Installing Ignite’s OpenFire and Spark (IM server and client)

When testing HuBot, I needed an IM server and client

Since the HuBot install article that I was following recommended OpenFire and Spark, I decided to give it a test drive.

Here is how I installed and set it up on a local VM.

The first step was to get OpenFire from the Ignite's website:



which I did using this O2 Platform script:

 

... that when executed downloaded the zipfile, started the openfire.exe and opened the default browser at localhost:9090



I then configured OpenFire to use an Embedded Database



... to use the default profile settings:



... and to use this default admin account:



Which completed the setup:



... with no errors in the OpenFire popup process



Next I used to login page:



... which didn't accept the email as username (see above), so I had to use admin



... to login and access the admin interface:



As per the HuBot Install article, we should create a couple accounts and a room:



So, here is the developer account:



... here is the hubot user:



... and here is the hubot room:



With the OpenFire IM server up and running, the next step was to install the Spark IM client:



Which I did using this script:



... which downloaded the installer



... executed it



... and launched it



Using the developer account previously created, I was able to connect to the OpenFire server:



Here is the Spark post login UI:



Here is OpenFire's Client Sessions page (showing the logged in Spark user)

 

Finally, to  access the HuBot room we previously created, I clicked on the Conferences tab



Then on the conference.{computerName} option:



... then on the HuBot option:



... and we can see that we have a fully operational client and server IM setup :)