Copyright: Microsoft NNTP Service Help © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.  Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Citation: Microsoft NNTP Service Help © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.  Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.


General

Use the General tab to specify the IP address and the TCP port used by your NNTP virtual server. You can also use this property tab to limit the number of simultaneous client connections and enable logging of access data to the Microsoft Internet Information Services logs for tracking users of your NNTP virtual server.

  Name

  IP Address

  Advanced

  Connection

  Enable logging

  Active log format

  Path header


Name

Enter the name for the NNTP virtual server. The name you choose is displayed in the Internet Services Manager.


IP address

Select an IP address that is defined on the computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server where Microsoft NNTP Service is located. You can configure multiple IP addresses from the Network Control Panel application.


Advanced

Clicking this button opens the Advanced window, which allows you to assign multiple IP addresses for this NNTP virtual server.


Connection

This button opens the Connection window, where you can set the number of simultaneous news client connections to the NNTP virtual server, among other options.


Enable logging

Use this option to enable logging of transaction data so that you can track NNTP virtual server activity. Microsoft NNTP Service writes a log record each time a user connects to the service, retrieves an article, posts an article, or disconnects. The default location of the log files is C:\WINNT\System32\LogFiles\Nntpsvc1.

To enable logging, you must also select the Log access check box in the Virtual Directory dialog box.


Active log format

You can choose one of four logging formats to track message transactions. The Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Log File Format is a fixed ASCII format. W3C Extended Log File Format, the default option, is an ASCII form and can be customized, allowing you to choose the items you want to track. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Common Log File Format is a fixed ASCII format. ODBC logging format uses an ODBC-compliant database to store logged data for a fixed set of data fields.


Path header

Type the string that is used for the Path line in each news posting.


Advanced

Use this option to add, remove, or edit IP addresses and TCP and SSL port numbers for this NNTP virtual server.

You can define additional IP addresses to which this NNTP virtual server responds. Users can connect to the NNTP virtual server using any of the defined IP addresses. (Each IP address normally has its own DNS name.)

  Configure multiple identities for this virtual server

  IP Address

  TCP Port

  SSL Port

  Add

  Edit

  Remove


Multiple identities for this NNTP virtual server
Configure multiple identities for this virtual server

Lists each IP address assigned to this NNTP virtual server, as well as the TCP port and SSL port of each address. Users can connect to the NNTP virtual server using any of the IP addresses listed. Each NNTP virtual server is identified by its IP address/TCP port combination.


IP Address

Lists the IP addresses that are used by this NNTP virtual server.


TCP Port

Lists the TCP port that is used by clients to connect to this NNTP virtual server when SSL encryption is not used. The default port is 119.


SSL Port

Lists the SSL port that is used by clients to connect to this NNTP virtual server when SSL encryption is used. The default port is 563.


Add

Choose Add to open the Identification window, to add a new IP address and select port numbers for it on this NNTP virtual server.


Edit

Choose Edit to open the Identification window, in order to modify the port numbers of the IP address you have selected.


Remove

Choose Remove to delete the IP address you have selected.


Identification

Enter the new IP address and TCP or SSL port numbers for this NNTP virtual server.

  IP Address

  TCP Port

  SSL Port


IP address

Select an IP address that is defined on the computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server where Microsoft NNTP Service is located. You can configure multiple IP addresses from the Network Control Panel application.


TCP port

Type the TCP port number on which Microsoft NNTP Service is running. The default port is 119. NNTP virtual servers are identified by their IP address/TCP port number combination, so more than one NNTP virtual server can use the same TCP port, provided they are assigned different IP addresses. If you assign an IP/TCP combination to an NNTP virtual server that is already in use, that virtual server will not start. For a new port number to take effect, you must restart your computer.


SSL port

Type the TCP port number that clients use to connect to Microsoft NNTP Service when you are using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. You can enter any unique SSL port number. The default port is 563. For a new port number to take effect, you must restart your computer.


Connection

Use this window to set a limit on the number of connections to the NNTP virtual server. You can also set a limit on the amount of time an inactive news client can remain connected to Microsoft NNTP Service..

  Limit connections to

  Time-out (minutes)


Limit connections to
Limit connection to

Type in the maximum number of simultaneous news client connections that there can be on this NNTP virtual server. The default is 5000 connections. You can also specify that there is no limit to the number of connections by clearing the checkbox.


