Chat for local network, free version of MyChat. Free chat for local network

Once, when I was still a young green software engineer who came to work in a company where there was no "Internet", I was very surprised when I saw what a "corporate chat" is. Technically, everything was simple - somewhere in some city in Ukraine, an IRC server was set up on a voluntary basis, in the network of the company, which was spread between the cities, a cracked mIRC (or PIRCH, who liked which more) worked. Everything worked in a large internal corporate network, built on leased lines, "forwarded" throughout the country.

I didn’t see ICQ “live” then, I didn’t use e-mail - due to the non-prevalence of access to the Internet in our city at that time. But I realized how effective chat communication between company employees can be, especially when something happened and there was no one to ask for advice on the spot. Then, using chat, the problem could be solved in minutes. Because there was always someone on the net who could help. From another city, from a division of the company unknown to me, a person whom I have never even seen in my life.

Now this is perceived as the norm. But then for me personally it was a technical miracle. The chat was extremely simple and ascetic, it was impossible to exchange files in it, from all the information about a person you could see only a nickname, and the "@" sign in front of this nickname, which said that this person was exposed by some authority of the "operator" chat. But even that was more than enough.

Why do you need an internal corporate chat, and not an Internet messenger?

There are many reasons for this, and we have written about them more than once. I will give here only a part of the problems that are solved by the communication program, the server of which runs directly in your company, under your control.

What is it now?

Now there are a huge variety of chats for the local network, both paid and free. Free, as a rule, these are programs created on pure enthusiasm, with little features, with errors and other legacy arising from the inexperience and lack of time of the programmers who created these programs.

Free serious products like OpenFire stand apart, but to install and configure such programs you need an experienced specialist who understands well how and what to do.

There are also a lot of paid products, there are plenty to choose from. However, as a rule, the prices for such programs are very "bite". Especially if the developer is eminent, such as Microsoft or IBM. And small firms simply do not need most of the functions of such programs.

SYYYYYYYRRRR! Or Chip and Dale rush to the rescue

For small companies, the staff of which does not exceed 15 people, the ideal option is to install. This is almost a fully functional version of it. But absolutely free and with rich functionality.

This program has everything you might need. It does not need to be configured, the program works immediately after installation. Even a blonde admin can figure it out, if there are any in the wild :) Messenger in Russian, with a large detailed and illustrated help. Although, it is unlikely that you will have to look at it right away (unless later, when you want to try different interesting functions "to the teeth"), the program is intuitive and similar to a standard office suite from Microsoft.

MyChat developers are from Ukraine and, like no one else, have a very good idea of ​​the specifics of domestic companies and their needs.

Our programs for system administrators will help to keep abreast of everything that happens in the computer park and the enterprise network, to respond in time to equipment failures and software problems, to minimize costs and downtime. This page contains programs for monitoring the network, servers and hosts, for inventorying PCs, keeping track of installed programs and licenses, creating reports on the hardware of computers, for accounting for network traffic, for researching network topology and creating graphical diagrams of local networks.

The network administrator may also find useful programs for searching files in local networks and auditing user access to file resources of servers over the network. All these programs will help the sysadmin improve the performance of network devices and servers and ensure the proper level of security in the enterprise network.

10-Strike programs are included in the unified register of Russian computer programs of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and can participate in public procurement.

Network administrator programs, network utilities

A program for inventory and accounting of installed software and hardware on computers in local networks. "Inventory of Computers" allows system administrators to keep track of computers in an enterprise network, view configurations of remote computers and lists of installed programs over the network, track configuration and software changes. The program contains a powerful report generator. For example, you can create reports on the presence of certain programs on computers and their number... When planning upgrades you can create a report containing computers with insufficient disk or RAM... Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

- a program for monitoring servers and computers on the network that allows you to visually observe the current state of your network at any given time. LANState monitors hosts on the network, monitors connections to network resources, monitors traffic, and signals various events. LANState contains many functions useful for network administrators: sending messages, shutting down remote computers, scanning hosts and ports, receiving various information from remote computers (access to the registry, event log, etc.). Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

- software for monitoring servers and other network devices, monitors the health of the network and notifies the administrator about problems. Find out in time about the failure that occurred (disconnection, running out of server disk space, service stoppage, etc.) and fix the problem with minimal loss of time. The program signals problems with sound, screen messages, e-mail, can launch external programs and services, and reboot computers and services. Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

- a program for finding files on computers on a local network(via NetBios and FTP protocols). Enter the phrase or file masks and find the information you want. When viewing search results, the files found can be immediately opened, saved to disk, or generated a report. The search uses multi-threaded technology, which significantly speeds up the work. You can set filters by file size and modification date. Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

