Instant Message Structure Format

XMPP protocol is used to format the instant messages. The message bodies themselves may be wrapped in HTML.

Access Protocol

In Instant Messaging, user information and preferences are retrieved from an LDAP directory. This directory can either be dedicated for use by Instant Messaging, or be shared by other components such as Access Manager or Portal Server. User data is typically retrieved using LDAP search functions. Instant Messaging deployments that make use of Access Manager and Portal Server make use of the same LDAP server.

Communication and Message Transfer Protocols

Instant Messaging server-to-server and client-to-server communications occur over TCP/IP. You can secure these communications by using TLS encryption.

Instant Messaging uses SMTP to send messages to offline users and for email archiving.

Browsers use HTTP to retrieve Instant Messenger resource files from the Web server. Once retrieved, the browser reads the HTML and displays the contents of the files. Client-to-server communication can take place over HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS proxy. Also, HTTPBIND is a server component (that uses the HTTP protocol) through which browser-based XMPP clients can communicate with the Instant Messaging server.

Instant Messaging 7.2 is an XMPP client/server solution, able to communicate with XMPP-compliant servers, clients, and gateways. Gateways are available in the open-source community to enable communication between Instant Messaging server and AOL, Yahoo, and other instant messaging systems.