Why ‘Federate’ in the first place? Well, users who use an instant messaging client (Yahoo etc) other than Windows Live Messenger can communicate with users in your domain that are logged on to Windows Live Messenger.

The problem lies with the cryptic Admin SRV instruction on Microsoft’s page:

DNS Record Type: SRV
Host: _sipfederationtls._tcp.xxx.xxx.com
Value: 10 2 5061 federation.messenger.msn.com

I consulted http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRV_record And this is what they have to say:

An SRV record has the form:

_Service._Proto.Name TTL Class SRV Priority Weight Port Target

• Service: the symbolic name of the desired service.
• Proto: the protocol of the desired service; this is usually either TCP or UDP.
• Name: the domain name for which this record is valid.
• TTL: standard DNS time to live field.
• Class: standard DNS class field (this is always IN).
• Priority: the priority of the target host, lower value means more preferred.
• Weight: A relative weight for records with the same priority.
• Port: the TCP or UDP port on which the service is to be found.
• Target: the canonical hostname of the machine providing the service.

An example SRV record might look like this:

_sip._tcp.example.com. 86400 IN SRV 0 5 5060 sipserver.example.com.

So I worked it out to mean this:

Service=_sipfederationls

protocol=_tcp

priority=10

weight=2

port=5061

host=federation.messenger.msn.com

In your Microsoft DNS Server, you right click on your domain, choose ‘Other Record" and then enter as follows:

To test it out, I logged into Yahoo.com and added the test@xxx.com user to it. ON the windows live , I got an invite message from MSN live for the invite I made on yahoo.com

After I ‘allowed’ both the yahoo.com account and the MSN account to each other, I could then send messages back and forth between the two IM services!

Hope that helps you out there. If so, kindly drop a comment or two okay?

Here is a summary of the things that were new to me and I learned only from the training, and from the members of the class:

1. Windows Virtual Earth and Map Crunch (from Hugh S. of New Zealand)
2. Windows Live writer  (which incidentally was used in posting to this Wordpress blog. Of course it works with Microsoft’s spaces.live.com too!)
3. Integrating Windows Messenger enhancements (Agents etc) into web apps…like Facebook (buddy presence and chat)
4. Windows Live authentication (Live ID, Live Data, Live Control)
5. Use of Visual Studio to create astounding applications in a flash! (Thanks to Tim VDD of Microsoft for helping me out on the class exercises)
6. Use of websites like dev.live.com and quickstartwl.com
7. ZoomIt for zooming into presentations and showing off small fonts in your presentations into bigger sized graphics.
8. Skydrive
9. Windows Spaces and RSS alerts
10. Creating Events (geo aware) in Spaces with Virtual Earth Maps
11. Silverlight Encoder (cool apps!!!)

We didnt put it there so we were alarmed at how it was included.

It seems that the header.php was not secured and hackers were able to insert the spammy comments/links. This is a lesson we learned the hard way. So for wordpress themes, make sure that they are secured by mod 644 or better.

Updates:
My staff tells me that Taragana analyzed this wordpress hidden site problem.

What is the MVP Global Summit?
The MVP Global Summit is a four-day invitation-only event hosted at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center in Seattle and at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. With more than 400 sessions and a variety of networking opportunities, the MVP Global Summit enables Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and Regional Directors (RDs) to:

Connect with other MVPs and RDs
Engage with Microsoft product managers
Provide valuable feedback directly to Microsoft on its products and technologies.

Highlights for 2008 include:
Event closing technical discussion by Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect
Keynote by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive officer
Deep technical sessions by competency
Cross-competency electives
Highly dynamic and interactive sessions, designed based on Open Space Technology, where you’ll be able to define topics, attend, or even host
Additional activities designed to promote networking and meet attendees’ diverse informational and business needs

Distinguished Panel of Practitioners:
Erik Wilgenhof Plante
Assistant Vice President, Regional Transaction
Surveillance Centre, Asia, Group Compliance
ABN Amro

Andy Yeo
Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Allen & Gledhill LLP
Damien Adams
Manager, Asia Operations
CCH Asia Pte Ltd

Robert Edwards
Managing Director, Global AML Compliance
Citi Global Wealth Management

Peter Coleman
Principal & Head, Forensic Services
Deloitte Singapore & Southeast Asia

Andy MacDonald
Director, Forensic Services (Anti-Money
Laundering)
Deloitte Singapore

Clint Stinger
Anti-Money Laundering / Sanctions Services
Leader
Deloitte China

Hamidul Haq
Partner
Rajah & Tann LLP

Jay Jhaveri
Head, Asia
World-Check