JBuddy Messenger: An Office Communicator Alternative
Filed under: Conferencing, Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007
The client app that ships with OCS 2007 is called Office Communicator. When you ask the average user what OCS is, they”ll point to their Communicator window (which looks like this) and call that OCS.
Office Communicator Window
Communicator does its job very well. (I actually prefer it over most IM apps out there.) For a while I assumed it was the only OCS client app. You wouldn”t find a third-party alternative for a big Microsoft server, would you?
Well, it seems you would.
Here’’s JBuddy Messenger. A third-party OCS-capable IM app that runs in Java. I came across it in the TechNet OCS forums.
JBuddy Messenger Window
For Business IM
JBuddy starts out like Trillian or Adium - as a free multi-protocol IM client. But with licensing it becomes a business-level communications tool. In other words, you need a license to connect to OCS 2007 with it.
Because JBuddy is written in Java, it works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
As far as I can tell there is no support for voice or video. JBuddy is focused on Instant Messaging.
Why and When You”d Want to Use JBuddy
If you”re running OCS without VoIP
Say you aren”t planning on a VoIP install yet. Perhaps your office uses all cellphones. But you still need IM capability, and group chat would be nice.
Your Employees Use Different Instant Messaging Systems
While it’’s possible to set up third-party IM accounts in Office Communicator, JBuddy allows use of AIM, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger right away. With licensing it will operate with Jabber server, Lotus Sametime, and of course OCS 2007.
If you just want a fast, simple IM client for the office
JBuddy does the job.
In the end, it’’s nice to have choices. JBuddy is the first third-party messenger app to support OCS I”ve come across.
Because it doesn”t do conferencing and you need an enterprise license first, I”d only recommend JBuddy for small companies who use multiple IM systems and need a way to consolidate those. Otherwise, stick with Office Communicator.
Downloading JBuddy Messenger is free, but you”ll need to purchase an enterprise license to use all its business features (including OCS connectivity). http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/
If you”d like to try it out, request a 30-Day Evaluation License (free trial) here:
http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/request-eval.shtml
Protecting External Connectivity In OCS 2007
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Reference, Voice over IP
Last Friday on TechRepublic’’s “10 Things” Blog, Brien Posey wrote about 10 Common Network Security Design Flaws.
The second flaw is “opening more firewall ports than necessary.” And what does he use as an example? OCS 2007 R2.
It’’s a very good example. As he states, OCS requires several ports opened in order to provide external connections to other networks. Without proper protection, this can be a risk to you. Ports left open (and not monitored) are little signposts saying, “Enter Here!”
(This is only if you want to use external connections. If you”re only interested in OCS for internal IM and Presence, you won”t need to open those ports.)
Brien puts forth Microsoft ForeFront as a good solution to the problem. ForeFront’’s Threat Management Gateway is a reverse proxy - intended to filter requests for access into & out of your network. At the risk of sounding too provider-loyal, it IS a natural fit. (If you use a hosted OCS provider, chances are ForeFront is in place.)
In order to protect External Connectivity completely though, you”ll have to use the OCS Edge Server. There’’s an advantage to this: depending on how you want to communicate with others, you can enable only what you need. Each of the External Connectivity services requires a service enabled on the OCS Edge Server. According to Microsoft’’s TechNet, these are:
- Access Edge service — Lets outside users communicate with your OCS using SIP.
- Web Conferencing Edge service — Lets outside users participate in your conferences.
- A/V Edge service — Lets you share audio and video with external users.
The TechNet page also gives links on how to administer these services:
Microsoft TechNet — Managing External Connectivity for Your Organization with Edge Servers
I blogged about this because it’’s important to remember. Brien’’s #1 network security flaw was the “set it and forget it” mentality. Doing that with OCS can leave a lot of exploitable holes in your network. All of them preventable if you remember to protect External Connectivity.
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The Risks You”ll Tackle in OCS 2007
Filed under: Exchange Server 2007, Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications
I”ve talked a lot about some of the benefits from using OCS 2007.
Now I”d like to talk about the risks.
Every network-based application carries a risk. Either in terms of security breaches, or in terms of employees abusing the system in some way. Such actions are rare. And with a little preparation, they almost never occur.
That’’s why I wanted to give this warning beforehand. So you”ll take the following into consideration during your OCS planning & setup process. You can avoid most of these risks entirely if they”re planned against.
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