What is a Chat Server Software?

A Chat Server software is a piece of software that can be installed on server computer to enable users to use client computers to instantly communicate via text, voice, and video. A Chat server software can be installed on a separate machine than the web server software, or it can run on the same server machine. As a reminder, a web server software (Apache or IIS) is a piece of software that can be installed on server computer to serve web pages that can be viewed on client computers using a client software called a web browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape).

The following table is a comparison between Chat server and Web server software:

How exactly things are connected together?

on the following drawing, server machine 1 and server machine 2 can be in reality the same machine. Also web server 1 and web server 2 can be the same instance of web server software. To make the explanation clear, 2 instances of each are used in this particular deployment.

The web server 1 represents the web server that serves your current web site's web pages. You want to add a live chat room to your web site. You can either have the chat hosted by a another company (such as 12Planet) or host it yourself. In your web page, you'll add a few line of HTML code to embed the appropriate chat applet. When your user opens up a web page from web server 1 containing the chat applet, the web browser will fetch the chat applet from a web server (web server 2) the same way as it retrieves images from a web server. However, because Java is a secure environment, that applet can only talk to a chat server that is on the same machine as the web server. This is why the chat server software has to run on the same server computer as the web server 2.

Once started, a chat server listens to user requests (either through direct socket connections, or through HTTP tunneling connections if the user is behind a firewall). Direct socket connections are usually faster than HTTP tunneling ones, however they don't work if the end user is behind a firewall. HTTP tunneling uses standard HTTP requests, available even behind a firewall, to access a special router module of the Web server 2, the router module will then forward chat messages to the chat server software. HTTP tunneling is also useful to provide SSL chat sessions (see SSL chat)

Secure Web chat using SSL Chat

What is a Chat group and a chat room?

A chat group or a virtual chat server groups a sets of chat rooms within a private space so users within a chat group can see all the other chat rooms of the same chat group, but cannot see the chat rooms of another chat group. This feature is useful mostly for ISPs that want to provide chat hosting for multiple companies using the same server machine.

Is the Chat Server the same as Instant Messaging Server ?

Both offers are available from 12Planet. They are both server type of software intended to be installed on your own server machine. A server type of software can be seen as a central engine that runs on a machine to provide Internet services (ex: a web server software provides web sites hosting. Users visit a web site though a client software called web browser, such as Internet Explorer).

A Chat Server makes hosting of named chat rooms possible. A chat room is a space where users can talk together (example: thematic rooms such as "sports", "movies"). The client application for the chat server is a Java chat applet.

An Instant Messaging server lets you to create a private instant messaging network, providing buddy list management services, similar to what's offered by MSN, AOL or Yahoo. With 12Planet Instant Messaging server, the instant messaging network is fully yours and is not based on or connected to any public networks. The client application for the instant messaging server is called a messenger and displays a live list of contacts. Double clicking on a contact starts a chat session with this person.

To summarize, a chat server provides community chat rooms where people will meet and talk other people, an instant messaging server manages personal contact lists from there one can launch one to one chats with a particular user.

So which software should I use? Below is a list of classic use of both applications:

Community chat rooms: Chat Server (ex: 12Planet Chat Server)

Online live support, live help, customer service: Chat Server (ex: eLiveService)

Celebrity chats, chat events, interview chat: Chat Server (ex: 12Planet Conference Server)

Private Intranet chat: Chat Server or Instant Messaging Server

Private Intranet/Internet/Extranet messenger: Instant Messaging Server