Specify Supported IM Service Providers

Topic Last Modified: 2011-03-15

Users of public instant messaging (IM) services, including any or all of the following: Windows Live, AOL, and Yahoo!, and Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) providers and servers (for example, Google Talk or Jabber) by using an XMPP gateway. A public IM service provider is a specific type of federated partner. Support for public IM users has specific requirements that are different from the requirements for users of other federated partners. Customers that do not have a volume license for Lync Server 2010 require a separate license if they choose to configure public IM connectivity with Windows Live, AOL, and Yahoo! For details, see "Changes in Office Communications Server Public IM Federation" at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=197275 and "Microsoft Lync: Pricing and Licensing" at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=202848.

Note:
To use XMPP, you must install the XMPP Gateway. You can download the XMPP Gateway from the Microsoft Download Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=204552. After you install the XMPP Gateway, you need to install the hotfix, which is available for download from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=204561.

You can add or remove an IM service provider, and change other settings for any IM service provider (including temporarily blocking the IM service provider). The settings that you can specify for each IM service provider include the following:

Whether the IM service provider is hosted or public. Hosted IM service providers are internal to your organization, running as hosted services. Some organizations allow external users to establish federation with internal servers as a hosting provider, similar to establishing federation with a public provider, such as MSN.
Whether to permit the IM service provider to federate with your organization.
The network address of the IM service provider’s Access Edge, which you specify by using the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server running the Access Edge service.
The filtering options for incoming communications are as follows:
- Allow communications only with users verified by this provider This setting is the default. It means that you trust the IM service provider's verification level and handle incoming messages accordingly. Requests marked as unverified are handled as described for the Allow communications only with users on recipients' contact lists option. Requests marked as verified are handled as described for the Allow all communications with this provider option.
- Allow communications only with users on recipients' contact lists This setting means you do not trust verification levels asserted by the IM service provider. If you choose this option, the server running the Access Edge service marks all incoming presence subscription requests as unverified. If the sender is already on the recipient’s Allow list, the internal server responds to that request. Otherwise, the request is rejected. Similarly, requests for an IM session that are marked unverified are rejected by the client.
- Allow all communications with this provider This setting means that you accept all messages regardless of whether they are verified or not. If you choose this option, the server running the Access Edge service marks all messages as verified. The recipient's home pool or server notifies the client, and all messages are handled according to settings on the client. In the case of presence subscription requests, the client settings determine how the message is handled.

By default, the Windows Live, AOL, and Yahoo! are available in the list, but are not enabled. For a public IM service provider, public IM connectivity may require the purchase of additional service licenses and provisioning the connections. For details, see the Lync Server 2010 licensing information at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=202848. Pricing and licensing information for public IM connectivity are available through Microsoft Volume Licensing programs. For details, see the Microsoft Volume Licensing page at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=144874. For details about specific requirements for public IM service providers, see the "Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity Provisioning Guide" at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=155970.

Note:
You can configure support for public IM providers, even if you have not enabled federation for your organization. However, the provider support that you configure is in effect only when you have federation enabled for your organization. For details about enabling federation, see Enable or Disable Federation for Your Organization in the Deployment documentation or the Operations documentation. Additionally, support for IM service providers requires configuration of policies to support user access. For details about configuring policies to support access by users of IM service providers, see Configure Policies to Control Access by Users of IM Service Providers.

Note:

You can configure support for public IM providers, even if you have not enabled federation for your organization. However, the provider support that you configure is in effect only when you have federation enabled for your organization. For details about enabling federation, see Enable or Disable Federation for Your Organization in the Deployment documentation or the Operations documentation. Additionally, support for IM service providers requires configuration of policies to support user access. For details about configuring policies to support access by users of IM service providers, see Configure Policies to Control Access by Users of IM Service Providers.

Use the following procedure to configure IM provider support for one or more hosted or public IM service providers.

To configure support for an IM service provider

From a user account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group (or has equivalent user rights), or is assigned to the CsAdministrator role, log on to any computer in your internal deployment.
Open a browser window, and then enter the Admin URL to open the Lync Server Control Panel. For details about the different methods you can use to start Lync Server Control Panel, see Open Lync Server Administrative Tools.

In the left navigation bar, click External User Access, click Providers, and then do one of the following:

To create a new provider, click New, and then click Public or Hosted.

Note:
Select Hosted if your IM service provider is internal to your organization, running as hosted services. Some organizations allow external users to establish federation with internal servers as a hosting provider, similar to establishing federation with a public provider like MSN.

In Provider name, create a unique name.
In Access Edge (or FQDN), type the name of each individual server running the Access Edge service.

Do one of the following:
- To enable this provider, select the Enable communications with this provider check box, and then do one of the following:
  - Click Allow communications only with users verified by this provider.
  - Select the Allow communications only with users on recipients' contact lists check box.
  - Select the Allow all communications with this provider check box.
- To prevent communications with this provider, clear the Enable communications with this provider check box.
To modify an existing provider, click the appropriate provider listed in the table, click Edit, and then click Show details. Then, do one of the following:
- To enable this provider, select the Enable communications with this provider check box, and then do one of the following:
  - Click Allow communications only with users verified by this provider.
  - Select the Allow communications only with users on recipients' contact lists check box.
  - Select the Allow all communications with this provider check box.
- To prevent communications with this provider, clear the Enable communications with this provider check box.
Click Commit.

To enable public user access, you must also enable support for federation in your organization. For details, see Enable or Disable Federation for Your Organization in the Deployment documentation or the Operations documentation.

Support for IM service providers also requires configuration of policies to support user access. For details about configuring policies to support access by users of IM service providers, see Configure Policies to Control Access by Users of IM Service Providers.