XMPP Operators Group

by Peter Saint-Andre

2008-02-06

Some members of the XMPP Standards Foundation and broader Jabber/XMPP community have been thinking for a while about the need for better communication among those who deploy XMPP-based services. Of late we've concluded that it would be beneficial to start an "XMPP Operators Group" along the lines of NANOG, except focused on real-time communication and collaboration using the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (presence, messaging, multimedia, gaming, content syndication, social networking, etc.). Among other things, such an operators group would do the following:

1. Define and document best practices for security, privacy, inter-domain federation, certificate handling, and prevention of spam and other network abuse (e.g., by feeding requirements into and commenting on the XMPP RFCs and various XMPP Extension Protocols).
2. Encourage deployment of and federated communication among XMPP-based services, especially large services run by enterprises and service providers.
3. Host forums where operators can discuss the state of the XMPP network (spam and other abusive behavior, rogue servers, active botnets, IP addresses that deserve to be blocked, server-to-server problems, disappearing servers, future requirements, etc.). These forums might include an email discussion list, a multi-user chat room, occasional conference calls, and in-person meetings co-located with the XMPP DevCons.

Because we are still working on the best way to structure this initiative, we are currently seeking input from a wide range of XMPP operators (companies large and small, Internet service providers, universities, XMPP server vendors, and the like) regarding this initiative. If you have feedback you'd like to share, feel free to contact me directly.

UPDATE: The group is up and running, see here.

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