LiveChat Technical Documentation. Interactive. LiveChat. Technical Documentation. Version: 1.0 Last Updated: 13/04/2016

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1 Interactive LiveChat Technical Documentation Version: 1.0 Last Updated: 13/04/2016

2 GOSS Interactive Ltd 24 Darklake View Plymouth PL6 7TL England Tel: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) Mail: Web: All copyrights and trademarks acknowledged All reasonable precautions have been taken in the preparation of this document, including both technical and non-technical proofing. GOSS Interactive Ltd and all staff assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No warranties are made, expressed or implied with regard to these notes. GOSS Interactive Ltd shall not be responsible for any direct, incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of any material contained in this document. If you find any errors, please inform GOSS Interactive Ltd. Whilst every effort is made to eradicate typing or technical mistakes, we apologise for any errors you may detect. All courseware and technical documents are updated on a regular basis, so your feedback is both valued by us and will help us to maintain the highest possible standards.

3 Contents Components... 3 End User LiveChat Button... 3 Customisation Options... 3 End User Chat Session... 3 Agent Chat Client... 4 Agent Pre-requisites... 6 Chat Client Pre-requisites... 6 Infrastructure Pre-requisites... 6 Chat Protocol and Network Port... 6 Proxy Support... 6 Network / Firewall Restrictions... 7 End User Pre-requisites... 7 Transport Security... 8 End User to LiveChat... 8 Agent to LiveChat... 8 Credential Security... 9 Client Side... 9 Server Side... 9 Client to Server Authentication... 9 Appendix A Definitions Appendix B Infrastructure Overview Appendix C LiveChat Configuration Options... 12

4 Components This section describes the components used in end to end LiveChat communication and how they interact with one another. End User LiveChat Button Access to LiveChat for the End User is provided through a link embedded into the customer s website, the link is rendered by a page snippet that loads a JavaScript file hosted on GOSS Interactive s LiveChat service. This link is rendered as an image that indicates the availability of LiveChat. The client needs to supply GOSS with the relevant online and offline images if they want to customise the images rendered by the page snippet. The only change required to the website in order to provide access to LiveChat is the embedding of the JavaScript snippet on the pages they want to link to LiveChat. If the client is using GOSS icm to power their website we will supply an Inline that can be used to embed the LiveChat link in any article. Customisation Options The LiveChat product includes standard images for the LiveChat online and offline buttons and other elements of the Client. These can be downloaded from If a client wishes to use their own images for the LiveChat buttons these should be provided to GOSS when the LiveChat Configuration document is returned (found in Appendix C). We recommend using the sample images as a guide for size and image quality. End User Chat Session Once the End User has clicked the link on the client s website to access LiveChat, a pop-up window will open from where the rest of the interaction will take place. From this point onwards the service being accessed is entirely hosted by GOSS Interactive and does not rely on the client s website. If an Agent is available to take the request the window will present the end user with a set of questions that need to be answered before a LiveChat session will be started. These questions are customisable and the answers will be available to the Agent once they pick up the chat request. Page 3 of 14

5 After the chat session has ended the End User will get the option to have the transcript sent to them, again this will be performed by the service hosted at GOSS Interactive, and there is no dependency on the website. Agent Chat Client The Agents representing the company connect to LiveChat using a standalone client that has to be installed on their local machine. This client uses the XMPP protocol to connect to the LiveChat services hosted at GOSS Interactive. The Spark Client and installation instructions can be downloaded from Page 4 of 14

6 From the chat client the Agent will manage incoming requests, have the ability to speak to colleagues and can join a specific workgroup. Agents can select pre-written answers (Canned Responses) to common questions or type responses into a free text box to send to the client. The current Windows client supplied is not an MSI based installer, which means that it s currently not compatible with services such as Microsoft Application Virtualization or Windows Deployment Services. Page 5 of 14

7 Pre-requisites Agent Chat Client Pre-requisites The client for the Agents to use the LiveChat service has to be installed on their local workstation. Our current LiveChat client is based on the open source Spark IM client. The system requirements are: Component Operating System Hard disk Processor Memory Minimum requirement Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows MB Free Space 1Ghz Client application requires MB of memory Other requirements and caveats: Initial installation requires Administrator privileges on the target machine Roaming profiles are not supported Deployment through WDS or Microsoft App-V is not supported Also see Infrastructure Pre-requisites Infrastructure Pre-requisites Chat Protocol and Network Port The protocol used by the client running on the Agent s work station is XMPP, a well-documented and widely implemented communication protocol. XMPP is used in a lot of well-known chat services, including Google Talk, Microsoft Messenger, Skype and Facebook Chat. The port used for XMPP communication is TCP port 5222, the connection will always be initiated by the client, and thus only one way traffic support is required. Proxy Support The most important infrastructure requirement to note is that the LiveChat client will require a directly routable network connection to the LiveChat services hosted by GOSS Interactive. LiveChat provides real time chat communication and for that reason it keeps a continuous connection open with the LiveChat service. This and the fact that it s not a HTTP based protocol Page 6 of 14