Time-out (minutes)

Use this option to limit the connection time to the NNTP virtual server for an inactive client. Type a value for the number of minutes an inactive news client can remain connected. The default is 10 minutes.


Access

Use the Access tab to configure client access to the NNTP virtual server and to establish transmission security. With Access control, you can configure Microsoft NNTP Service to allow anonymous access or to prompt users for a user name and password. Secure communication enables you to set security for the virtual server once access has been granted, and Connection control allows you to grant or deny use of the virtual server to specific users or groups.

  Authentication

  Certificate

  Connection


Access control
Authentication

You can choose one or more authentication methods. Click Authentication to open the Authentication Methods window and view the authentication options.


Secure communication
Certificate

This feature ensures that outgoing data is encrypted by requiring the client to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for connections to Microsoft NNTP Service. Click Certificate to open the Web Server Certificate Wizard.


Connection control
Connection

You have several options for restricting access to newsgroups. Choose Connection to view restriction options.

By default, the NNTP virtual server is accessible from all IP addresses. However, you can grant or deny access to specific IP addresses, while allowing or denying access for a larger group. You can do this by specifying a single IP address, a group of addresses using a subnet mask, or a domain name.


Authentication Methods

Select one or more authentication methods. Microsoft NNTP Service verifies the user's identity and grants access to the requested content as determined by your Windows access control list (ACL) settings.

  Allow anonymous

  Basic authentication

  Windows security package

  Enable SSL client authentication (requires server certificate)

  Require SSL client authentication

  Enable client certificate mappings to Windows user accounts


Allow anonymous

Select this option to allow any client access to the contents of this directory. No user name or password is required.  Click Anonymous to open the Anonymous Account window, where you can select a Windows 2000 account that will be used when someone logs on anonymously.


Basic authentication

Select this option to enable Basic (clear-text) password authentication. NNTP defines an authorization protocol, called AUTHINFO, that is based on clear-text passwords. Microsoft NNTP Service supports this clear-text password authorization protocol as Basic password authentication. It also extends the protocol to support delivery of confidential data between Microsoft NNTP Service and an NNTP client. Microsoft NNTP Service provides these features as extensions to the NNTP AUTHINFO protocol.


Windows security package

Select this option to enable the standard Security Package security mechanism that is provided with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. This security feature makes it possible for businesses to provide secure logon services for their customers. Virtual servers that already use Windows Security Package in an internal system can benefit by using a single, common security mechanism.

Windows Security Package authentication uses a cryptographic technique for authenticating users and does not require the user to transmit actual passwords across the network. For more information, see the Microsoft Internet Information Services documentation.

Note  Using Windows Security Package authentication requires a news client that supports this authentication method. Microsoft Outlook Express supports Windows Security Package authentication.


Enable SSL client authentication (requires server certificate)

This option enables secure client authentication using SSL encryption and certificates. An SSL certificate is required for the computer running Microsoft NNTP Service.


Require SSL client authentication

Use this option to require that clients provide SSL encrypted user names and passwords.


Enable client certificate mappings to Windows user accounts

If the client software has an SSL client certificate installed, use the Microsoft Windows account that is mapped to that certificate to authenticate users. Choose Client Mappings to enter certificates and the Windows account names.


Anonymous Account

Use this window to select the Microsoft Windows account used for anonymous access to Microsoft NNTP Service.

  Username

  Password

  Enable automatic password synchronization


Username

Type in a Windows 2000 account.  The permissions granted to this account determine which newsgroups are available to anonymous users.  Or you can click Browse to select a Windows account.


Password

Type in the password that will be used by the Windows 2000 account.  Click Check to see if the Username/Password pair is a valid one.


Enable automatic password synchronization

Select the Enable automatic password synchronization check box to automatically update the password in Microsoft NNTP Service when the password in Microsoft Windows 2000 Server is changed.


Connection

Use these options to limit access to the NNTP virtual server by client IP address or domain name.

You can grant access to all computers and then make exceptions to this rule by denying access to specific computers. Likewise, if you deny access to all computers, you still can grant access to specific computers.

  Only the list below

  All except the list below

  Access

  IP Address (Mask) / Domain Name

  Add

  Remove


Only the list below

Select the Only the list below deny access to all IP addresses except the specific addresses and domains you list.