- a program for monitoring network connections of users over the network to a shared folder and files, allows you to find out in time about the connections to the computer of network users. The program beeps, displays notifications on the screen, and keeps a detailed log of connections, which records information about who and when connected to the computer's network folders, which files were opened, etc. Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

3.0 FREE!

- scanner of local networks, IP addresses and hosts... This free program allows you to scan the local network and detect active hosts, computers and servers. Supports scanning of IP ranges and many protocols for discovering network devices (ICMP ping, search for open TCP ports, NetBios, SNMP, UPnP, ...). If you have administrator rights from Windows computers, you can find a lot of useful information. Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

Networking kits for sysadmins

System Administrator Kits allow you to save money when purchasing several of our online programs or all at once. Get three programs for the price of two etc. For example, when buying Complete set of administrator programs in the option " to organize"(no limit on the number of jobs), consisting of our seven programs for network administrators, you can save up to 85,000 rubles or 30%!

Other utilities

- CD cataloger (CD, DVD)... With it, you can quickly find the files you need on the CDs and DVDs of your collection. SearchMyDiscs helps you organize your CD and DVD collections, allowing you to find the disc you want in seconds. If you are tired of looking for the right disk every time, this program is for you! Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

- Apache web server raw log file analyzer... Creates various reports and histograms. The program has many settings and filters, which will allow you to get accurate information about your site, downloaded files, and who comes to you and from where. Windows XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008/7 / 8.1 / 2012/10/2016 are supported.

Payment and delivery

When ordering programs, legal entities accept payment by bank transfer. Invoices are issued electronically, an agreement is concluded. Electronic delivery: the distribution kit is downloaded from our website, registration keys are sent after payment by e-mail. After payment, the original contract and documents for accounting are sent to the buyer by mail.

Issue an invoice (indicate the required programs and types of licenses, your details and the name of the director for the contract)

All our programs are also presented in the Softkey and AllSoft online stores (follow the "buy" links from our website).

Our clients: small and medium-sized businesses, government and budgetary institutions, hospitals, schools, colleges and institutes, banks, oil industry, telecoms.

Today there is two main ways organization of a corporate chat. First of them is to use the most common IM clients in our country: ICQ, QIP, Skype etc. Its main advantage is ease of implementation and low cost. Indeed, it is impossible to come up with something easier: it is enough for all employees to establish a client and add each other to their contacts. The use of these systems is generally free.

However, this solution has a number of serious disadvantages. Firstly they lack many very useful features. In particular, in all systems (with the exception of Skype) there are no group chats, message confirmation functions, etc. Secondly, IM chats completely unmanageable across the organization. Each employee has his own account, with which he is free to do whatever he wants. This raises the problem of control over employee correspondence, access to the message archive, creation of “corporate” numbers, etc.

Thirdly, use IM clients- a potential threat to the information security of the company. And we are talking not only about technical issues (for example, the risk of downloading infected files, clicking on dangerous links, etc.), which can be successfully dealt with. IM chats are one of the main channels for leakage of confidential information, which, among other things, is rather difficult to control by DLP systems. This is especially true for Skype, which transmits traffic in encrypted form. In addition, there is always a risk that an employee will lose control over his ICQ account. Having obtained it, the attacker will be able to communicate with the company's clients, implementing these or those fraudulent schemes in order to deceive them. Which, in the end, will have an extremely negative impact on the reputation and business of the company.

Second the way to organize a chat for the office is to use special software. And although this is a somewhat more costly method, it is free from all of the above disadvantages. Well, additional features that can be actively used in business processes, increasing their efficiency, quickly recoup the costs of implementation. Naturally, this requires that the software implements all the necessary functions. Therefore, the choice of a program for organizing a corporate chat should be approached very carefully: the more functionality of the product, the more widely it can be used. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to another aspect - namely, the possibility of implementation and administration. Integration with Active Directory, remote management, scalability of the solution can significantly simplify the management of corporate chat, and therefore, reduce the cost of ownership.

An example of a solution that meets all the requirements is the MyChat product presented by Network Software Solutions. It is with a client-server architecture. This means that a special server is used to ensure the operation of the product, which takes over communication and other functions. The client-server approach is optimal for organizing corporate chat in both small and large networks. It features good manageability, broad capabilities and low bandwidth utilization.

In terms of functions intended for end users, the program MyChat have something to brag about. You need to start with the presence of two modes of communication: personal and group. With the first, everything is very simple. Two users can correspond with each other in much the same way as in ICQ... Group communication is implemented in the form of channels - special “groups”, to which either everyone or only certain employees of the organization can connect. In this case, the channels can be created by the administrator and always exist, or they can be opened by the users themselves (who have the rights to do so) if necessary. This flexibility is very convenient in practice. For example, you can create one common channel for communication of all office employees and separate channels for correspondence within each department.