8 means that we do not support the use of a proxy between the Agent s LiveChat client and the LiveChat service hosted by GOSS Interactive. It can still be routed through firewalls and/or gateways that do content inspection; however it should be noted that the traffic will be encrypted with TLS SSL meaning that content inspection will not be very effective. Network / Firewall Restrictions If communication from an Agent s work station has to be locked down to specific targets then the following source and destination ports and networks should be configured to lock down the connection: Source Destination IP Address Work station IP address Hostname Work station host name livechat.gossinteractive.com Port TCP port >1024 TCP port 5222 The connection will always be initiated from the client to the server; communication back from server to client will always go over an already established TCP connection. All active chat sessions will be routed over a single TCP connection, which means that there should only eve be a one open connection to livechat.gossinteractive.com on TCP port Please bear in mind that this traffic will need to be allowed through any firewall that is placed between the Agent s work station and the internet, including the local Windows Firewall. See also Appendix B Infrastructure Overview. End User Pre-requisites For an end user to be able to use LiveChat a modern browser supporting JavaScript is required. Known working browsers are: Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 Google Chrome (up to current version as of writing: ) Mozilla Firefox (up to current version as of writing: ) Page 7 of 14

9 Transport Security End User to LiveChat The End User s chat session is entirely browser based, using HTTP with TLS/SSL encryption. This is identical in encryption level to any other website that has been secured using HTTPS. The certificate used to encrypt communication to webchat.gossinteractive.com has been generated using a 4096 bit RSA key and has been signed by Geo Trust as a Certificate Authority that is trusted by all modern browsers. There is no support for weak ciphers or protocols, as required for full PCI compliancy. Agent to LiveChat The Agent s connection to the LiveChat services is secured using TLS/SSL over implicit XMPP, which is enforced by the server. This does mean that the initial connection is unencrypted; however an encrypted channel is enforced before any authentication can occur. This is further detailed in the Credential Security section. The certificate used to encrypt communication to livechat.gossinteractive.com has been generated using a 4096 bit RSA key and has been signed by Geo Trust as a Certificate Authority. Page 8 of 14

10 Credential Security This section only applies to Agents, there is no authentication required for End Users. Client Side On the client side, when an Agent ticks the Save Password option in the client, it will store the password in the local user profile with 3DES encryption in ECB mode. However this is a reversible encryption method, similar to users remembering their passwords in a browser. Server Side On the server side, the Agent s credentials are stored with encrypted using a unique key. Client to Server Authentication The connection and authentication to the LiveChat service is done as follows: The LiveChat client initiates an XMPP connection to the LiveChat service using TCP port 5222 The server will respond with a list of supported features, including the requirement to use an SSL connection The client will initiate the negotiation of an SSL connection by using a STARTLS command The server and client will negotiate a secure TLS SSL connection Only after a TLS SSL connection has been established the client will transmit base64 encoded credentials to the server for authentication If the client attempts to issue any commands before establishing a secure connection the service will forcefully disconnect the client to prevent the transmission of credentials in plain text. Page 9 of 14

11 Appendix A Definitions The following definitions apply within the context of this document: LiveChat means the service as a whole provided by GOSS Interactive. LiveChat client means the application used by the Agents to access the LiveChat service End User refers to the user whom will be using the LiveChat service to interact with a representative of the client s organisation. Agent refers to the representative of the client s organisation who will manage and respond to incoming chat requests from end users. Website refers to the website the live chat service will be accessed from by the end user. Page 10 of 14

12 Appendix B Infrastructure Overview Here s a very basic network diagram showing the communication protocols for the end user and the Agent: Page 11 of 14

13 Appendix C LiveChat Configuration Options This section outlines the configurable elements used when a LiveChat implementation is delivered by GOSS Interactive. The GOSS Support Team will guide you through these options. Handover No. of Workgroup(s) No. of users entitlement Maximum of one workgroup for period. Maximum of three users for trial period. Configuration Workgroup * Workgroup name Queue(s) for workgroup <client> Canned responses: Please specify if you would like any global canned responses (i.e. Office opening times) Offline settings: Please specify an option and relevant information Option 1: Redirect to a webpage URL: Option 2: Display form address (recipient of submission): Subject: Offline Text: Transcript: Please specify the text required when a transcript is sent to the end user From: address: Subject: Message: Default option: From: <Organisation name> Subject: Copy of the transcript from your online enquiry Message: Hi, Please find attached a transcript of your online conversation with us. Page 12 of 14

14 Regards, <Organisation name team> Images *: Only GOSS standard branding applied for free trial. If you would like to provide images rather than use the defaults provided, please send the relevant zip of images to be used and reference below Agent typing button Background End Button Offine button Online button Send Mail button Send Message Button Title Logo Agents Agents Please list the agents: Firstname Lastname, and address Queue (if applicable) Queue: <please specify> Queue: <please specify> Room monitors Please list users who are allowed to listen in on other agents conversations without showing their presence in the conversation Download transcripts Please specify which user(s) you would like to be able to List of users who can download transcripts Page 13 of 14

15 download chat transcripts from the GOSS website * Repeat these as many as required depending on the number of workgroup purchased Page 14 of 14