How to Configure the NNTP Service, Part 2

This article is Part 2 of a two-part article that describes how to configure different features of the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) service in Exchange 2000. These articles assume that you have already installed Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, or Datacenter, and Exchange 2000 Server.

Part 2 covers the following topics:

• Feeds
  • How to Accept Feeds
  • How to Create a Push Feed
  • How to Create a Pull Feed
  • How to Create Master/Slave Newsfeeds
  • How to Delete a Feed
• Expiration Policies
  • How to Add a Policy
  • How to Modify a Policy
  • How to Delete a Policy
• Virtual Directories
  • How to Add Virtual Directories
  • How to Modify Virtual Directories
  • How to Delete Virtual Directories
  • How to Hide Control Newsgroups
• Current Sessions
  • How to View Current Sessions
  • How to End Current Sessions

To see Part 1 of this article, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Feeds

How to Accept Feeds

1. Follow the steps in the "How to Import Newsgroups from a Text File" section in Part 1 to create the newsgroups on the virtual server that is receiving the newsfeed.
2. Follow the steps in the "How to Enable or Disable Feed Posting" section in Part 1 to enable newsfeeds for the virtual server that is receiving the newsfeed.
3. In Exchange System Manager, expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to accept the newsfeed.
4. Click Feeds.
5. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Feed.
6. Type the name of the remote NNTP server in the Remote server name or IP address box, and then click Next.
7. Click to select the Peer check box, and then click Next.
8. Click to select the Inbound feed check box, click Accept a push feed from the remote server, and then click Next.
9. Select the newsgroups that will be affected. You can use wildcards, such as alt.*. In this example, only newsgroups under the alt hierarchy are affected.
10. Click Finish.

In addition to setting up the accept newsfeed, you need to create an outbound push feed.

How to Create a Push Feed

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to accept the newsfeed.
3. Click Feeds.
4. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Feed.
5. Type the name of the remote NNTP server in the Remote server name or IP address box, and then click Next.
6. Click to select the Peer check box, and then click Next.
7. Click to select the Outbound feed check box, and then click Next.
8. On the next screen, select the newsgroups that will be affected. You can use wildcards, such as alt.*. In this example, only newsgroups under the alt hierarchy are affected.
9. Click Finish.

How to Create a Pull Feed

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to accept the newsfeed.
3. Click Feeds.
4. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Feed.
5. Type the name of the remote NNTP server in the Remote server name or IP address box, and then click Next.
6. Click to select the Peer check box, and then click Next.
7. Click to select the Inbound feed check box, and then click Next.
8. On the next screen, select the newsgroups that will be affected. You can use wildcards, such as alt.*. In this example, only newsgroups under the alt hierarchy are affected.
9. Click Finish.

How to Create Master/Slave Newsfeeds

1. Follow the steps in the "How to Import Newsgroups from a Text File" section in Part 1 to create the newsgroups on the virtual server that is receiving the newsfeed.
2. Follow the steps in the "How to Enable or Disable Feed Posting" section in Part 1 to enable newsfeeds for the virtual server that is receiving the newsfeed.
3. In Exchange System Manager, expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to accept the newsfeed.
4. Click Feeds.
5. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Feed.
6. Type the name of the remote NNTP server in the Remote server name or IP address box, and then click Next.
7. Click to select the Slave check box, and then click Next.
8. Click to select the Inbound feed check box, click Pull articles from the remote server, click Outbound feed, and then click Next.
9. On the next screen, select the newsgroups that are affected. You can use wildcards, such as alt.*. In this example, only newsgroups under the alt hierarchy are affected.
10. Click Finish.
11. Repeat the steps above for each slave server.

Complete the following steps on the master news server.

1. Follow the steps in the "How to Import Newsgroups from a Text File" section in Part 1 to create the newsgroups on the virtual server that is receiving the newsfeed.
2. Follow the steps in the "How to Enable or Disable Feed Posting" section in Part 1 to enable newsfeeds for the virtual server that is receiving the newsfeed.
3. In Exchange System Manager, expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to accept the newsfeed.
4. Click Feeds.
5. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Feed.
6. Type the name of the remote NNTP server in the Remote server name or IP address box, and then click Next.
7. Click to select the Master check box, and then click Next.
8. Click to select the Inbound feed check box, click Accept a push feed from the remote server, and then click Next.
9. On the next screen, select the newsgroups that will be affected. You can use wildcards, such as alt.*. In this example, only newsgroups under the alt hierarchy would be affected.
10. Click Finish.
11. Repeat the steps above for each master server.

