Potential other uses of a jabber server

Question

Beside the obvious person to person instant message chat, What else have you used a Jabber server's functionality to enable?

Edit: links to working code to really show it off are particularly useful - and will be more likely to be voted up.

Answer 1

You could use a Jabber server to handle/broker messages between a client application and another server application.

It can actually be pretty effective.

Answer 2

Not me but Martin Woodward used jabber to control a "build bunny" that displays the current status of the build server.

http://www.woodwardweb.com/gadgets/000434.html

Answer 3

XMPP is good for sending messages back and forth between computers that don't need to be broken into chunks. They also can't be terribly big. If you use the right library, it can be pretty easy to set up.

Answer 4

Apple implements mobileme's push service using Jabber/XMPP's subscription services to send push notifications. That is the most widespread use of Jabber for non-IM purposes I know of. This article has more details.

My friends have also built a Jabber python bot, which is kinda cute but not all that useful :-)

Edit

The most recent Next Big Thing, Google Wave, uses Jabber under the hood. Further illustrates the power of the protcol.

Answer 5

Sending messages to a web page. Proof-of-concept: esagila.com

Answer 6

I plan to use it to receive notifications from my system, such as:

• Process did not finish
• Report was not generated on time
• User needs help

I already receive many of these messages as email. But receiving an IM could be much more effective.

Answer 7

There are unlimited uses for XMPP/Jabber.

Take any message/data you want to send somewhere else and you can use jabber. Run a centralised logging service for distributed services? You can jabber the massage. You want to check if your services/programs are running? XMPP presence will tell you. If you add custom status messages you can see exactly what is going on.

This is why Cisco has got into the game. Picture a server farm where each blade has a built in mini jabber client. On boot up it will register it's presence to the central server as awaiting work. The central server fires off some work in it's direction and it then changes it's status to "Busy". Another blade finished it's work and changes it's status back to "Available"... rinse and repeat.

When you combine the actual jabber messages with it's Out Of Band abilities, these servers can post where the results of the job can be found.

Anything you can think of needing to pass a message can be done with XMPP to some degree. Be this person to person, program to program, or any combination.

Answer 8

You might want to look at Vertebra which is...

a framework for orchestrating complex processes in a Cloud. It is designed with an emphasis on security, fault tolerance, and portability.

From the knowledge base:

Why was XMPP chosen for Vertebra?

Answer 9

XMPP based instant messaging can be a good alternative to search engines for information that is small, complete in itself and required frequently and repeatedly. For example, your daily horoscope - you require it daily and it is not large.

To see an example of this add [email protected] to your list of contacts in your jabber client (Gmail Chat/Gtalk/or any other Jabber client) and then initiate chat with this contact by sending the word "help".

Also see www.askme.im for a whole list of chat based solutions.

Answer 10

I've used Jabber in the past to get email notifications. Nowadays I use it for low-priority nagios notifications, it is very useful and way cheaper than SMS:

Answer 11

We have used XMPP and BOSH to enable users to communicate with a webbrowser directly and in realtime from their phone.

For example Code you can view our open source API

The vooices site also has live examples where you can control a map and play a game using your phone via your web browser: http://www.vooices.us/

Answer 12

We use xmpp as both a 'bus' and a real-time API at http://superfeedr.com

Answer 13

Iowa State University Department of Agronomy has created this with Jabber: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/iembot/

If you're a weather freak like I am, this is VERY cool stuff!

Answer 14

I've always thought XMPP would be a good way to deliver SNMP data. OIDs are really painful, much of the system is insecure, and the SNMP traps never work quite like you want them to. With an XMPP server in the middle and a smart component to make some choices, you can use it to send out jabber or other notifications, kick off restart jobs, update web pages, or whatever else you need.

The XML data is pretty small in this case, and you can have the one XMPP server both talk to humans in message stanzas, or computers with the same protocol.