All except the list below

Select the All except the list below option to grant access to all IP addresses except the specific addresses and domains you list.


All except the list below
Access

Will display either Granted or Denied beside an address or domain in your list.


IP Address (Mask) / Domain Name

Displays the IP address or addresses and the any domain names you have chosen to grant or deny access to.


Add

Choose Add to open the Computer window and grant or deny access to a specific IP address or domain name.


Remove

Choose Remove to remove the IP address or domain name that you have selected from the list.


Computer

Select the type of address for which you are granting or denying access, and then enter the required information. Use Single Computer to select a single computer by IP address. Choose DNS Lookup to look up an IP address.

Use Group of Computers to select a group of computers within a subnet.

Use Domain to select all of the computers in a domain by domain name. (This option adds processing overhead and might reduce Microsoft NNTP Service performance.)

  IP address

  DNS Lookup

  Subnet address

  Subnet mask

 Name


IP Address

The IP address of a single computer that is being denied or granted access. Choose DNS Lookup to look up an IP address.


DNS Lookup

Use this option to look up the IP address of a computer by its DNS name.


Subnet address

The base IP address for a group of computers that is being denied or granted access. A subnet mask is required.


Subnet mask

The subnet mask that specifies the range of IP addresses for a group of computers that is being denied or granted access. See Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Networking Guide for more information on subnet masks.


Name

The domain name of a group of computers that is being denied or granted access.


Settings

Use the Settings tab to configure a maximum limit for the size of news articles and news feeds, and to specify the SMTP server to which moderated messages are sent.

You can moderate newsgroups from a news client. When it is configured for moderated articles, Microsoft NNTP Service sends articles automatically to a specified SMTP server for delivery to the moderator. If an article cannot be delivered to the moderator, a non-delivery report (NDR) is returned to the Administrator Email account address. For these messages to be processed by SMTP, an account must exist on the SMTP server.

You can specify a default domain where moderated messages are sent when newsgroups are defined without a specified moderator. Configure a default domain when you have more than one moderated newsgroup.

  Allow client posting

  Limit post size (KB)

  Limit connection size (MB)

  Allow feed posting

  Limit post size (KB)

  Limit connection size (MB)

  Allow servers to pull news articles from this server

  Allow control messages

  SMTP server for moderated groups

  Default moderator domain

  Administrator Email Account


Allow client posting

Select this option to allow news clients to post articles to this NNTP virtual server.


Limit post size (KB)
Limit post size

Use this option to define the maximum size for an article that a news client can post to this NNTP virtual server. When the checkbox is selected, the default limit is 1000 kilobytes (KB). Clear the checkbox to have no limit.


Limit connection size (KB)
Limit connection size

Use this option to define the maximum size for all articles that a news client can post to this NNTP virtual server during a single connection. When the checkbox is selected, the default limit is 20 megabytes (MB). Clear the checkbox to have no limit.


Allow feed posting

Select this option to allow newsfeeds to post articles to this NNTP virtual server.


Limit post size (KB)
Limit post size

Use this option to define the maximum size for an article that a newsfeed can post to this NNTP virtual server. When the checkbox is selected, the default limit is 1500 KB. Clear the checkbox to have no limit.


Limit connection size (MB)
Limit connection size

Use this option to define the maximum size for all articles that a newsfeed can post to this NNTP virtual server during a single connection. When the checkbox is selected the default limit is 40 MB. Clear the checkbox to have no limit.


Allow server to pull news articles from this server
Allow servers to pull news articles from this server

Select this option to allow other news servers to pull news articles from this NNTP virtual server.


Allow control messages

Select this option if you want control messages to be processed automatically and then logged in the transaction log. Clear this box if you want to log but not process control messages.


SMTP server for moderated groups

Specifies the SMTP mail server where all postings to moderated groups are forwarded. This value must be either a valid computer name registered with DNS (with a valid IP address), or a directory path. A directory path is used only for moderated messages that are sent to a designated directory location.


Default moderator domain

Use this option to specify the default domain for all moderated postings. The domain must be a qualified domain name. Articles posted to moderated newsgroups that do not have a specified moderator are sent to:

news_group_name@default_moderator_domain

where news_group_name is the name of the newsgroup to which the article is sent, and default_moderator_domain is the value you specify for this option.