How to Delete a Feed

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click Feeds.
4. Click the feed that you want to delete.
5. On the Action menu, click Delete.

Expiration Policies

How to Add a Policy

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Expiration Policies check box.
4. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Expiration Policy.
5. Type a name for the expiration policy description.
6. Select which newsgroups this policy will affect.
   • If you click to select the All newsgroups on the virtual server check box, continue to step 7.
   • If you click to select the Only selected newsgroups on the virtual server check box, type the names of the newsgroups that this policy applies to on the next screen.
7. Set how old, in hours, an article can be before it is deleted.
8. Click Finish.

For newsgroups that are hosted on the Exchange 2000 information store, article expiration is based on the age limit set for the public folders that correspond to the newsgroups.

How to Modify a Policy

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Expiration Policies check box.
4. In the right pane, click the policy that you want to modify.
5. On the Action menu, click Properties. You can modify the Affected newsgroups and Remove articles older than policies.
6. Click OK to save the changes.

How to Delete a Policy

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Expiration Policies check box.
4. Click the policy that you want to delete.
5. On the Action menu, click Delete.

Virtual Directories

How to Add Virtual Directories

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Virtual Directories check box.
4. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click Virtual Directory.
5. Type the path of the newsgroup to be stored on this virtual directory, and then click Next.
   
   Note This name must match the newsgroup subtree that will be stored on this virtual directory. For example, if the "microsoft.public" newsgroup is stored on this virtual directory, the name of the virtual directory must be "microsoft.public".
6. Click File System (a local location), click Remote Share or Exchange Public Folder Database as a storage location for the news content, and then click Next.
   • If you click File System, type a path to the local folder, or click Browse to select a folder.
   • If you click Remote Share, type a path to the remote location, or click Browse to select a remote folder. For a remote location, you must provide a user name and password that the NNTP service can use to log on to that remote computer on the next screen. Type a name, or click Browse to search for one. Click Check to ensure the user name/password combination used is valid, and then click Next.
     
     Note If you are storing content in a remote location, the remote computer must be configured with at least read-write permissions for the user name provided.
   • If you click Exchange Public Folder Database, browse to the public folder where the content will be stored.
7. Click Finish.

How to Modify Virtual Directories

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Virtual Directories check box.
4. In the right pane, click to select the virtual directory that you want to modify.
5. On the Action menu, click Properties.
6. You can configure the following options in the virtual directory properties:
   • Click Contents to modify the content properties for this virtual directory.
   • Click Secure to require that connections to newsgroups located on this virtual directory be encrypted.
   • Click to clear the Allow posting check box to disable posting to newsgroups on this virtual directory.
   • Click to select the Restrict newsgroup visibility check box to hide newsgroups based on NTFS or Exchange 2000 information store Access Control Lists (ACLs).
   • Click to clear the Log access check box to disable logging activity on this virtual directory to the Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS) transaction logs.
   • Click to clear the Index news content check box to disable indexing articles on this virtual directory.
7. Click OK or Apply to save these settings.

How to Delete Virtual Directories

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Virtual Directories check box.
4. In the right pane, click to select the virtual directory that you want to delete.
5. On the Action menu, click Delete.

Note You cannot delete the default and control virtual directories.

How to Hide Control Newsgroups

Typically, access to the control newsgroups is restricted by limiting who can see these special newsgroups. Use the following procedure to hide these newsgroups.

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
2. Locate the C:\Inetpub\Nntpfile\Root folder.
3. Right-click the Control directory, and then click Properties.
4. On the Security tab, restrict access to the directory to only the users or groups that you would like to have access to these newsgroups.
5. Click OK.
6. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
7. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
8. Click to select the Virtual Directories check box. A list of virtual directories is displayed in the right pane of Exchange System Manager.
9. Click to select the control virtual directory.
10. On the Action menu, click Properties.
11. On the General tab, click to select the Restrict newsgroup visibility check box.
12. Click OK to save the settings.
13. Stop and restart the NNTP virtual server.

Current Sessions

The Current Sessions node is used to monitor the connections to an NNTP virtual server. This section steps you through managing client connections.

How to View Current Sessions

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Current Sessions check box.
4. In the right pane, a list of the current sessions is displayed with the following information:
   • The name of the user connected.
   • The IP address from which the client has connected.
   • The total connected time of the session.

How to End Current Sessions

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand the NNTP virtual server that you want to configure.
3. Click to select the Current Sessions check box.
4. To end all sessions, click Terminate All on the Action menu.
5. To end a particular session, click the session you want to end, and then click Terminate on the Action menu.