Is it possible to run an XMPP server without a domain name?

Question

I need to run an XMPP server for IM with end-to-end encryption and voice calling. I'm trying to set up Prosody, but is it possible to run an XMPP server without a domain name? Without own DNS server and VPN network between clients?

Answer 1

Short Answer: Yes.

You can still configure a XMPP domain for your server. According to the standard, it doesn't has to be an DNS Name or IP address. Something like myserver is fine. Quoting RFC 7622 § 3.2 :

The domainpart for every XMPP service MUST be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), an IPv4 address, an IPv6 address, or an unqualified hostname (ie, a text label that is resolvable on a local network).

But if you don't have a DNS name, then clients won't know automatically how to reach your server. Which means you have to configure the IP address and the port in every client.

Answer 2

您可以使用 IP 地址而不是域名，但如果该地址会定期更改，您可能需要对标准 XMPP 服务器和客户端进行修改，因为他们不会期望这样做。

Answer 3

I went through many Prosody tutorials and I think it is not possible to set up server based only on IP address and using SSL. I even have not found how to configure Prosody on local network with SSL and resolvable name like raspberry.local. My client always gave server not found, or incorrect communication.