Newsfeeds enable users of different news sites to
read and post articles to newsgroups as though they are using one
news site. An article posted to one news site gets sent to other
news sites where it can be read. You need to create a newsfeed to
each remote server to which you want to distribute news
articles.
You can distribute the newsgroup load among servers using three
types of newsfeeds: master, slave, and peer. A server can have both
a slave and peer feed. There can be one or more slave feeds,
depending on the size of the site.
Master feed. This feed sends local posts to get article
IDs. Requests are sent to the master server, which manages all
article IDs to ensure all newsgroups are synchronized.
Slave feed. This feed sends messages with article IDs
included. Messages are sent to slave servers that post the messages
for clients to read.
Peer feed. This feed exchanges messages with other
servers, usually a Usenet host. This feed does not include article
IDs.
To ensure that servers are synchronized, use one server, which
is referred to as a master, to manage the article numbers and keep
all other servers synchronized. The master server sends articles to
the other servers, which are referred to as slaves or peers.
Clients connect only to the slave or peer servers.
The following are three common newsfeed scenarios:
Outside newsfeed from Usenet. In this scenario, the
master server in your organization creates a push or pull feed with
a Usenet host.
Peer newsfeeds. In this scenario, the master server
sends articles to other servers in your organization. Each peer
server manages the newsgroup articles themselves.
Master/Slave newsfeed. In this scenario, newsgroup loads
are distributed between one master server and multiple slave
servers. The master server manages the article IDs and only sends
new articles to the slave servers. This allows all slave servers to
be synchronized. The load is distributed because the master server
manages the articles and the slave servers process all client
connections.