Sametime Gateway communities

View the list of communities and use the list as the starting place to set up communities, assign local users access to external communities, and set properties on communities. The communities list shows the community name, the type of community, and the translation protocol used.

Task buttons

Use the communities list to create a new community or edit the properties of an existing community. Select a community first before using the button actions.

Table 1. Working with a community
Button	Resulting action
New	Sets up a connection to a local, external, or clearinghouse community. You must supply domain names of the community. The type of community often determines the translation protocol used. External and clearinghouse communities usually use the SIP translation protocol, which relies on the SIP infrastructure in WebSphere® Application Server to handle message routing, or the XMPP protocol. The local community is connected to the IBM® Sametime® Gateway Server by means of the VP (Virtual Places) protocol.
Delete	Deletes a community from the Sametime Gateway Server.
Find user	Determines if a local user is assigned to the community and determines the capabilities such as instant messaging and presence that are assigned to the user. Enable the Find user button by selecting an external or clearinghouse community. Search by email address only.
Assign users	Assigns users from the local community permission to access the selected community. You can assign users from the local community only, not from external or clearinghouse communities. Enable the Assign users button by selecting an external or clearinghouse community.
Disable	Temporarily removes the community but does not delete it.
Enable	Reinstates a community that was previously disabled.

Select and filter buttons

Table 2. Selecting and filtering community properties
Button	Resulting action
	Selects all items.
	Deselects all items.
	Searches the custom properties by column. To filter the table, select the column by which to filter, then enter filter criteria. You can use wildcard characters (*,?, %) and the text is not case-sensitive.
	Hides the filter names from being displayed.

Connection status

In a Sametime Gateway Server cluster, you can see the connectivity status of each cluster member. You can also expand the community status for additional information. Status information applies to both local and external communities in the cluster.

Table 3. Connectivity status of Sametime Gateway cluster members
Button	Resulting action
	The community is connected.
	The community is not connected.
	The community is connected but not to all of the servers in the cluster.
	The community is disabled.

Name

The name is the name given to the community when the community is first created. Click a name to configure properties or assign users to the community.

Type

A community is generally a set of users connected by a common user directory. There are three types of communities: local, external, and clearinghouse communities. You can have an unlimited number of external communities, but you can have only one local community and one clearinghouse community. Best practices indicate that you do not configure both the AOL clearinghouse and the AOL communities, as users served by the AOL clearinghouse are a superset of users served by the AOL community. If you set up AOL only, and later decide to connect with the AOL clearinghouse community, delete the AOL community first before adding the AOL clearinghouse community to the Sametime Gateway Server.

The local community is the local Sametime community.

An external community is a set of users in domains connected by a common directory and belonging to a remote company or organization.

A clearinghouse community is a federated group of users linked by an enterprise's message router. When a message contains destination domains not found elsewhere in a routing configuration, the message may be routed to a clearinghouse community if one exists. A route to a clearinghouse enables Sametime Gateway Server users to connect to a much wider community.

Translation protocol

A translation protocol is the communication standard used by the Sametime Gateway Server to code and decode messages from communities into a format understood by Sametime users. The Sametime Gateway Server provides the following translation protocols:

Table 4. Translation protocols
Translation Protocol	Definition
SIP for Sametime Gateway	SIP for Sametime Gateway is used to exchange messages with other Sametime communities who use Sametime Gateway Server versions 7.5 or later.
SIP for AOL®	SIP for AOL is used to connect with AOL Instant Messaging.
SIP for legacy Sametime Gateway	SIP for legacy Sametime Gateway is used to connect with Sametime 6.5.1 and 7.0 servers.
SIP for Lync/OCS	SIP for is used to connect with the Office Communications Server / Lync Server.
VP	VP (Virtual Places) is the proprietary protocol used to connect the Sametime Gateway Server with the local community on the Sametime 7.5 or later server.
XMPP	XMPP is the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) for connecting to XMPP communities.

Assign users

Click this link to assign users and groups to the route for this community. Note that you must first create the community, and then select the community in the table before you can assign users to the community.

View users

Click this link to view users assigned to the route for this community. Note that you must first create the community, and then select the community in the table before you can view users in the community.