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WiscChat Plus (Psi) - Administering Your Domain

WiscChat Plus is a free Jabber-based instant messaging service that can be enabled for any WiscMail Plus domain.

When WiscChat Plus is enabled for your WiscMail Plus domain, SRV records for your domain are created in DNS to facilitate client connections and server-to-server communication.

• Activate your Domain
• Look Up the SRV Records for your Domain

WiscChat Plus accounts are tied to WiscMail Plus user and role accounts (alias accounts are not eligible for WiscChat).

• Determine the JabberID that your users will use
• Creating New Chat Accounts

Although we recommend Psi, there are multiple clients to choose from when connecting to WiscChat.

• Determine the client(s) that your users will use
• Recommend vCard data format

An administrator of a WiscChat Plus domain can use the "chatadmin@domain.wisc.edu" role-based account to perform the following functions:

• Setting a Message of the Day or Sending an Announcement
• Administer Chat Rooms

Look Up the SRV Records for your Domain

To lookup the SRV records required for client connections, type the following from a command line:

• nslookup -type=SRV _xmpp-client._tcp.domain.wisc.edu

_xmpp-client._tcp.domain.wisc.edu priority = 5, weight = 0, port= 5222 host = wiscmail.wisc.edu
_xmpp-client._tcp.domain.wisc.edu priority = 10, weight = 0, port= 5222 host = xmpp1.wiscmail.wisc.edu
_xmpp-client._tcp.domain.wisc.edu priority = 10, weight = 0, port= 5222 host = xmpp2.wiscmail.wisc.edu

• nslookup -type=SRV _xmpp-server._tcp.domain.wisc.edu

_xmpp-server._tcp.domain.wisc.edu priority = 5, weight = 0, port= 5222 host = xmpp.wiscmail.wisc.edu

Determine the JabberID that your users will use

Anyone with an active WiscMail account can use their NetID credentials to log into WiscChat. However, there are multiple reasons that you might want your users to use their WiscMail Plus account as their JabberID:

• Administrators can send messages to all chat users for their domain (message of the day or announcement).
• Chat room administrators can easily restrict access to only those users in your domain.
• If users have published their WiscMail Plus email address, then this will match their JabberID.

Creating New Chat Accounts

Once WiscChat Plus is enabled for your WiscMail Plus domain, all user and role-based WiscMail Plus accounts will be able to log into WiscChat. Alias accounts do not have passwords and are not eligible for WiscChat. Use the WiscMail Plus Delegated Administrator to create new accounts in your WiscMail Plus domain or to convert alias accounts to user or role-based accounts.

Determine the client(s) that your users will use

While some chat clients offer advanced features (file transfer, whiteboard, voice over ip, etc), those features will only work among users who are using the same client. Please review the client comparison chart before recommending a client to your users.

Recommend vCard data format

WiscChat maintains its own searchable directory of user-submitted vCard information. Departments and groups may wish to recommend to their users what data should be entered into each field (especially the Company and Department fields). Standardizing this data across your group/department makes it easier for individuals to find others via a vCard directory search.

• Updating a vCard using Psi

Setting a Message of the Day or Sending an Announcement

Only the "chatadmin" account has the ability to set any of the announcements.

1. Start Psi and log in as the "chatadmin@domain.wisc.edu" account.
2. Within the roster window, right-click on the "chatadmin" account and select Service Discovery option.

   

3. Maximize the Announcements section.
4. Double-click on the action you want to perform.

Administer Chat Rooms

The "chatadmin@domain.wisc.edu" account is able to administer any chat room within the domain. This includes hidden rooms, members-only rooms, and password protected rooms. Use the chat room configuration document to change any of the settings for a chat room or to destroy a chat room. If your users use their WiscMail Plus email addresses as their JabberIDs, pay special attention to the instructions for restricting access to a room by domain. Note: you must be logged in as the "chatadmin@domain.wisc.edu" account within Psi to change any of the chat rooms settings.