During communication, users can apply a wide range of different functions... Among them, we can note the possibility of using formatting of text and emoticons, arbitrary pictures and links in messages, transferring files both directly and through the chat server, saving the history of correspondence, ignore lists, filters (anti-mat, anti-flood), etc. In fact, in MyChat everything necessary for full-fledged and comfortable communication of employees with each other has been implemented.

Naturally, it is impossible to imagine an office chat without a contact book. IN MyChat there are even two of them. The first contains a complete list of all users registered in the system. Moreover, they can be divided into departments, highlighting the chief in each group. This is especially true for large companies, where employees from different departments may not know each other. The second contact book is personal. Each user has his own. It can include all the people with whom you need to communicate frequently.

In addition, in the considered office chat, a whole a number of additional features... The first one is notification system... With its help, you can send a certain message to all or only some users and request a read confirmation from them. This allows you to send orders for review, notification of meetings, etc. Moreover, employees will no longer be able to say that they did not see or read the message.

The second additional feature is built-in FTP server... Its presence in office chat may seem strange. However, this is actually very convenient, especially if the company has not yet deployed its own FTP server. What does he give? First, storage for recording files, both general, accessible to all users, and personal. Secondly, it can be used to exchange documents (for example, you can save documents on an FTP server for a user who is not online at the moment). Third, an FTP server is required to automatically update chat clients (more on this later).

The next additional feature is Bulletin board... You can "hang" an ad on it, which will be visible to all users within a specified period of time. You can also note the account manager, which provides convenient use of clients on those computers that can be used by different employees.

Many functions in MyChat is designed to increase the convenience of its deployment and administration. The more possibilities the system has in this regard, the more convenient it is to manage it. This means the lower the total cost of chat ownership. Distinctive feature MyChat is the ability to use in networks, including distributed ones, of very different scales, ranging from several to thousands and even tens of thousands of clients located in different cities or even countries. This is provided by a whole range of administrative functions.

You need to start by looking at how to install client programs. You can install them either manually or automatically using group policies. Active Directory... The same can be said for client upgrades. However, MyChat has a more convenient implementation of this process. This office chat has an automatic update feature. When using it, the client is updated independently at the command of the user, who is given a corresponding notification (in this case, the built-in FTP server is used, where the administrator must first download the distribution kit of the new version). Implemented in, which can greatly facilitate the life of the IT department of the company.

Another very important feature the office chat in question is own scripting engine... What is it for? This engine allows you to write arbitrary scripts that are used to automate various processes and integrate chat with other corporate software tools. Here you can also note the possibility of connecting various plugins. For example, a plug-in for remote control of users' computers. Combined with some other features MyChat(sending screenshots, MyChat Actions technology, etc.) this allows you to organize effective technical support for users.

The developers of the security program paid a lot of attention. All traffic transmitted in the system is encrypted, which makes it useless to intercept. This allows you to safely connect remote users over the Internet. You can also note the presence of a very flexible system for setting user access rights to chat capabilities. They are installed in groups, and the administrator can allow or deny almost any operation. This allows you to customize the chat for the office exactly as you need in each case.

A distinctive feature of the MyChat program is the active use of web technologies... This product includes its own web server that can be used to manage this office chat. This method of administration complements the traditional local console perfectly. It allows you to control the chat server remotely from your work computer or even from home via the Internet.

Start

To my oh my surprised face, my colleagues explained that it happened so historically (some kind of link), and in general everyone understands that this is a little strange, but no one is planning to change anything. After all, iChat (it is fully called Intranet Chat - Wikipedia) has so many advantages:

• stands on our server and does not rustle
• everything is free (The author of the program released the latest version in 2002, for free)
• "Has an aesthetic and uncomplicated interface" (thanks for the quote, Wikipedia)
• there are all the necessary functions - personal chats and a "message board"

• no history - restart your computer, and if your colleague Vasya sent you an email yesterday, go read the logs in a text file
• you cannot transfer files - welcome to a corporate ftp-exchanger, shared folders on a disk, or personal clouds (I personally drive my OneDrive account if necessary)
• it is impossible to normally sit in a chat from the external office (it will be normal to write to colleagues only by connecting via VPN or RDP)
• you cannot write to someone who is offline now - if a colleague is working from home today, or left early, or it’s not working hours - remember your message until better times
• in pursuit, the client is only available for Windows from the 98th version - no iPhones for you and online 24 hours a day
• naturally, there is no normal highlighting of something: code, links (okay, there is a highlight, but you can't click on them), hypertext

So why not just use Skype / Whatsapp / Telegram / Viber / ICQ?

