Planning for Community services

The Sametime® Community server runs on an IBM® Domino® server. You must install the Domino server before you install the Sametime Community Server. The Domino Server that hosts the Community Server must be dedicated to supporting the real-time, interactive communication services of Sametime. If you use a Domino LDAP directory, install it on a separate server.

Community Server is based on Domino

The Community Server uses the directory, security, and replication features of the Domino server. Do not use the Community Server for other high-demand Domino services such as mail storage and routing, application and database storage, or centralized directory and administration services.

Linux™ can run multiple partitioned Domino servers on the same system. For these server platforms, you can create a new Domino server on the same system as your existing production server. This configuration is not supported in Microsoft™ Windows™. Adding Sametime to an existing product server is not supported.

To add a server into an existing Domino domain for use as a Sametime Community Server, register the server to create a Server document before installing Domino. For more information, see "Installing a Domino server" for your operating system.

Directory considerations

Important: Beginning with V9.0.1, Sametime requires an LDAP directory and no longer supports the use of a native Domino Directory. If your organization uses a Domino Directory, you must convert it to LDAP format before installing or upgrading Sametime. For more information, see Replacing the Domino Directory with an LDAP directory in the Sametime wiki.
You can use multiple LDAP directories and consolidate them with any of the following methods:
  • Federated identity
  • Directory Assistance
  • Consolidated LDAP
All Community Servers work from a common view of the LDAP directory and share information in that context.
Restriction: Sametime might experience difficulties when users include large public groups in their contact lists. To avoid problems, limit the size of public groups used with Sametime to 1000 users.

Using multiple Community Servers

If you have a large number of Sametime users, you can install multiple Community Servers and cluster them (using Domino clustering), and add stand-alone Community Mux servers for load balancing and to reduce network usage. If you decide not to cluster your Community Servers, there are special considerations when installing more than one Community Server. For example, you must synchronize all of the Community Servers to operate as a single community.

The stand-alone Community Mux accepts connections from installed Connect clients and Notes®-embedded clients, and distributes them among the Community Servers in the deployment. IBM uses 12 Sametime Community Servers with 16 stand-alone Community Mux servers, which supports up to 410,000 installed clients, although not all clients run concurrently. You can additionally deploy load balancer in front of the stand-alone Community Mux servers to further support load-balancing. If needed, you can deploy multiple Community Servers in multiple locations, and then assign each users to a "home" server.

Audio and video considerations

To support audio and video in the Sametime Connect and Embedded clients, deploy all of your Sametime Community Servers as a single community to ensure that all clients can access the Sametime Media Manager. Deploy the Sametime Community Servers as a single community for the following reasons:
  • Only one Sametime Community Server cluster can be selected during the Sametime SIP Proxy/Registrar installation.
  • Only one SIP Proxy/Registrar or cluster of SIP Proxy/Registrars can be associated with a Sametime System Console.
  • Sametime Community Servers that belong to one Sametime System Console can comprise a single Sametime Community, however, those servers cannot be part of an audio/video call to users who belong to a different Sametime Community.

National language considerations

You do not need to select a language when installing a Community Server. The language displayed for Sametime interfaces is primarily determined by the individual user's language settings. However, it is recommended that you install the Domino language pack that corresponds to the language used by the majority of your Sametime users. If no language pack exists for your language on your preferred platform, see the IBM Technotes, available at www.ibm.com/software/support, for information on how to localize the Domino server.

Security considerations

For information about planning security for the Community Server, see the Sametime Community Server section of the topic Security planning.

For information about securing the Community Server, see the topic Securing the Sametime Community Server.

For information about enabling and disabling TLS on the Community Server, see the topic Managing server connections.