Thank you for participating in the Microsoft NNTP Service
Beta 3. Before installing this product, please review this entire
document and read the News Server Operations Guide. The operations
guide contains helpful information about proper installation and
use of Microsoft Internet News Server beta3.
Key benefits of Microsoft NNTP Service are:
- 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 transmission of
passwords 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: You can find more information
about Microsoft Index Server at
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/search/
Hardware and Software Requirements
----------------------------------
This version of Microsoft NNTP Service has the same minimum hardware
requirements as Windows NT Server 4.0 and Microsoft Internet
Information Server 4.0. It is important that you thoroughly plan
before you build your news service.
To install and run Microsoft NNTP Service, you must have the following
software already installed:
(a) Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
(b) Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack 3 (or later), available from the
\SUPPORT\QFE directory on the installation disc, or from
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserversupport/
Installation
------------
The Micrsoft News Server installs as part of Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS) 4.0 beta3. After ensuring that Windows NT
Service Pack 3 is installed, please follow the installation
instructions included with the IIS4 beta3, and as part of the
installation, check the "Internet News" checkbox.
Client Software
---------------
You can use any NNTP-compatible client, such as the Microsoft Internet
Mail and News component of Internet Explorer v. 3.02 or v. 4.0. If you want to enable security, you must use a client that supports SSL and/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.
To start unattended setup
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 will be sent to the moderator 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 make reference to "virtual roots,"
which are in fact virtual directories. The correct term is "virtual
directories." This terminology will be corrected in a future release.
* Using WINS and Host Tables for Intranet Service
Although DNS is required for Internet deployment of News Server, the
documentation fails to mention that WINS or host tables can be
substituted for DNS when using News Server on an intranet.
* Naming Newsgroups
It is recommended that you use seven-bit (lower ASCII) characters for
newsgroup names.
* Registry keys
The following preferences are not changeable in the administration UI.
They can however, be modified via the windows registry. The Microsoft
News settings can be found under the following registry key:
