5 Managing Messages for Offline Users

This chapter describes how you can manage messages that are sent to offline Oracle Communications Instant Messaging Server users so they receive queued messages the next time they log in. The messages can be sent as an SMS or forwarded as an email.

Managing Instant Messaging Server Messages for Offline Users Overview

When the offline chat message delivery feature is enabled on Instant Messaging Server, regular instant messages (chat messages) that are sent to offline users are not discarded. They are available on Instant Messaging Server and delivered to the user when the user comes online. You enable offline chat message delivery at the deployment level or at the domain level by using the whitelisting facility. You can disable offline chat message delivery at the domain level by using the blacklisting facility.

Alerts are managed separately. Similar to offline chat messages, Instant Messaging Server stores the alerts for the offline recipient, and delivers them when the user logs in next time, as long as the user has been configured to receive offline alerts during the next login. You enable or disable offline alerts at the user level.

Note:

If you install Oracle Communications Calendar Server with Instant Messaging Server, you can configure your deployment such that you receive Instant Messaging Server alerts about your calendar to-dos and events, as pop-up messages. As long as you are logged in to Instant Messaging Server (you are online), you receive Calendar Server HTML pop-up reminders on your desktop. If you are offline, you receive the alerts the next time you login, as long as have configured Instant Messaging Server to receive offline alerts during the next login.

For more information on Instant Messaging Server and calendar alerts, see the topic on planning your installation in Instant Messaging Server Installation and Configuration Guide.

For information about SMS forwarding, see "Configuring the SMS Gateway".

Enabling Support for Offline Messages in Instant Messaging Server

You can enable support for offline messages in Instant Messaging Server. Instant Messaging Server stores the messages intended for an offline recipient. The server then delivers the offline messages once the recipient comes online. The implementation of the offline message support is based on the XEP-160 guidelines, and supports the entire deployment to cover domains.

Instant Messaging Server supports offline message delivery of one-to-one chat. The offline message support for a multi-user chat is available in persistent chat rooms. You can set the maximum number of chat messages you want to receive. You can use the same properties to whitelist or blacklist specific domain names for which this capability can be enabled. The messages are queued for offline delivery in the Instant Messaging Server data directory on the file system of the host. For more information, see the topic on support topics in Instant Messaging Server Installation and Configuration Guide. Also, see Best Practices for Handling Offline Messages at:

http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0160.html

Table 5-1 shows the configuration properties used to enable support for offline messages:

Table 5-1 Configuration Properties for Enabling Support of Offline Messages

Property	Default Value	Description
iim_server.deliverofflinechat	false	Determines whether the capability is on or off. To enable the feature for the entire deployment, set the iim_server.deliverofflinechat property to true, and do not set the deliverofflinechat.domain property. To disable the feature for the entire deployment, set the iim_server.deliverofflinechat property to false, and do not set the deliverofflinechat.domain property.
deliverofflinechat.domain	None	Used to blacklist or whitelist a domain. To blacklist a domain, set the iim_server.deliverofflinechat property to true, and set the deliverofflinechat.domain property to the list of domains to be blacklisted. To whitelist a domain, set the iim_server.deliverofflinechat property to false, and set the deliverofflinechat.domain property to the list of domains to be whitelisted.
deliverofflinechat.maxsize	50	Determines the maximum queue size related to the Receiver, and must be a positive integer.

Note:

All peers or machines in a server pool environment store the messages locally on the users' file system. If a machine is unavailable, the stored messages are not available for delivery to the user. The messages are delivered only when the machine is up, and the recipient user is online.

For more information on the complete list of Instant Messaging Server configuration properties, see "Configuration Properties".

To Enable Support for Offline Messaging in Instant Messaging Server

To enable support for offline messaging:

Set the configuration properties by using the imconfutil command for the following scenarios:
1. To enable the feature for all, set iim_server.deliverofflinechat to true, and do not set deliverofflinechat.domain. For example:
```
imconfutil set-prop iim_server.deliverofflinechat=true -c $IM_BASE_DIR/config/iim.conf.xml
```
2. To disable the feature for all, set iim_server.deliverofflinechat to false, and do not set deliverofflinechat.domain. For example:
```
imconfutil set-prop iim_server.deliverofflinechat=false -c $IM_BASE_DIR/config/iim.conf.xml
```
3. To whitelist a domain, set iim_server.deliverofflinechat to false, and set deliverofflinechat.domain to comma_separated_list_of_domains_to_be_whitelisted. For example:
```
imconfutil set-prop iim_server.deliverofflinechat=false -c $IM_BASE_DIR/config/iim.conf.xml
```
```
imconfutil set-prop deliverofflinechat.domain="comma_separated_list_of_domains_to_be_whitelisted" -c $IM_BASE_DIR/config/iim.conf.xml
```
4. To blacklist a domain, set iim_server.deliverofflinechat to true, and set deliverofflinechat.domain to comma_separated_list_of_domains_to_be_denied. For example:
```
imconfutil set-prop iim_server.deliverofflinechat=true -c $IM_BASE_DIR/config/iim.conf.xml
```
```
imconfutil set-prop deliverofflinechat.domain="comma_separated_list_of_domains_to_be_denied" -c $IM_BASE_DIR/config/iim.conf.xml
```
Restart Instant Messaging Server.