How to set up your own IRC server?

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

How do I set up my own IRC chat server?
I am on shared hosting plan. Is it possible to set up there?
After setting it up, I will access with mIRC chat client.
Please help...

[ayu]

Does your shared hosting plan mean that you have root access on a server and a SSH shell? ^^

Because then UnrealIRCd is a pretty common choice

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http://www.unrealircd.com/

And the docs

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http://www.unrealircd.com/support.php

If you can't do that, then simply open a channel on one of the hundreds of open and free IRC servers that can be found around the net.

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

I don't have root access, but SSH is der.

[bad_brain]

will not work without root access, because you will either have to install the package or compile the source, and this can not be done without root privileges (ok, it could in theory on a very odd server setup). most standard hosting providers also don't even allow to run an irc bot, so an irc server would get you kicked off the host instantly.

if you don't plan to do anything malicious feel free to use the suck-o irc server for your channels.

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

The reason I want to go for IRC is:
I wanna set up a chat server for my office. I was trying out intra-messenger. It's a free service. But, it has many performance and lag issues. I tried to test it thoroughly. But the client application hangs in-between the chatting.

So, that's why now I wanna go for IRC.

One more option is that, there are free PHP/AJAX chat scripts available. I can use them, but again there are certain requirements that the chat application should be standalone and not dependent on the browser. On this solution, I found one more way is to build a browser-like application in C#.NET and feed the URL of my server in that application and use it.
So, what do I do now? Is my third method sounds OK? Any suggestions in terms of intra-messenger?

[bad_brain]

years ago when I have been looking for a nice IRC web interface for suck-o I have tried a lot of different things too, the only browser solution that worked well is the Java applet we are using on the site. everything really web-based (like PHP) completely failed because the permanent caching and reloading on new messages made everything really slow and even caused browser crashes....your host would also not be amused by the caused server load.

so the suggestions I have:

- use a Java client and create a secure channel on the suck-o server, the client I am using is on http://sourceforge.net/projects/pjirc/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- or use a provider like Tinychat, you can create password protected chat rooms there and it's pretty nifty for conferences because it supports multiple webcam streams at once
- if it has to be 100% LAN you can try P2P chat clients like http://www.pichat.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ayu]

- use a Java client and create a secure channel on the suck-o server, the client I am using is on http://sourceforge.net/projects/pjirc/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- or use a provider like Tinychat, you can create password protected chat rooms there and it's pretty nifty for conferences because it supports multiple webcam streams at once
- if it has to be 100% LAN you can try P2P chat clients like http://www.pichat.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The first one is a Java Applet right?
Personally, in terms of security, I would always avoid anything Flash/Java in the browser, as there are so many zero days swirling around right now for Java/Flash browser plugins.

I would use a JavaScript one

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https://kiwiirc.com

Other than IRC I can recommend using Jabber/XMPP, I have been using it for a few years now

[bad_brain]

yep, Java applet. you are of course right, but then again it's just meant as temporary solution for a user anyway (for regular use a normal client is of course the way to go), and well...security is 90% user behavior and 10% actual technical issues. I mean, if someone browses the net for shady "free porn" sites all the time it's no wonder when he catches a lot of malware.
if you restrict yourself to trusted sites you are 99% safe, and if you really have to visit shady sites for what reason ever then you should use some sort of sandboxed environment anyway imo.

[lilrofl]

I would actually suggest Jabber for intra-office communications... but you're still gonna need some access to compile or install some software.

[ayu]

yep, Java applet. you are of course right, but then again it's just meant as temporary solution for a user anyway (for regular use a normal client is of course the way to go), and well...security is 90% user behavior and 10% actual technical issues. I mean, if someone browses the net for shady "free porn" sites all the time it's no wonder when he catches a lot of malware.
if you restrict yourself to trusted sites you are 99% safe, and if you really have to visit shady sites for what reason ever then you should use some sort of sandboxed environment anyway imo.

Yup!

Although I personally don't trust any sites (waterholes and so on), so I just don't use Java or Flash much in the browser.
But yeah you are correct, it's mostly user error ^^

[bad_brain]

I would actually suggest Jabber for intra-office communications... but you're still gonna need some access to compile or install some software.

erm....which leads me to the question: why should it actually be on an internet host when it's only used locally?
why not setting up a little server in the office instead, would make things much easier and much more secure too. no need for a dedicated system, one box could simply act as client AND server, and by adjusting/overriding name resolution it could also have a fancy domain name which is easy to remember...for free.

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

erm....which leads me to the question: why should it actually be on an internet host when it's only used locally?
why not setting up a little server in the office instead, would make things much easier and much more secure too. no need for a dedicated system, one box could simply act as client AND server, and by adjusting/overriding name resolution it could also have a fancy domain name which is easy to remember...for free. [/quote]

Yea, thats true. I was thinking on the same thing, a few days back.
But then I realized that, we want to make all our offices to connect together. So, lets say, one office is at frankfurt and one is at berlin. How they'll talk to each other?
Phone and emails is not the optimum solution.
In the mean time, I have developed 1 small app in C#.NET, which I'll eventually host on my server... Further coding will do in this cming week.

[ayu]

Yea, thats true. I was thinking on the same thing, a few days back.
But then I realized that, we want to make all our offices to connect together. So, lets say, one office is at frankfurt and one is at berlin. How they'll talk to each other?
Phone and emails is not the optimum solution.
In the mean time, I have developed 1 small app in C#.NET, which I'll eventually host on my server... Further coding will do in this cming week.

Why not host it at the office, and expose it outwards to the WAN then.

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

Yea, thats true. I was thinking on the same thing, a few days back.
But then I realized that, we want to make all our offices to connect together. So, lets say, one office is at frankfurt and one is at berlin. How they'll talk to each other?
Phone and emails is not the optimum solution.
In the mean time, I have developed 1 small app in C#.NET, which I'll eventually host on my server... Further coding will do in this cming week.

Why not host it at the office, and expose it outwards to the WAN then.

Yeah, it's a nice idea.
Can you provide any solution/link to start it with???

[ayu]

Yeah, it's a nice idea.
Can you provide any solution/link to start it with???

I use eJabberd for XMPP, and Pidgin as a client.

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http://www.ejabberd.im/

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http://pidgin.im/

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http://www.ejabberd.im/tuto-install-ejabberd