LaBoX

If you are using Google Apps and activated the Google Talk feature, you might be wondering by now why it won’t connect properly even though Pidgin can connect to normal Gtalk.

In this post, I’ll show you how to Configure Pidgin so you can start using Gtalk with your own domain name via Google Apps.

Follow up:

Setup Your Domain for Google Talk

By default, Google Apps Gtalk only allows communication within the Google Network. This network is all the other Google Apps domain users as well as Gmail/Gtalk users, if this is what you want skip this section and jump to the next.

However if you want your users to be able to communicate to the outside world - for example to send messages to Chikka users or to talk to a Jabber user; you have to setup your domain first, here’s how.

1. Copy the lines below and paste in your text editor

Code:

	_xmpp-server._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 5 0 5269 xmpp-server.l.google.com.
	_xmpp-server._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server1.l.google.com.
	_xmpp-server._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server2.l.google.com.
	_xmpp-server._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server3.l.google.com.
	_xmpp-server._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server4.l.google.com.
	_jabber._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 5 0 5269 xmpp-server.l.google.com.
	_jabber._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server1.l.google.com.
	_jabber._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server2.l.google.com.
	_jabber._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server3.l.google.com.
	_jabber._tcp.YOUR-DOMAIN.COM. IN SRV 20 0 5269 xmpp-server4.l.google.com.

2. Change the YOUR-DOMAIN.COM with your own domain. DO NOT remove the trailing dot!
3. Open a ticket to your host and request for an “SRV records” change
4. Paste the above, with your own domain already listed and not YOUR-DOMAIN.COM to your ticket.
5. Wait for a reply from your host.

Of course, if you have access to your own server, then you should already know how to add SRV records, if not, ask someone knowledgeable or file a ticket to your host.

After your host replies to your ticket, just wait a few hours for the changes to propagate then go to the next section.

Setup Pidgin to Connect to your Google Apps domain Gtalk

Now that your domain is properly set, it is time to setup Pidgin to connect to your own domain. Just follow these steps and you’ll be talking in no time.

1. Open Pidgin
2. Go to the ‘Accounts‘ menu then choose ‘Manage Accounts‘ or simply press CTRL+A
3. Click the ‘Add‘ button

4. In the ‘Protocol‘ drop-down, choose ‘Google Talk‘ or ‘XMPP‘
5. In the ‘Username‘ field, type in your username without the @yourdomain.com. Example, if your username is gameshogun@laibcoms.asia then type in gameshogun as your username.
6. In the ‘Domain‘ field, type in your domain. Example, if your domain is laibcoms.asia, then type in laibcoms.asia
7. In the ‘Password’ field, type in your password

8. Switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab
9. Make sure the checkbox for ‘Require SSL/TLS’ is checked
10. In the ‘Connect port’ field, make sure it is in the default of 5222
11. In the ‘Connect server’ field, enter talk.google.com
12. In the ‘File transfer proxies’ make sure it is in the default of proxy.jabber.org

13. Configure your other settings for this account
14. Click the ‘Add’ button

You’re done! The key here is the ‘Connect server’ field when using Gtalk with Google Apps.

Enjoy talking!