Chapter 30

Setting Up an NNTP News Server


CONTENTS


Using a Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) server, you can set up discussion forums on the Internet. Although a Web site is ideal for distributing information on the Internet, it's not always an ideal solution for setting up Internet discussion forums. You can use applications such as WebBoard, described in the next chapter, to set up HTTP-based discussion forums on the Internet. However, such applications have to rely on limited capabilities of various HTML input controls. On the other hand, NNTP servers and clients are designed to handle large volumes of messages. NNTP news reading clients are available for virtually all operating systems and are optimized for reading and posting messages to news servers. For this reason, HTTP-based discussion forums are not suitable for hosting high-volume discussion forums, although they are ideal for setting up low-volume discussion forums.

In this chapter, you learn how you can set up an NNTP server to host public discussion forums on the Internet. Although this chapter does not discuss all aspects of setting up and configuring a news server, after reading it, you will be able to set up a news server at your site and configure it so that users can connect to it to read and post messages. At the end of the chapter, you also learn how you can use an NNTP server to complement information distributed by a Web server.

Applications of an NNTP Server

You can use an NNTP server for a wide variety of tasks. Because it enables users to interact with each other, you can add a new level of interactivity to an Internet server by setting up a news server.

When you introduce a new product, for example, chances are that many of your customers will have similar questions. Although you can treat all these customers individually, you can set up a news server to deal with this situation in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Users then can connect to the news server and not only post messages when they have questions, but also get answers to them. In addition, users also can discover various innovative ways of solving problems by reading messages posted by others.

In fact, Microsoft just moved its support forums from CompuServe to the Internet after setting up a news server. See Figure 30.1 for an example of how users use the Microsoft news server to obtain technical support.

Figure 30.1: News servers are ideal for providing technical support to users.

A news server also can be used to discuss a certain topic and brainstorm new ideas. Not only can you set up a news server on the Internet, but you also can set up one locally on an intranet environment. You might want to consider setting up a newsgroup for each department and various projects. Users then can exchange ideas and opinions with each other and brainstorm innovative solutions with each other.

As you can see, a news server can be used for a wide variety of applications. You should be aware, however, of a few drawbacks associated with using a news server. Some of these drawbacks are listed in the following sections.

Challenges of Using an NNTP Server

Most commonly used Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator have built-in capabilities to participate in news server discussions. After you set up your news server, you can easily add NNTP URLs so that users can connect to your news server and discuss various issues related to the content at your Web site.

Some users might be reluctant to use a news server because the technology seems "new" to them. Try to encourage users to use a news server whenever it can handle a task more efficiently. Once users realize the various benefits offered by news servers, they will start using them more frequently to meet their information needs.

Another drawback of using a news server is its static nature. Although information at a Web site can be made interactive using technologies such as Distributed COM (DCOM), such technologies do not exist for messages posted to a news server. Understand this limitation when you use your news server. Information that is better suited for being published on a Web server should not be published on a news server. Use news servers to publish material that does not require a lot of formatting. Basically, use your news server to post messages that are suitable for discussion by other users.

Installing NetManage's Forum Server

NetManage offers a freeware as well as a commercial NNTP news server for Windows NT. The purpose of the following sections is not to cover both versions of these news servers comprehensively. Such coverage is beyond the scope of this book. However, you do learn how you can use NetManage's NNTP server to set up discussion forums on the Internet.

The freeware version of NetManage's NNTP is similar to the commercial version, but the commercial version has the following added features:

The commercial NNTP server is actually part of NetManage's Intranet Server. Intranet Server is a suite of information distribution and management servers that includes a Domain Name Server (DNS), HyperText Transport Protocol Server (HTTP), Network File System (NFS), Line Printer Daemon (LPD), Directory, and NetTime server.

Visit the NetManage Web site for more information about NetManage's Intranet Server. You also can download NetManage's freeware news server from the same Web site.

URL
NetManage Intranet Server information page:
http://www.netmanage.com/netmanage/intra_server/index.html

URL
NetManage freeware NNTP server download page:
http://www.netmanage.com/netmanage/nns/index.html

If you obtain a copy of the NetManage Intranet Server, run the file setup.exe to install the NNTP server and other servers included in the Intranet Server package. If you download the freeware server, be sure to unzip the distribution file using a 32-bit file-decompressing program that preserves long filenames. After you decompress the distribution file, refer to the file usrguide.doc for detailed information about installing the freeware NNTP server. Proceed to the next section after installing the news server to learn how you can use the NNTP server to set up online discussion forums on the Internet.

Configuring the NNTP Server

After you install the news server, it registers itself as a service, as shown in Figure 30.2. I recommend that you allow the news server to start automatically and remain running because it consumes negligible system resources when it is not in use.

Figure 30.2: The NNTP server functions as a Windows NT service.

