Using the brazoslink Jabber/XMPP server

In Mac OS X 10.5 (aka "Leopard"), iChat may complain about the SSL certificate. If this occurs, click the Show Certificate button:

Check the box to Always trust "brazoslink.net" when connecting to "brazoslink.net" as shown below, then click the Continue button:

If you are prompted to enter a local administrator's name and password, do so. iChat should no longer complain about the SSL certificate.

• Why does this happen? An SSL certificate, or "cert," is basically an electronic ID that allows networked computers to verify their identity to one another for the purpose of secure encrypted communications. These certificates must be obtained from a "certifying authority," which is usually a well-known certificate issuer like Thawte, Verisign, etc., who charge a yearly fee for their certification services. Ostensibly, these companies make a reasonable effort to verify the ownership of the SSL certificates they sell, so you can have reasonable assurance that those certificates are valid. For high-risk transactions (online banking, credit card processing, PayPal or other "e-cash" systems, etc.), using SSL certs from "trusted" issuers is an important security feature. For low-risk applications, though, a "self-signed" certificate provides adequate protection without the cost of a commercial cert--the data is encrypted just the same, but no third-party "authority" has verified the ID of the server. You, the customer, must determine whether or not to "trust" a self-signed cert. At brazoslink, we use a commercial cert for our secure email services, but we use self-signed certs for other services such as jabber.

Service Gateways

The brazoslink Jabber/XMPP server offers gateways to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, and IRC, so you can use those services by simply connecting to your brazoslink Jabber account. This gives you a one-stop-shop for messaging...no more need for multiple chat clients; simply fire up your Jabber client (iChat, or whatever), and you're online everywhere.

Most Jabber/XMPP clients can register these services directly, but some (most notably iChat) cannot. If your preferred client does not support service registration, you can use another client (we recommend Psi) to set up your services. You only have to do it once, and then your registered services will appear in your other client.

For example, to register services using Psi on Mac OS X:

Download, install, and launch Psi. Configure your account as explained above, using your brazoslink username and password:

Be sure your account is online (choose Online from the Status menu), then pull down the General menu and select Service Discovery:

All available gateway services should appear in the Service Discovery window. To register a service, double-click on the desired service and enter your authentication information when prompted. For example, if you have an AOL Instant Messenger account that you'd like to be able to access through your brazoslink Jabber login, double-click AIM Transport and enter your AIM login credentials.

If you prefer, gateway registrations can also be performed by an administrator--use the contact link at the bottom of this page, and send your login information for the gateway service you want registered.