5 Setting Up News as a Local Reader/Server

5.10 Setting up the NNTP server

If you are connected to a high speed DECnet or TCP/IP network, you may choose to set up the NNTP server supplied in the ANU News distribution. This will allow clients on other systems access to news from your local database, and can also serve as a means to receive incoming news feeds. Using the NNTP access file described above, you can control the types of access different remote hosts are allowed to your database.

The specifics of setting up the server differ depending on the transport protocol you will be using. The procedure for each transport supported by ANU News is described below. In addition, if you have more than one incoming feed for any substantial number of newsgroups, you may also wish to enable message ID caching by the NNTP server, as described above, in order to minimize redundant transfer and processing of items. (Remember that the NNTP server must have SysLck and SysGbl privileges if you are using message ID caching.)

5.10.1 NNTP server running over DECnet

There are two versions of the server provided in the News distribution, one a single-threaded server designed to be invoked in response to an incoming connection request to a known DECnet object, and the other a multithreaded server which will register itself as a DECnet object and process up to 32 simultaneous connections. In general, the multithreaded server is more efficient if you expect multiple simultaneous connections, but it is unable to obtain the remote host and username for each thread, so it will not allow you to control access to restricted newsgroups as the single-threaded server will.

Whichever server you use, you will need to determine under what local account the NNTP server will run. This need not be a privileged account, but the NetServer.Log files from incoming connections will be left in its Sys$Login, and it must have execute access to the server image. In most cases, the DECnet default account is fine for this purpose. If you choose another account, you must either provide remote sites with proxy access or with the appropriate access control information, or you must specify this information in a local DECnet object definition.

5.10.1.1 Setting up the single-threaded DECnet server

If the TASK DECnet object is not disabled on your system, you need only do the following:

create a DCL procedure named NNTP.Com in Sys$Login of the account you are using to run the server, which contains the commands
$ Run dev:[dir]NNTP_DEC.Exe $ Exit
In addition, you may want to add commands to purge old copies of NetServer.Log, or set a reasonable version limit for this file.
Copy the image NNTP_DEC.Exe from the [News_Dist] directory to the location you specified in NNTP.Com above, and make sure the account under which the server processes will run has execute access.
Install NNTP_Dec.Exe with SysPrv. If you plan to use the News lock mechanism (e.g. NewsShutDown) add SysLck as well, and if you are using message-ID caching, add SysLck and SysGbl. You should use a command like
$ Install Add /Priv=(SysPrv,SysLck,SysGbl)
Be sure to add this command to your system startup procedure as well.

If the TASK object is disabled (as is frequently the case because of the security hole it creates), then you will need to create a DECnet object which can be used to direct incoming connection requests. It's impractical here to discuss all of the possible variations in configuration this method will support, so we'll stick to a few simple examples here. For more information, consult the VMS Networking Manual and the Network Control Program manual in the VMS doc set.

To define a DECnet object which runs under the default DECnet account, and to which users connect by specifying the task string "0=NNTP", perform the following, from an account with the requisite privileges:
$ Run Sys$System:NCP NCP> Set Object NNTP Number 0 NCP> Define Object NNTP Number 0
If the file NNTP.Com is not in Sys$Login for the default DECnet account, add the FILE parameter to these commands. Similarly, if you want this process to run under an account other than the DECnet default, add the USER and PASS parameters to these commands.

If you would prefer that the task string used to specify the NNTP server is of the form "NNTP= ", then select an unused DECnet object number between 128 and 255, and set up the object as follows:
$ Run Sys$System:NCP NCP> Set Object NNTP Number number NCP> Define Object NNTP Number number
In this case, the file NNTP.Com must be in Sys$System; if it's not, use the FILE parameter to these NCP commands to specify it. Again, if you want this process to run under an account other than the DECnet default, add the USER and PASS parameters to these commands.

