Protocols/MSNP/Gateway

Here is some information about the HTTP gateway used by Messenger if it fails to connect directly to the MSNP server (port 1863).

Hosts

gateway.messenger.hotmail.com
muser.gateway.messenger.hotmail.com

Implementation

The gateway is jut a proxy for Messenger commands.

First request

The first request is a POST request to the URL /gateway/gateway.dll?Action=open&Server={server type}&IP={server the client tried to connect to}.

{server type} is either NS (Notification server) or SB (Switchboard server).

The POST body is the VER command.

This first request should trigger the creation of a session ID in the database. This session ID will be present in the URLs of all subsequent requests to the gateway.

This session ID along with the gateway IP address should be sent in an X-MSN-Messenger header: "X-MSN-Messenger": "SessionID={session ID}; GW-IP={IP of the gateway service}"

A Content-Type header should be added as well: "Content-Type": "application/x-msn-messenger"

The body of the response is simply the response to the command.

Subsequent requests

Type 1: /gateway/gateway.dll?SessionID={session ID}

The client wants to send a command to the server. The command is in the POST body. Answer with the command response and include the 2 headers as shown above.

Type 2: /gateway/gateway.dll?Action=poll&SessionID={session ID}

The client wants to know if the server has queued any specific command(s) for the current session. Answer with the specified command(s). If the client has no commands to poll, send an empty reply. Include the 2 headers.