Chapter 1. Dnews and Usenet, etc, etc,...
Include in here the stuff from Chris' presentation re Usenet, dnews architecture etc, diagrams...
DNEWS is a dynamic news server system, it is not a news reader but rather it is the server which a
news reader reads news from.
DNEWS Feature list:
- Dynamic sucking feed: A sucking feed may use as little as 10% of the normal disk space and
network bandwidth. By only getting news items that people usually read very large savings
are possible particularly for small sites & work groups. A hundred users can be supported
on 100 MB depending on their reading habits.
- Flexible expire settings: By allowing expiration by 'number of items' low volume groups
become much more useful. Also by allowing settings which change with disk space the
system is much more stable to large influxes of news.
- Flexible access restrictions: Reading and Posting access can be given separately to different
users and selections of news groups.
- Binaries available for common platforms: On many platforms you do not need to build the
binary yourself, e.g. VMS, (VAX & ALPHA), Solaris, Linux, Windows NT
- Email confirmation of posts: DNEWS can be configured to send email confirmations as it
sends items up to a main news server. This gives users a clear record of a posted item and
it's successful transfer into the 'net'.
- Items stored in a database: Items are stored in a database which puts items together in
blocks of 100. This saves directory entries, inodes, and the empty space usually wasted due
to blocking factors. Also file open and closes are minimized, this is essential on systems
where this is a 'costly' operation, e.g. VMS.
- Installation easy, totally configurable: DNEWS can be configured simply and easily using and
the configuration scripts.
- Supported: EMAIL support is available for help with installation and management.
- Speed: On comparable systems DNEWS typically out performs other news software, (even
the likes of CNEWS and INN in some instances), other VMS news servers don't even
come close. This is partly because DNEWS uses a more advanced database to store the
news items. The difference is also very noticeable on smaller systems (e.g. Linux)
- XOVER implemented in software: No xover database is created, the normal DNEWS
database is fast enough to create this information 'on the fly'
- Streaming support: Streaming NNTP extensions are built in.
- Strictly limited machine impact due to single threaded nature: DNEWS runs on a single
process, this speeds up connect time as a process does not need to be created, and it
self-limits the impact on the system.
- Limitations: DNEWS does not store items in the same file structure as used by INN and
CNEWS, so old software which accesses these files directly will not work.
Where to get Dnews
Dnews software is available from our website from two directories, the top level is where we put
the released versions of Dnews, and when we release a new version this is where it will appear.
ftp://ftp.netwinsite.com/pub/netwinsite/dnews/
The other directory is the beta directory, this contains beta versions which have new features, bug
fixes etc. these versions are available for use at your own risk or on our advice.
ftp://ftp.netwinsite.com/pub/netwinsite/dnews/beta (the latest beta versions of dnews)