5.10.1.2 Setting up the multithreaded DECnet server

The procedure for setting up the multithreaded DECnet server is essentially identical to that for setting up the single-threaded server, with a few important exceptions:

The image used is NNTP_DECM.Exe, not NNTP_DEC.Exe
It must be installed with SysNam privilege, as well as those specified above, so it can declare itself as a permanent network object.
The NNTP DECnet object must have the number 0. If the TASK DECnet object is not disabled on your system, you don't need to do anything as long as remote users will use the task string "TASK=NNTP" to connect to the server. If the TASK object is disabled, or remote users will use the task string "0=NNTP" to connect to the server, you must follow the directions given in the previous section for setting up a DECnet object corresponding to this task string. You may not use a task string of the form "NNTP= " with the multithreaded server.

The first incoming connection request will cause the server to be started, and it will then accept all incoming connections to the NNTP task until the server process is deleted, the system is shut down, or the server process exits in response to a News resource lock generated via the News_Stop logical name or NewsShutDown.Exe.

5.10.2 Setting up the CMU-IP NNTP Server

There are two versions of the NNTP server available for use with the CMU-IP TCP/IP package, one single-threaded and the other multithreaded. The single-threaded server is designed to be started by the CMU-IP master TCP server. The multithreaded server can also be invoked by the master server in response to the first incoming connection request, and then handle successive requests itself, or it can be directly run as a detached process.

5.10.2.1 Setting up the single-threaded CMU-IP server

In order to set up the single-threaded server, you need to do the following:

Copy the image NNTP_TCPCMU.Exe from the [News_Dist] directory to a location accessible to the SYSTEM account (e.g. TCP$System).
Add the following line to Sys$Manager:Internet.Config (line wrapped here to fit into the margins):
WKS:119:NEWSRV:TCP$NEWSRV:NETWRK:NETMBX,TMPMBX,SYSPRV, SYSLCK,SYSGBL,PHY_IO:4:5
You need SysLck only if you are using the News lock mechanism (e.g. NewsShutDown) or message-ID caching; you need SysGbl only if you are using message-ID caching.
Define the logical name TCP$Newsrv in the system logical name table as the filespec of NNTP_TCPCMU.Exe. Add a command to do this to Sys$Manager:IP_Startup.Com as well.
Stop and restart the TCP master server process.

Incoming connection requests to TCP port 119 will now be connected to the NNTP server.

5.10.2.2 Setting up the multithreaded CMU-IP NNTP server

If you want the multithreaded server to be invoked by the TCP master server in response to the first incoming connection request on TCP port 119, follow the instructions for setting up the single-threaded server, with the following changes:

Use the image NNTP_TCPCMU_M.Exe instead of NNTP_TCPCMU.Exe.
The entry added to Sys$Manager:Internet.Config should be:
WKS:119:NEWSRV:TCP$NEWSRV:NETWRK:\ NETMBX,TMPMBX,PHY_IO,SYSPRV,SYSLCK,SYSGBL:\ BYTLM=65535,BIOLM=32767,DIOLM=32767,ASTLM=200,ENQLM=100:\ SYS$NULL:SYS$NULL:SYS$NULL:4:5
You need SysLck only if you are using the News lock mechanism (e.g. NewsShutDown) or message-ID caching; you need SysGbl only if you are using message-ID caching.
Define Sys$Null as _NLA0: in the system logical name table, and add a command to do this to Sys$Manager:IP_Startup.Com.
Stop and restart the TCP master server process.

The first incoming connection request to TCP port 119 will cause the NNTP server to be started, and it will then accept all incoming connections to port 119 until the server process is deleted, the system is shut down, or the server process exits in response to a News resource lock generated via the News_Stop logical name or NewsShutDown.Exe. If a News resource lock is in effect, all incoming connection requests to TCP port 119 will be accepted, a message will be transmitted saying that the server is temporarily unavailable, and the connection will be closed.

