I just got a request from a customer to customize the babylon chat (it's a chat with some kind of whiteboard support).

Now I see that this chat software requires a running java program on the webserver. I think most hosts do not allow running chat servers on their machines.

Do you know if it is possible at all to get this chat running on a shared hosting plan or do I need a dedicated server?

Marian

I wouldn't say you'd need a dedicated server, however you would need a host willing to install the chat server. My only recommendation for that is to post a request in the Requests Forum for this. It isn't an impossible request, though I'd expect a set up fee to do this (personally $100 or less seems reasonable).

Digichat's chat server (the one that powers HHO) doesn't really even cause a dent in server performance, and based on this, I'd guess that yours would be fine on just about any server (in case you do consider getting a dedicated). It would most likely run fine on a RaQ3 or slower celeron/pentium machine (you wouldn't need a dual processor super-fast beast to run it).