Version 2 Software, LLC

Openfire Administration, written by Mayank Sharma, is a very easy-to-read and approachable book about the installation and administration of Openfire. While the developers of Openfire have done an excellent job of making the various features of the Openfire interface as easy-to-use as possible, the book assists in explaining what all the various features mean and how they can best be implemented. The book also benefits from the meticulous work put into the Openfire interface by including a large number of screen shots to help show, in detail, many of the features that are discussed.

Openfire Administration is broken out into eleven chapters, with sample topics spanning: what instant messaging is and how an organization can benefit from it; the actual installation and configuration Openfire; how to administer Openfire; managing and organizing users; connecting Openfire to a directory service, such as Active Directory and OpenLDAP; connecting to external instant messaging networks, such as Yahoo!, MSN and AOL; arching conversations; scaling Openfire; and using various plugins, including how to setup an online help desk.

In addition to the aforementioned topics, Openfire Administration also contains three appendixes: 1) for Spark, "the official Openfire client"; 2) for using Openfire's multi-user chat options; and 3) for preparing for the actual deployment of an instant messaging server in an organization.

While Openfire Administration falls into the technical category of books, and is very much geared towards System Administrators, there are sections that non-technical, end users would find very useful, as well. Chapter 2 and Appendix B both examine the basics (and beyond) of how to use Spark client; while Chapter 1 and Appendix C ask a lot of questions, such as, "Who should be allowed to use the organizations instant messaging system?", "What sort of security and oversight is needed?" and "What should be addressed before the actual deployment or use of any instant messaging system?"

Openfire Administration is a very informative book that provides not only the technical aspects of installing and managing Openfire but also some of the larger issues that come with deploying an instant messaging solution within an organization. Organizations looking to deploy Openfire would be well served by having a copy of Openfire Administration on their technical bookshelf.