Hosting Chat Communities

How Chat Servers Communicate

In Chat Service, the server is the point to which users connect to talk to each other. Each user runs a client program that connects to the network through another program called a server. Chat servers exist to pass messages from user to user.

Exchange 2000 Chat servers, as well as each chat community on each server, operate independently, using separate user lists and channel lists. Each Exchange Chat server can host up to 20,000 concurrent users throughout an organization or around the world.

The entrance to the server is a port. A port number is assigned to each chat community connected to the Exchange Chat server. The port number and the Domain Name System (DNS) Internet Protocol (IP) address, identify where the chat server receives communication from the chat community. The default port number is 6667 (a chat industry standard) and is usually assigned to the first chat community on the Exchange Chat server. You can also use 7000. If these port numbers are in use by other services, another port number is assigned. Port numbers can range from 1 to 65535.