NAME
hosts.nntp, hosts.nntp.nolimit - list of hosts that feed NNTP news
DESCRIPTION
The file /etc/news/hosts.nntp is read by innd(8) to get the list of
hosts that feed the local site Usenet news using the NNTP protocol.
The server reads this file at start-up or when directed to by
ctlinnd(8). When a host connects to the NNTP port of the system on
which innd is running, the server will do a check to see if their
Internet address is the same as one of the hosts named in this file.
If the host is not mentioned, then innd will spawn an nnrpd(8) to
process the connection, with the accepted connection on standard input
and standard output.
Comments begin with a number sign (‘‘#’’) and continue through the end
of the line. Blank lines and comments also ignored. All other lines
should consist of two or three fields separated by a colon.
The first field should be either an Internet address in dotted-quad
format or an address that can be parsed by gethostbyname(3). If a
host’s entry has multiple addresses, all of them will be added to the
access list. The second field, which may be blank, is the password the
foreign host is required to use when first connecting. The third
field, which may be omitted, is a list of newsgroups to which the host
may send articles. This list is parsed as a newsfeeds(5) subscription
list; groups not in the list are ignored. Posts crossposted in groups
matched by a @group.* entry are dropped.
For example:
## FOO has a password, UUNET and VIX dont.
## UUNET cannot post to local groups.
## Example is not part of Usenet II.
## These are comment lines.
news.foo.com:magic
uunet.uu.net::!foo.*
data.ramona.vix.com:
newspeer.example.com::*,@net.*
The first field may be suffixed by ‘‘/s’’ to indicate that streaming
commands are specifically permitted to be used by this host. By default
streaming commands are available to all hosts. If any entry in
hosts.nntp has a ‘‘/s’’ suffix, then only those hosts with the ‘‘/s’’
suffix will be permitted to use streaming commands.
For example, with the following hosts.nntp file, only the host
data.ramona.vix.com is allowed to use the streaming commands.
## As above, but
news.foo.com:magic
uunet.uu.net::!foo.*
data.ramona.vix.com/s:
The first field may be suffixed by ‘‘/a’’ to indicate that the IP
address of the feeding hosts allowed by this entry should always be
included in the Path line of articles, or by ‘‘/t’’ to indicate that
the address should not be included, or ‘‘/a’’ followed by a pathhost
value to indicate that the IP address should be included if the most
recent Path entry does not match the pathhost specified after ‘‘/a’’.
The default is to log the address in articles whose most recent Path
entry is not the same as the hostname in the hosts.nntp entry.
Since innd is usually started at system boot time, the local nameserver
may not be fully operational when innd parses this file. As a work-
around, a ctlinnd ‘‘reload’’ command can be performed after a delay of
an hour or so. It is also possible to provide both a host’s name and
its dotted-quad address in the file.
If the file contains passwords, it should not be world-readable. The
file /etc/news/hosts.nntp.nolimit, if it exists is read whenever the
‘‘hosts.nntp’’ file is read. It has the same format, although only the
first field is used. Any host mentioned in this file is not subject to
the incoming connections limit specified by innd’s ‘‘-i’’ flag. This
can be used to allow local hosts or time-sensitive peers, to connect
regardless of the local conditions.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. This is
revision 1.22, dated 1996/11/27.
SEE ALSO
ctlinnd(8), innd(8), nnrpd(8).