Administrator Email Account

Use this option to specify an e-mail address for the receipt of non-delivery reports (NDRs) for moderated newsgroup articles that cannot be delivered to the designated moderator.

To enable sending NDRs, create a new DWORD value named MailFromHeader with a value of 1 in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NntpSvc\Parameters\


Security

Use the Security tab to add Microsoft Windows accounts and groups to the list of NNTP virtual server operators.

  Operators

  Add

  Remove


Operators

The display lists the user names and group names that you have specified as operators. Operators are allowed to access and make configurations to an NNTP virtual server. You can add still other names to this list by clicking Add.


Add

Opens the Select Users or Groups window, where you can choose Windows 2000 accounts to be operators on this NNTP virtual server.


Remove

Click Remove to delete the operator you have selected.


Newsgroup Properties

To create a new newsgroup, right-click Newsgroups under the desired NNTP virtual server. Select New, and then click Newsgroup. Follow the New Newsgroups Wizard.

For existing newsgroups, the Newsgroup dialog box describes pertinent information about the selected newsgroup.  The name of the newsgroup appears above the following fields:

  Description

  Pretty name

  Read only

  Moderated

  Moderator

  Set Default


Description

Type a description for the newsgroup. With this description, you can further define a newsgroup function that is not evident from the newgroup title. This description is optional.


Pretty name

If you want a client display name for your newsgroup, enter a name for the newsgroup that is returned by the NNTP command LIST PRETTYNAMES. Pretty names are displayed by some clients. This option accepts Unicode characters, which means that you can specify a newsgroup name using the character set of another language.


Read only

Select this option to specify that only the designated moderator can post articles to this newsgroup.


Moderated

Use this option to specify that articles are sent to a particular e-mail address before they are posted.


Moderator

Type the e-mail address of the moderator you have designated for this newsgroup.


Set Default

Click this button to set the default as your newsgroup moderator. The default e-mail address is the name of the newsgroup, with a domain that you specified in Default moderator domain on the NNTP Settings tab. When you click Set Default, however, only the name of the newsgroup will display in Moderator.


Expiration Policy Properties

To create a new expiration policy, right-click Expiration Policies under the desired NNTP virtual server. Select New, and then click Policy. Follow the New NNTP Expiration Policy Wizard. You can define an expiration policy to delete all news articles older than a specified number of hours.

For existing expiration policies, the Expiration Policy dialog box allows you to view the configurations you make in creating the policy, and it allows you to edit the parameters of the expiration policy.

  Articles older than (Hours)

  Affected newsgroups

  Add

  Remove


Articles older than (Hours)

Use this option to remove news articles that are older than a specified number of hours. The default limit is 168 hours.  To have no age limit on articles, clear the check box.


Affected newsgroups

A listing of the newsgroups or newsgroup hierarchies that obey this expiration policy.


Add

Click Add to open the Add Newsgroup dialog box, where you can add additional newsgroups to the expiration policy.


Remove

Click Remove to delete the selected newsgroup from the affected newsgroups.  The expiration policy will no longer apply to that newsgroup.


Add Newsgroup

Use this dialog box to add newsgroups to the Affected Newsgroups list in the Expiration Policy dialog box.

  Newsgroup


Newsgroup

Type the name of the newsgroup or newsgroup hierarchy that is being added to the expiration policy. The asterisk (*) wildcard character specifies multiple newsgroups. For example, rec.* denotes and includes all newsgroups starting with "rec."  After you type the name, click OK.


Virtual Directory Properties

Use the Virtual Directories node (visible when you expand the NNTP virtual server listing) to create virtual directories for storing newsgroup articles. For example, you can create a virtual directory for storing all newsgroups related to corporate recreational activities on one disk drive and a virtual directory for storing all business related newsgroups on another.

Virtual directories have two components: a virtual directory path and a virtual directory alias. The alias makes it possible for you to change the physical location of the newsgroups without having to change the location that clients use to access the newsgroups. The alias appears in the news service URL, and can remain the same no matter where the files are actually stored.

  Directory contents

  Secure Communications

  Allow posting

  Restrict newsgroup visibility

  Log access

  Index news content


Directory contents

Directory contents allows you to view the location of the home directory. The home directory can be located on either a local disk drive or a disk drive on a computer on your LAN that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The default location for the home directory is C:\InetPub\Nntpfile\Root. Click Contents to open the Directory Contents window and specify the location of this directory.


