Advanced settings to control contact list size

You can manage advanced configuration settings for controlling contact list size. By default, there is no limit to the number of contacts in the list.

The MAX_NUMBER_OF_SUBSCRIBES_PER_CLIENT setting in the [Config] section of the sametime.ini file limits the number of users that the client can subscribe to, or see awareness on. A public group is counted as one subscription. This limit is published as a server attribute, and the client is responsible for enforcing it. In order to enforce this limit on the server, set the IGNORE_SUBSCRIBES_ABOVE_MAX value in the [Config] section of the sametime.ini file.

The ST_GROUPS_MAX_MEMBERS setting in the [Directory] section of the sametime.ini file limits the maximum number of users that the IBM® Sametime® Community Server will allow in a public group. A public group that is too big will appear empty. Once a group is marked too big, it will remain this way until the server is restarted, even if its contents have changed in the directory to less than the maximum. Set the value to be a number from 1 - 1000. 1,000 members is the maximum recommended group size. You should not set a value of 0 (zero), which indicates the feature is off.

The SEND_IGNORING_ANNOUNCEMENT_ONLY_ONCE_PER_SESSION setting in the [Config] section of the sametime.ini file limits how often the Sametime server sends an announcement that the user contact list has exceeded the configured limit. Set this value to 1 so that the message appears only once per user session. If you do not, the announcement is sent every time the contact list limit is exceeded.

Policies and MAX_NUMBER_OF_SUBSCRIBES_PER_CLIENT

The Limit contact list size and Contacts policy settings control the size of the contact list and do not restrain subscriptions. For example, you can set this to 5 and open chat history which has 200 contacts, and the client subscribes to 205 users. If you set this to 5 and the user has 100 contacts on the list already, it does not remove anyone, but it prompts the user to do so. The MAX_NUMBER_OF_SUBSCRIBES_PER_CLIENT limits the client so it does not subscribe to users beyond this limit.

Sametime.ini file

[Config]
MAX_NUMBER_OF_SUBSCRIBES_PER_CLIENT=750
IGNORE_SUBSCRIBES_ABOVE_MAX=751
[Directory]
ST_GROUPS_MAX_MEMBERS=900

Sametime Unified Telephony considerations

For Sametime Unified Telephony environments the following settings must be applied:
Table 1. Sametime Unified Telephony
Sametime server version

IGNORE_SUBSCRIBES_ABOVE_
MAX default Value

IGNORE_SUBSCRIBES_ABOVE_
MAX required settings

8.0.x -1 (disabled) Must be -1. The setting can be omitted from sametime.ini, or explicitly set to -1.
8.5.x -1 (disabled) Must be -1. The setting can be omitted from sametime.ini, or explicitly set to -1.