Practical Internet Groupware

Deploying the Microsoft NNTP Service

The Microsoft NNTP service that’s included in the freely available NT 4.0 Option Pack (http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/nt4optpk/default.asp ) is an underappreciated jewel. It requires NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3 and also requires MSIE Version 4.01 or newer.

You can include the NNTP service in an initial installation of the Option Pack or add it later, but either way it’s not one of the default options. To install it, you’ll have to expand the list of IIS subcomponents presented by the Option Pack installer and explicitly choose the NNTP option.

This product isn’t a full-blown news server. ISPs and others who want to use Microsoft software to run NT-based newsfeeds need the more capable NNTP server included in the Microsoft Commercial Internet Services (MCIS ) product. But the Option Pack server is ideal for standalone use, especially when your authentication needs dovetail with NT domain security.

You manage the service by way of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC)—though as with IIS you also use the Windows Explorer to adjust directory permissions, and User Manager to create users and groups. To create a new newsgroup, right-click the NNTP server icon in the MMC, select Properties → Groups → Create New Newsgroup, and add your groups. We’ll want to enforce the same set of scopes: public, watercooler, thinktank, and saleslounge. Assuming that internal users are already listed in the NT domain database, you ...