Programming/Extending XMPP Servers

Extending Servers is most of the time done through writing up components. In some cases this is simply not enough, i.e. for creating online indicators or message centers like the ICQ message center.

Components
In general you can distinguish between three types of components.
 * External components that connect TO THE SERVER through TCP
 * External components that THE SERVER CONNECTS TO through TCP
 * Components that are native plugins for the server

In general the first sort of components are in very high use. See (XEP-0114: Jabber Component Protocol).