Supporting Messaging Clients

NNTP Support

Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) is an application protocol that is used over TCP/IP networks. NNTP defines a set of client and server commands used to access newsgroups.

Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server uses NNTP to enable Microsoft Outlook users to participate in online discussions over the Internet. Exchange also enables users running client applications that support NNTP to access newsgroup public folders on computers running Exchange.

Users can read and post items, such as messages and documents, to NNTP newsgroups that are represented in Exchange as public folders; for example, scientists can exchange research information by posting messages to a newsgroup public folder for their area of interest. Other scientists around the world can read and respond to items in the newsgroup. Items in newsgroups can be replicated to Usenet host computers through newsfeeds.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Can I have an administrator approve articles before they are posted to a newsgroup?

You can control which articles are posted to a newsgroup by assigning a moderator to the newsgroup. Articles submitted to a moderated newsgroup are not posted until the moderator approves them.  More...

Why is it necessary to use both NNTP Service and an NNTP virtual server?

NNTP Service in Microsoft Windows 2000 replaces Internet News Service in Exchange Server 5.5. This built-in Windows 2000 service is designed to support a stand-alone newsgroup server, making it easy to create group discussions. When you install Exchange 2000, NNTP Service is enhanced with the capability to interface with other news servers through newsfeeds. NNTP Service communicates with external NNTP servers to make popular USENET groups available to your users.

An NNTP virtual server allows you to administer newsgroup services by controlling authentication and client connections from a centralized location. You can create additional virtual servers to host multiple domains on a single server, or you can create a public and private virtual server and keep them separate for authentication purposes.

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How do I use a public news server?

You can reduce support costs and improve customer service by giving customers quick and easy access to technical support information on a public news server. More...

Why aren't my expiration policies working?

If newsgroup content is saved in Information Store, expiration policies set in Information Store cancel any expiration policies you set on the newsgroups. If you set an expiration policy for newsgroup content, and a different expiration policy is set in Information Store for the same content, only the Information Store policy is used. More...

How do I define a server as master server in a master and slave newsfeed configuration?

To create a master server, you use New NNTP Feed Wizard to define the remote server as a slave. You do not directly define a server as a master. To define a server as a master server, you only need to indicate that the server sends articles to a slave server. More...

Why are newsgroups listed that I did not create or subscribe to?

Control messages are sent to cancel a posting, create a new newsgroup, and remove a newsgroup. These messages are received by NNTP Service and posted to special newsgroups in the NNTP virtual server's newsgroups listing. The control messages are posted to one of the appropriate newsgroups: control.cancel, control.newgroup, and control.rmgroup. These newsgroups are automatically created to manage control messages.  More...