Public instant messaging (IM) connectivity enables users in your organization to use IM to communicate with users of IM services that public IM service providers provide, including the MSN network of Internet services, Yahoo!, and AOL. You can authorize use of public IM connectivity for your entire organization or on a per-user basis.

Use the IM Providertab of Edge Server Propertiesto manage the IM service providers that are allowed to federate with your organization. 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 you specify for each IM service provider includes the following:

In the case of IM invitations, the response depends on the client software. The request is accepted unless external senders are explicitly blocked by a user-configured rule (in the user’s Allow and Block lists). Additionally, IM invitations can be blocked if a user elects to block all IM from users who are not on his or her Allow list.

Note:
By default, the MSN network of Internet services, AOL, and Yahoo! are available in the list, but are not enabled. For a public IM service provider, public IM connectivity requires the purchase of additional service licenses and provisioning the connections. For details, see the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 licensing information at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=144873 . 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 .

Use the following procedure to configure IM provider support on an Edge Server. If you want to provide support for one or more IM service providers, use the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 snap-in to configure server-side support at the global level (for the forest) and enable and disable support for each user. For details about configuring the global setting, see Enabling Federation and Public IM Connectivity and Configuring Routing of Inbound and Outbound SIP Traffic. For details about configuring the user settings, see Configuring Federation, Remote User Access, and Public IM Connectivity for Individual Users.

To configure IM provider support on an Edge Server

  1. On the Edge Server, open Computer Management.

  2. In the console tree, expand Services and Applications, right-click Office Communications Server 2007 R2, and then click Properties.

  3. On the IM Providertab, do one of the following:

    • To add an IM provider, click Add. In the Add IM Service Providerdialog box, specify the appropriate options, and then click OK.

    • To view or edit the settings for an IM service provider, in the Edit IM Service Providerdialog box, click the name of the IM service provider, and then click Edit. In the Edit IM Service Providerdialog box, view or change settings, as appropriate, and then click OK.

    • To temporarily block any IM service provider in the list, click the name of the IM service provider, and then click Edit. In the Edit IM Service Providerdialog box, clear the Allow this IM service providercheck box, and then click OK. This blocks the IM service provider until you later select the check box, but it does not delete the configuration information.

    • To permanently remove an IM service provider from the list, click the name of the server, and then click Remove. If you later want to add the IM service provider again, use the procedure described earlier in this procedure to add the provider and specify all settings.