Before you configure the news server, locate the file newsctl.exe. You use this file to issue commands to the news server to do various tasks such as create and delete newsgroups. Also note that after you make any configuration changes using the newsctl.exe program, you need to enter the command newsctl reload at the Windows NT command prompt for the changes to take effect. If you want to enable Internet users to connect to your news server to read and post messages, you have to edit the nntp.access file with a text editor such as notepad. In this file, locate the default access section, and change it as follows:

## Restricted access entry; server is shipped with this by default
## *:: -no- : -no- :!*

## Unrestricted access entry-any client may read and post and servers
## must be explicitly included below
*:Read Post:::*

After you make this change, be sure to enter the newsctl reload command. Internet users then can connect to your news server to read and post messages.

At this point, you can connect to your news server by using a news reading/posting client, such as Netscape Navigator, as shown in Figure 30.3.

Figure 30.3: Users can use a news reading/posting client to connect to the news server soon after it is set up.

Creating Newsgroups

You can create new newsgroups by using the newsctl.exe file. The syntax for creating new newsgroups is as follows:

NEWSCTL NEWGROUP <group name> <Access Control> <Creators name>

The Access Control parameter can have one of the values shown in Table 30.1.

Table 30.1. Access Control parameter values.

Value
Description
Y
New posts are allowed.
n
New posts are not allowed.
m
Moderated newsgroup. All newsgroup posts directed at the newsgroup are mailed to the moderator.

Creating a newsgroup is easy. Simply log on to the directory containing the file newsctl.exe and use the command just shown to create newsgroups. You can create a newsgroup named VBScript, for example, by using the command newsctl newgroup VBScript y. Note that the Creators name parameter is not required for creating public newsgroups. At this time, if a user connects to the news server with a news client, he or she sees the newsgroup just created, as shown in Figure 30.4.

Figure 30.4: A newsgroup listing after adding a newsgroup to the news server.

Deleting Newsgroups

Using newsctl.exe, you also can delete newsgroups. The syntax for deleting newsgroups is as follows:

NEWSCTL rmgroup <Name of newsgroup>

Note that if you accidentally delete an existing newsgroup, you can recover it by immediately re-creating the newsgroup with its same name.

Setting Newsgroup Expiration

By default, the news server expires (deletes) messages seven days after they are posted. Using the expire.ctl file, you can define expiration dates for the entire news server or individual newsgroups. The format of entries of the expire.ctl is as follows:

<newsgroup range>:<newsgroup type>:<minimum>:<default>:<maximum>

The parameters are as follows:

<newsgroup range>-You can replace this parameter with the name of a newsgroup such as comp.windows.NT or comp.* to match all newsgroups of the comp. hierarchy (such as comp.Windows.NT and comp.microsoft.bob).
<newsgroup type>-You should replace this parameter with either an A or M. Use A to specify unmoderated newsgroups and M to specify moderated newsgroups.
<minimum>-This parameter indicates the minimum time period, in number of days, a message should be kept active. Note that you can replace this value with never to keep messages active for an indefinite period of time.
<default>-This parameter indicates the default time period, in number of days, a message should be kept active. Note that you can replace this value with never to keep messages active for an indefinite period of time.
<maximum>-This parameter indicates the maximum time period, in number of days, a message should be kept active. Note that you can replace this value with never to keep messages active for an indefinite period of time.

Generally, you should not define a newsgroup to always have messages active for an indefinite number of days. If it is not a high-volume newsgroup, however, and is used to post important announcements and discussions related to them, you might want to set that newsgroup to keep its messages forever. For other newsgroups, depending on the amount of drive space you have free, and the number of messages, pick a value between 7 and 30 days. Expiring messages before seven days is not recommended because users find it difficult to get more information about discussions that began a week before.

Using an NNTP Server to Complement a Web Server

As I mentioned previously, you can use an NNTP server to complement a Web site. How can you do this when both servers rely on two separate protocols? The answer is that integrating the two protocols is easy. Always keep in mind that your Web server is for publishing information and your NNTP server is for users to discuss information published at your Web site. Although you can publish information using an NNTP server, doing so is actually a step backward because you forgo all the new technologies that are available to format content published at a Web site.

Most modern Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer come with built-in news reading capabilities. Take advantage of these capabilities by using both protocols. A URL can connect to a news server as easily as it can connect to a Web server, provided that the Web browser supports news reading. When you publish information, simply create a link to one of your newsgroups using the URL format news:\\server.com. Users then can browse the contents at your Web site and discuss those contents using your news server.

Where to Go from Here

In this chapter, you learned only the basics of setting up and using an NNTP news server. News servers can be used to communicate with each other through the exchange of messages. Also, if you are using the commercial version of the news server discussed in this chapter, you can further configure it by administering various security options on the server.

After you are comfortable with creating and managing a few newsgroups, you should read the documentation included in the news server distribution file. This comprehensive documentation covers all aspects of using the news server. The preceding sections were meant to get you started with using the news server to host public discussion forums on the Internet.

Summary

Setting up an NNTP news server is a great way to add a new level of interactivity to a Web site. Because the most widely used Web browsers-Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator-both support NNTP news reading, users browsing a Web site can participate in discussions using a news server. You can easily set up a news server and enable users browsing a Web site to access it to participate in online discussions.

What's Next?

The next chapter discusses a number of other applications that you can use to publish information on the Internet. Although these applications are different from applications discussed in most of this book, they add a new level of interactivity to a Web site.