing the Domain (select System > Service Parameters > Cisco Proxy) causes the FQCN to incorporate the new value and the system-managed alias to automatically change across the cluster. For manually-managed aliases, it is the responsibility of the Administrator to manually update the alias list if the Domain changes.
          • Connection between the chat node and external database - The chat node will not start if persistent chat is enabled and you do not maintain the correct connection with the external database.
          • Deletion of a chat node - If you delete a node associated with an existing alias from the Cluster Topology, chat rooms created using the old alias may not be addressable unless you take further action.

          We recommend that you do not change existing aliases without considering the wider implications of your changes, namely:

          • Make sure that you maintain the address of old chat nodes in the database so that users can locate existing chat rooms via the old alias, if required
          • If there is federation with external domains, you may need to publish the aliases in DNS to inform the users in those domains that the aliases have changed and new addresses are available. This depends on whether or not you want to advertise all aliases externally.
          Related References

          Turn on system generated aliases

          Before You Begin
          • Review the topics about chat node aliases and key considerations.
          • You cannot edit or delete a system-generated alias, for example, conference-3-mycup.cisco.com.
          Procedure
            Step 1   Select Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration > Messaging > Group Chat and Persistent Chat.
            Step 2   Check System Automatically Manages Primary Group Chat Server Aliases to enable the system to automatically assign chat room aliases to nodes, using this alias naming convention: conference-x-clusterid.domain.
            Step 3   The Number of messages in chat history displayed for new conference participants setting controls the number of instant messages from the recent message history that IM and Presence pushes to the client application of a user when that user joins a chat room. Increase this number if you want to display more text message history to users.
            Step 4   Select Messaging > Group Chat Server Alias Mappingto verify that the system-generated alias is listed under Primary Group Chat Server Aliases.

            Troubleshooting Tips

            • Even if you configure a system-generated alias for a chat node, you can associate more than one alias with the node if required.
            • If you are federating with external domains, you may want to inform federated parties that the aliases have changed and new aliases are available. To advertise all aliases externally, configure DNS and publish the aliases as DNS records.
            • If users of clients applications create a chat room, they may potentially override the default number of messages that display in a chat room.
            • Note that if you turn on the Archive all room messages option for persistent chat, Cisco Unified Personal Communicator actively queries IM and Presence for all instant message history regardless of the value you configure for the Number of messages in chat history displayed for new chat participants setting.
            • If you update any of the system-generated alias configuration, perform one of these actions:
            • Restart the Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager. Select Cisco Unified IM and Presence Serviceability > Tools > Control Center - Feature Services to restart this service
            • The Number of messages in chat history displayed for new chat participants setting updates dynamically; You do not need to restart the Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager service.
            What to Do Next

            Related Tasks
            Related References

            Manage chat node aliases manually

            Before You Begin
            • Review the topics about chat node aliases and key considerations.
            • If you do not want to use a system-generated alias, you must turn off the default setting.
              • If you turn off a system-generated alias, the old alias (conference-x-clusterid.domain) reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Conference Server Aliases. This maintains the old alias and the chat room addresses associated with that alias.
              • Even if you configure a system-generated alias for a chat node, you can associate more than one alias with the node if required. You can manually assign one (or more) aliases to chat nodes. You can also edit aliases and delete any aliases that you no longer need.
            • Although it is not mandatory, we recommend that you always include the Domain when you assign a new chat node alias to a node. Use this convention for additional aliases, newalias.domain. Select System > Cluster Topology: Settings in Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration to see the Domain.
            • For manually-managed aliases, it is the responsibility of the Administrator to manually update the alias list if the Cluster ID or Domain changes. System-generated aliases will incorporate the changed values automatically.
            Procedure
              Step 1   Select Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration > Messaging > Group Chat and Persistent Chat.
              Step 2   [If Required] Uncheck System Automatically Manages Primary Group Chat Server Aliases to turn off the default system-generated alias.
              Step 3   All the existing chat node aliases (including the disabled system-generated alias) are listed together under Group Chat Server Aliases. To view the alias list, perform these actions:
              1. Select Messaging > Group Chat Server Alias Mapping.
              2. Click Find.
              Step 4   Complete one or more of the following actions as required: Edit an existing alias (old system-generated or user-defined alias)
              1. Select the hyperlink for any existing alias that you want to edit.
              2. Edit the alias for the node in the Group Chat Server Alias field. Make sure the alias is unique for the node.
              3. Select the appropriate node to which you want to assign this changed alias.
              Add a new chat node alias
              1. Click Add New.
              2. Enter a unique alias for the node in the Group Chat Server Alias field.
              3. Select the appropriate node to which you want to assign the new alias.
              Delete an existing alias
              1. Check the check box for the alias that you want to delete.
              2. Click Delete Selected.

              Troubleshooting Tips

              • Every chat node alias must be unique. The system will prevent you from creating duplicate chat node aliases across the cluster.
              • A chat node alias name cannot match the IM and Presence domain name.
              • Delete old aliases only if you no longer need to maintain the address of chat rooms via the old alias.
              • If you are federating with external domains, you may want to inform federated parties that the aliases have changed and new aliases are available. To advertise all aliases externally, configure DNS and publish the aliases as DNS records.
              • If you update any of the chat node alias configuration, restart the Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager.
              What to Do Next

              Related Tasks
              Related References
              Related Information

              Turn on Cisco XCP text conference service

              This procedure applies if you configure the persistent chat room settings, or manually add one or more aliases to a chat node. You must also turn on this service if you want to enable temporary (ad-hoc) chat on a node.