And secondly, in my telegram there are classmates, acquaintances, and my entire contact list, and it is impossible to normally separate colleagues from everyone else. And to find out what a colleague is on the telegram, I can only ask him. Sometimes I don’t know at all that I have a new colleague until I see someone unfamiliar at the computer in another office. In short, chaos.

Then I asked our head of department if we could take a newer program and still more technically advanced from Apple, so that everyone would not suffer from bullshit and could easily chat in one place. “There is no such program,” was the answer. How not, I thought, and said that it is definitely there, it cannot but be. "Then find it, and then we'll see." Ok, now the digital age, everything is googled, it's not hard to find something sane, I thought. I was a little wrong.

Organization chat requirements

• free or one-time payment of an amount below 5,000 wooden American companies offer to other American and non-American companies)
• installation on your server, if not necessary, then at least very desirable
• support for the Russian language (the English version is guaranteed to be used only by the development department, and then with a stretch)

Chat requirements from me

• cross-platform. So that I can finally, while sitting at lunch, or in transport, or on vacation, write something to someone from the phone, and find out what someone wrote to me. And so that my colleague, who has Linux, does not make a sad face every time at the word "chat".
• sharpened for communication in companies. So that I have a chat where there is everything my colleagues and only My colleagues
• live active project. So that bugs, like insects frozen in amber, do not hang in the product until the end of time
• file transfer. Well, why should I upload this picture to a public folder, if I can just throw it via chat!
• normal notification / unread sync. So that not like in Skype - I caught a message, and then within 24 hours you find a notification about it on each of your devices.

In the footsteps of aichat

One of the best options I have been able to find is the Commfort chat. The name intrigued me, but in reality everything turned out to be not so comfortable.

The cost of comfort for my organization of about 30-40 people: 16 thousand rubles.

The product has attractive features, but frightens off with its interface and does not inspire confidence in its quality. And for the price, we will not crawl with him.

Unfortunately, after several hours of googling, I could not find an option that meets my criteria. If it does exist, I will be grateful for the link.

Those hipster slacks of yours

Well, slack means slack, there can't be so much hype out of nothing. A quick examination of the patient showed the presence of new lotions, some channels with hashtags and an unusual interface. And the desire to be at the cutting edge of technology was, of course, strong, but the interface of our overseas friend does not have translations into other languages ​​at all, and only Apple can put it on its server (which, as you know, can do everything, but does not want everything). Well, a little fail.

Oh, and then there is hip chat. It's like slack, just hip. And there is no translation either, and you can't put it to yourself either. But for hipsters. And for robots.

But I would like our

Although it quickly became clear that this option is not suitable due to its complexity (there are sections, there are topics in the sections, and only in the topics there are chats in which you can write something) and, how can I say this without Englishisms ... okay, where without them, the User Experience in it is generally sad. And yes, only in English.

Something like this looks like a patient with an incomprehensible name

But this is getting closer, and there really may be something suitable in the world of OpenSource! I ran the search bar a little more, and found Mattermost and Rocket chat. The latter eventually received the People's Choice Award named after me, and entered our house as a new member of the software ecosystem. And all why, because he has translations, translations!

This is how it all looks like

Briefly buns and minuski rocket chat

• There is a translation into Russian. Yes, it is not complete, but almost, and if something happens, you can translate something into your own language. Translations are hosted on the lingohub.com portal, specially made for this. The author of this post, to his credit (and modesty), has translated 60% of what has not yet been translated, and is not going to stop.
• You can put it on your server under Linux with one line (actually, one line, and it works).
• There are clients for all platforms except Windows Phone: (poor, poor WP! (I myself am a former owner of Lumia)
• There is a web version, you can quickly log in from any device and, say, transfer the log file from the client's computer, send a stack trace, or just write to a colleague
• Separately, you can configure all notifications: from which chats to show you notifications, and from which not; separate notification settings for mobile and desktop devices
• There is a file server, you can upload files
• Free of charge
• Actively being developed, new features are being sawed, bugs are being fixed

• Bugs. Where are dear ones without them. They are. In places, when you click somewhere, nothing happens, in other places, on the contrary, something happens that you do not expect at all. But I must say that there are not many of them, and in general the situation is similar to that of Xiaomi: cheap and with bugs, but in general it will work.
• A desktop client on an electron, which in itself may not be a minus, but still not quite cool.
• The mobile client is practically a copy of the desktop client, connected via WebView (probably). The smartphone does not work smartly and responsively.
• There is no list of all users anywhere in the interface. I don’t know about you, but in a corporate chat I want to see a list of all my colleagues. Because I don’t know the names of some of my colleagues, and I don’t even know about the existence of some.
• Mmm, what else is there. Yes, there is no "Vacation" status. So I went on vacation, set the status "on vacation" and everything is covered in chocolate.