Secure communications

Use this option to require clients to use SSL for connections to Microsoft NNTP Service. This ensures that outgoing data is encrypted. Click Secure to open the Security window and set the encryption level.


Allow posting

Select this option to allow news clients to post articles to newsgroups in this directory.


Restrict newsgroup visibility

Use this option to restrict viewing newsgroup lists in this directory to users who have access permission for the newsgroups. (This option adds processing overhead, which will consume memory and slow NNTP service, and should not be used for newsgroups that allow anonymous access.)


Log access to this virtual directory
Log access

Use this option to generate a log of news-client access to this directory in the Microsoft Internet Information Services access log. To enable logging, you must also select the Enable logging check box on the General tab.


Index news content

Use this option to index newsgroups in this directory with Microsoft Indexing Services, which allows users to search for specific text.


Directory Contents

Use the Directory Contents dialog box to set the location of your home directory, where all of this virtual directory's resources are stored.

  Directory located on this computer

  Local path

  Share located on another computer

  Network directory

  Username

  Password


Directory located on this computer

Use this option to specify a directory path on your local disk drive.


Local path

If you chose Directory located on this computer, specify the path where the directory is located on this computer (for example, C:\Nntp\Rec\Sports). Click Browse to search for a location.


Share located on another computer

Use this option to specify a directory that is located on your network (for example, \\Server_Name\Server_Share). A network directory is a UNC path to a disk drive located on a LAN.


Network directory

If you chose Share located on another computer, specify the UNC name of the network directory where the directory is located (for example, \\Ntsrv1\Nntp\Rec\Sports). Click Browse to search for a location.


Username

When storing contents on a remote share, you need to provide a user name that the Microsoft NNTP Service can use to log on to that computer. The required credentials are user name and password. Remember that the remote share must be configured with at least read/write permissions for the user name you provide.


Password

Type the password that will be used in conjunction with the username you provide.  Click Check to see if the username/password pair is a valid one.


Security

You can ensure that outgoing data is encrypted by requiring the client to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for connections to Microsoft NNTP Service.

To use SSL, create key pairs and configure key certificates using Key Manager. Clients can then use SSL to submit encrypted articles to Microsoft NNTP Service and Microsoft NNTP Service can also use SSL to encrypt articles sent to clients. See your IIS documentation for more information on key certificates and Key Manager.

Key pairs consist of a number of bits that indicate the key's security level, or strength. You can strengthen security by increasing the encryption level from a 40-bit to a 128-bit default key strength. The greater the number of bits, the more difficult the item is to decode. Users who are attempting to secure access must use the same encryption level that you set.

  Require Secure Channel

  Require 128-bit Encryption


Require Secure Channel

You can ensure that outgoing data is encrypted by requiring the client to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for connections to Microsoft NNTP Service.


Require 128-bit Encryption

You can limit access to the virtual directory to clients using the 128-bit key strength encryption in SSL. Clients attempting to connect using the 40-bit key strength encryption in SSL are refused.

Because of export restrictions, the 128-bit key strength encryption feature is available only in the United States and Canada.


Find Newsgroups

Use the Find Newsgroups dialog box to limit the number of newsgroups that will be displayed in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). Potentially, a server can store thousands of newsgroups; in some cases it might not be possible to enumerate them all. This is why administrators may want to limit the number that will actually display whenever users select the Newsgroups node under an NNTP virtual server.

  Newsgroups

  Limit number of items on the result pane

  Maximum number of items


Newsgroups

Type a wildcard for the type of newsgroup you want to enumerate. For example, typing alt.* means only newsgroups under the alt hierarchy will display when the Newsgroups node is selected. Other kinds of newsgroups on the server will be filtered out. The default (*) is to enumerate every kind of newsgroup.

You can also type the name of a specific newsgroup in this space, but then only that newsgroup will be visible to users.


Limit number of items on the result pane

When this check box is selected, the number of displayed newsgroups will be limited to what you specify in Maximum number of items. Clear the check box to have no limit.


Maximum number of items

Type in the maximum number of newsgroups you want to be visible to users when they select the Newsgroups node under the NNTP virtual server. The default is 100.