Microsoft NNTP Service Release Notes

The following sections are included in this document:
Welcome to Microsoft NNTP Service
Using Microsoft NNTP Service Product Documentation
Hardware and Software Requirements
Installation
Client Software
Known Issues
Copyright Information

Welcome to Microsoft NNTP Service

Welcome to this Microsoft NNTP Service release. NNTP Service makes it easy for users to engage in discussions about any given topic.They can read articles from others who have similar interests, post articles, and join conversation threads about particular topics.

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support.
• Open, cross-platform, Internet-based NNTP client support.
• Secure authentication using NNTP security extensions that do not send user passwords in clear text over the network.
• Secure authentication that allows encrypted passwords to be transmitted over the Internet.
• Local, remote, and moderator-approved article posting.
• Built-in support for control messages that can automatically create or delete newsgroups as well as cancel postings.
• Support for both private and public newsgroups.
• Transaction logs for offline processing to collect usage statistics, track messages and transactions, and examine usage patterns.
• Newsgroup searching.
• Support for Microsoft Index Server. For more information about Microsoft Index Server see http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/search/

Using Microsoft NNTP Service Product Documentation

Context-sensitive help is available by clicking the Help button on a property sheet or dialog box. Additional documentation for the Microsoft Microsoft NNTP Service can be reached by selecting Product Documentation in the Miccrosoft Internet Information Server program group.

Hardware and Software Requirements

This version of Microsoft Microsoft NNTP Service has the same minimum hardware requirements as Windows NT Server version 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0. It is important that you plan thoroughly before building your news service.To install and run Microsoft NNTP Service, the following software must be installed:

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack 3 (or later), available in the \Support\qfe directory on the installation compact disc or from http://www.microsoft.com/ntserversupport/

Installation

The Microsoft Microsoft NNTP Service is installed as part of Microsoft InternetInformation Server (IIS) 4.0 Beta 3. Once you are certain that Windows NT Service Pack 3 is set up, please follow the installation instructions included with IIS4 Beta 3. As part of the installation, select the "Microsoft NNTP Service" check box.

Client Software

You can use any NNTP-compatible client, such as the Microsoft Internet Mail and News component of Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.02 or 4.0. To enable security, you must use a client that supports SSL or Windows NT Challenge/Response, such as Internet Mail and News.

You can download Internet Explorer from http://www.microsoft.com/ie. Be sure to download the Typical version of Internet Explorer, which includes Internet Mail and News. If you already have Internet Explorer but you are missing the Internet Mail and News reader, you can download it separately by following the features and components link.

Known Issues

Unattended Option Pack Installation For Installing Microsoft NNTP Service

If you are using Microsoft Internet Information Server on an intranet, you can copy the Unattend.txt file from the WindowsáNT Option Pack compact disc to a folder on the local computer and perform unattended installations from that folder. This is useful because the Microsoft NNTP Service is not a default component during Setup. The Unattend.txt file is located on the compact disc in the \CPU type\inetsrv\ directory, where CPU type is the processor on the computer where IIS will be installed.

1. Go to the computer where you want to install the Option Pack and either place the compact disc in the CD drive, or make a network connection to the CD drive containing the Option Pack disc.
2. Copy Unattend.txt to your local hard disk and make any necessary changes to install the appropriate components.
3. Edit the [Components] section to include iis_nntp = on and iis_nntp_docs = on.
4. At a command prompt, change to the folder on the compact disc containing Setup.exe.
5. Type setup/u:full path to Unattend.txt where full path to Unattend.txt is the drive and path on the local computer where Unattend.txt is located. For example, setup/u:c:\temp\unattend.txt.

Using Moderated Newsgroups and SMTP

Postings to moderated newsgroups are sent to the moderator by via SMTP with an empty Mail From: envelope line. For these messages to be received, the SMTP server must have an account set up to accommodate the requests.

Virtual Directories Terminology

Windows NT Server event logs refer to "virtual roots," which are virtual directories. Therefore, the correct term is "virtual directories." This terminology will be changed in a future release.

Using WINS and Host Tables for Intranet Service

Although DNS is required to deploy Microsoft NNTP Service on the Internet, the documentation does not mention that WINS or host tables can be substituted for DNS when using Microsoft NNTP Service on an intranet.

Naming Newsgroups

It is recommended that you use 7-bit (lower ASCII) characters for newsgroup names.

Registry Keys

The following preferences are not changeable in the administration user interface. They can however, be modified through the Windows registry. The Microsoft News settings are located under the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NNTPSvc\Parameters

Settings that are not listed below should not be modified. Here is a brief description of the settings.

NewsCrawler- frequency of expiration cycle

ShutdownLatency- latency of shutdown on net stop, that is, how long the service would take to shutdown

NewsVrootUpdateRate- rate of update of virtual roots settings

Web Administration Authentication

An authenticated connection is required to administrate the Microsoft Microsoft NNTP Service using a web browser. The default authentication mechanism is Windows NT Challenge/response (NTLM). If you use a browser that does not support NTLM needs to be used, IIS server settings for the web-administration directory must be changed.

Copyright Information

© 1997 Microsoft Corporation

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