              Before You Begin

              If persistent chat is enabled, an external database must be associated with the Text Conference Manager service, and the database must be active and reachable or the Text Conference Manager will not start. If the connection with the external database fails after the Text Conference Manager service has started, the Text Conference Manager service will remain active and functional, however, messages will no longer be persisted to database and new persistent rooms cannot be created until the connection recovers.

              Procedure
                Step 1   Select Cisco Unified IM and Presence Serviceability > Tools > Service Activation.
                Step 2   Select the chat node from the Server menu.
                Step 3   Select the Cisco XCP Text Conference Manager service to turn it on.
                Step 4   Select Save.
                Related Tasks

                Sample deployments

                The tables below contain a sample range of deployment scenarios that administrators may want to configure

                Scenario 1

                Deployment Scenario:

                You do not want to include the Cluster ID in the chat node alias. Instead of the system-generated alias conference-1-mycup.cisco.com, you want to use the alias primary-conf-server.cisco.com.

                Configuration Steps:

                1. Select Messaging > Group Chat and Persistent Chat Messagingto turn off the system-generated alias. (This is on by default).
                2. Edit the alias and change it to primary-conf-server.cisco.com.

                Notes:

                When you turn off the old system-generated alias, conference-1-mycup.cisco.com reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Group Chat Server Aliases. This maintains the old alias and the chat room addresses associated with that alias.

                Scenario 2

                Deployment Scenario::

                You want to:

                • change the Domain from cisco.com to linksys.com and use conference-1-mycup.linksys.com instead of conference-1-mycup.cisco.com.
                • maintain the address of existing persistent chat rooms in the database so that users can still find old chat rooms of type xxx@conference-1-mycup.cisco.com.

                Configuration Steps:

                1. Select System > Cluster Topology > Settings in Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration.
                2. See Cluster topology configuration on IM and Presence, for steps on how to "Edit the Domain" and change it to linksys.com.

                Notes:

                When you change the domain, the fully qualified cluster name (FQCN) automatically changes from conference-1-mycup.cisco.com to conference-1-mycup.linksys.com. The old system-generated alias conference-1-mycup.cisco.com reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Group Chat Server Aliases. This maintains the old alias and the chat room addresses associated with that alias.

                Scenario 3

                Deployment Scenario:

                You:

                • want to change the Cluster ID from mycup to ireland to use conference-1-ireland.cisco.com instead of conference-1-mycup.cisco.com.
                • do not need to maintain the address of existing persistent chat rooms in the database.

                Configuration Steps:

                1. Select System > Cluster Topology > Settings in Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration.
                2. Edit the Cluster ID and change it to ireland.
                3. Select Messaging > Group Chat Server Alias Mappingin Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration.
                4. Delete the old alias conference-1-mycup.cisco.com.

                Notes:

                When you change the Cluster ID, the fully qualified cluster name (FQCN) automatically changes from conference-1-mycup.cisco.com to conference-1-ireland.cisco.com. The old system-generated alias conference-1-mycup.cisco.com reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Group Chat Server Aliases. This maintains the old alias and the chat room addresses associated with that alias. Because (in this example) the Administrator has no need to maintain the old alias address, it is appropriate to delete it.

                Scenario 4

                Deployment Scenario:

                You want to:

                • change the Cluster ID from mycup to ireland to use conference-1-ireland.cisco.com instead of conference-1-mycup.cisco.com.
                • only maintain chat room addressing via the old alias (does not need to associate nodes with the new system-generated alias).

                Configuration Steps:

                1. Select System > Cluster Topology > Settings in Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration.
                2. Edit the Cluster ID and change it to ireland.
                3. Select Messaging > Group Chat and Persistent Chat and turn off the new system-generated alias, conference-1-ireland.cisco.com. (This is on by default).
                4. Select Messaging > Group Chat Server Alias Mappingin Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration
                5. Deletes the new alias conference-1-ireland.cisco.com.

                Notes:

                When you change the Cluster ID, the fully qualified cluster name (FQCN) automatically changes from conference-1-mycup.cisco.com to conference-1-ireland.cisco.com. When you turn off the new system-generated alias, conference-1-ireland.cisco.com reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Group Chat Server Aliases. Because (in this example) the Administrator has no need to maintain the new alias address, it is appropriate to delete it. The old system-generated alias conference-1-mycup.cisco.com reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Group Chat Server Aliases. This maintains the old alias and the chat room addresses associated with that alias.

                Scenario 5

                Deployment Scenario:

                You want to:

                • delete a node associated with an existing alias from the System Topology, for example, conference-3-mycup.cisco.com.
                • add a new node with a new node ID (node id: 7) to the System Topology, for example, conference-7-mycup.cisco.com.
                • maintain the address of chat rooms that were created using the old alias.

                Configuration Steps:

                Option 1

                1. Select Messaging > Group Chat Server Alias Mapping in Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Administration.
                2. Select Add New to add the additional alias, conference-3-mycup.cisco.com.

                Option 2

                1. Select Messaging > Group Chat and Persistent Chat and turn off the default system-generated alias, conference-7-mycup.cisco.com. (This is on by default).
                2. Edit the alias and change it to conference-3-mycup.cisco.com.

                Notes:

                When you add the new node to the System Topology, the system automatically assigns this alias to the node: conference-7-mycup.cisco.com.

                Option 1

                • If you add an additional alias, the node is addressable via both aliases, conference-7-mycup.cisco.com and conference-3-mycup.cisco.com.

                Option 2

                • If you turn off the old system-generated alias, conference-7-mycup.cisco.com reverts to a standard, editable alias listed under Group Chat Server Aliases.