Alternatively, you may run the NNTP server directly as a detached process. In order to start the server, use a command like
$ Run/Detached/Process="NEWSRV" - /Privilege=(NetMbx,TmpMbx,Phy_IO,SysPrv,SysLck,SysGbl) - /Input=_NLA0:/Output=_NLA0:/Error=_NLA0:/Priority=4 - /Buffer_Limit=65535/IO_Buffered=32767/IO_Direct=32767 - /AST_Limit=200/Enqueue_Limit=100 dev:[dir]NNTP_TCPCMU_M.Exe
You need SysLck only if you are using the News lock mechanism (e.g. NewsShutDown) or message-ID caching; you need SysGbl only if you are using message-ID caching.

You may also want to specify a file with the /Error qualifier, so you can examine any error messages generated by the server.

The server process will start immediately, and it will then accept all incoming connections to port 119 until the server process is deleted, the system is shut down, or the server process exits in response to a News resource lock generated via the News_Stop logical name or NewsShutDown.Exe. Once the server process exits, all incoming connections to TCP port 119 will be rejected until you manually restart the server (for instance, from the process which took out the exclusive lock on the News resource, once it's done whatever processing required exclusive access to the database).

5.10.3 Setting up the Multinet TCP NNTP server

The NNTP server provided for use with the Multinet TCP package is single-threaded, and is usually invoked by Multinet's master TCP server. In order to set up this server, you should

Copy NNTP_TCPWINMultinet.Exe from the [News_Dist] directory to Multinet:NNTP_Server.Exe

Set up the service using the Multinet services configuration program:

$ Multinet Config/Serv
MultiNet Server Configuration Utility 3.2(32)
[Reading in configuration from MULTINET:SERVICES.MASTER_SERVER]
SERVER-CONFIG>add NNTP
[Adding new configuration entry for service "NNTP"]
Protocol: [TCP]
TCP Port number: 119
Program to run: Multinet:NNTP_Server.Exe
[Added service NNTP to configuration]
[Selected service is now NNTP]
SERVER-CONFIG>Sho/Ful NNTP
Service "NNTP":
	TCP socket (AF_INET,SOCK_STREAM), Port 119
	Socket Options = SO_KEEPALIVE
	INIT() = TCP_Init
	LISTEN() = TCP_Listen
	CONNECTED() = TCP_Connected
	SERVICE() = Run_Program
	Program = "MULTINET:NNTP_SERVER.EXE"
SERVER-CONFIG>Quit
Configuration modified, do you want to save it ? [NO] YES

A server process will be started by the master server in response to each incoming connection request on TCP port 119. The server process will exist for the duration of that connection only.

5.10.4 Setting up the TCPware TCP NNTP server

The NNTP server provided for use with Process Software's TCPware TCP package is single-threaded, and is usually invoked by the master TCP server. In order to set up this server, you should

Copy NNTP_TCPWINMultinet.Exe from the [News_Dist] directory to TCPware_Common:[TCPware]NNTP_Server.Exe.
Add the following line to the file TCPware:Services.
nntp 119/tcp readnews # USENET News Transfer Protocol

Define the service as follows:

$ Run TCPware:NetCU
Add/Service NNTP Stream TCPware:NNTP_Server.EXE -
/Process_Name = NNTP_SERVER -
/NoAccounting -
/NoAuthorize -
/UIC = [SYSTEM] -
/AST_Limit = 50 -
/Buffer_Limit = 10240 -
/Enqueue_Limit = 100 -
/Extent = 1024 -
/File_Limit = 50 -
/IO_Buffered = 16 -
/IO_Direct = 16 -
/Maximum_Working_Set = 4096 -
/Page_File = 10000 -
/Priority = 4 -
/Privileges = (NoSame,SysPrv,Phy_IO,NetMbx,TmpMbx,World,SysLck,SysGbl) -
/Queue_Limit = 8 -
/Working_Set = 1024 -
/Subprocess_Limit = 0
Quit

You need SysLck only if you are using the News lock mechanism (e.g. NewsShutDown) or message-ID caching; you need SysGbl only if you are using message-ID caching.

Add the NetCU commands to TCPware:Servers.Com as well, so that the service will be defined at subsequent TCPware startups.

A server process will be started by the master server in response to each incoming connection request on TCP port 119. The server process will exist for the duration of that connection only.

5.10.5 Setting up the UCX TCP NNTP server

There are two versions of the UCX NNTP server provided in the News distribution, one a single-threaded server designed to be invoked by the UCX master TCP server in response to an incoming connection request, and the other a multithreaded server which runs as a detached process and handles up to 16 simultaneous connections.

5.10.5.1 Setting up the single-threaded UCX NNTP server

At the time of this release, the single-threaded server is not functional; only the multithreaded server is supported. The source code for the single-threaded server is still provided, however, and anyone is welcome to clean up the code.

5.10.5.2 Setting up the multithreaded UCX NNTP server

In order to set up the multithreaded server, you should

Copy NNTP_TCPUCXM.Exe from the [News_Dist] directory to a location accessible to the UIC under which the detached process will run.
Create the directory News_Manager_Dev:[News_Log], in which the server will create its log files (named NNTP_Server_Drvr.Log). If you wish to change this, change the line
#define drvrlogfile "NEWS_MANAGER_DEV:[NEWS_LOG]NNTP_SERVER_DRVR.LOG"
in NNTP_TCPUCXM.C, and run News_Build.Com to rebuild NNTP_TCPUCXM.Exe.

As part of your News system startup, create a detached process running this image, using a DCL procedure like:

$! Change the following four lines as appropriate to your site.
$ outfile = "News_Manager:NNTP_TCPUCXM.Log"
$ errfile = "News_Manager:NNTP_TCPUCXM.Log"
$ server_image = "Sys$System:NNTP_TCPUCXM.Exe"
$ uic = "[NEWSMGR]"
$!
$ oldpriv = F$SetPrv("Detach,SysPrv,SysLck,SysGbl,PrmMbx")
$ Create &outfile
$ Create &errfile
$ Purge/Keep=5 &outfile
$ Purge/Keep=5 &errfile
$ Run/Detach/UIC=&uic -
/Privileges=(NoSame,SysPrv,PrmMbx,NetMbx,SysLck,SysGbl) -
/Priority=4 -
/Enqueue_Limit=50/AST_Limit=20/Queue_Limit=8 -
/Buffer_Limit=12288/File_Limit=20/Page_File=10000 -
/Working_Set=600/Maximum_Working_Set=1000/Extent=2000 -
/Input=_NLA0:/Output=&outfile/error=&errfile -
/Process_Name="UCX/NNTP server" -
&server_image
$ If oldpriv .nes. "" Then foo = F$SetPrv(oldpriv)
$ Exit

If you expect the server to operate under a heavy load (e.g. many connections will be active at most times), you may need to increase some of the quota values given here.

5.10.6 Setting up the Wollongong TCP NNTP server

The NNTP server provided for use with The Wollongong Group's WIN/TCP for VMS or PathWay for OpenVMS TCP package is single-threaded, and is usually invoked by the master TCP server. In order to set up this server, you should

Copy NNTP_TCPWINMultinet.Exe from the [News_Dist] directory to TWG$TCP:[Netdist.Serv]NNTP_Server.Exe.

Add the following entry to the file TWG$TCP:[Netdist.Etc]Servers.Dat:

#ANU NNTP Server
service-name    NNTP
program         TWG$TCP:[NETDIST.SERV]NNTP_SERVER.EXE
socket-type     SOCK_STREAM
socket-options  SO_ACCEPTCONN | SO_KEEPALIVE
socket-address  AF_INET , 119
working-set     200
maxservers      5
priority        4
INIT            TCP_Init
LISTEN          TCP_Listen
CONNECTED       TCP_Connected
SERVICE         Run_Program

Add the following entry to the file TWG$TCP:[Netdist.Etc]Services.:
nntp 119/tcp #ANU NNTP Server
Stop the INET_SERVERS process using the DCL command Stop/ID.
Restart the master server by executing TWG$TCP:[Netdist.Misc]Inetserv.Com

A server process will be started by the master server in response to each incoming connection request on TCP port 119. The server process will exist for the duration of that connection only.

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