[nos-bbs] NNTPS

[George [Skip] VerDuin]

OK Ray, that makes sense...

Raymond Quinn wrote:
>> Raymond Quinn wrote:
>>     
>>> I have been all over the jnoswiki site (among others) and cannot find my
>>> answer.
>>>       
>> Looks like login & nntps don't "join", it is a worthy topic...
>>     
>>> Is there a way to add login information for the news server?
>>>
>>>       
>> Allow me to better understand your question?
>>
>> nntp is a transport mechanism.  Reading & writing the news is a user
>> function that has login at the front door.  Is the basis of your
>> question meant to qualify [and perhaps exclude] remote client access to
>> the nntp transfer server function on your host?  If there is more to the
>> question, please explain?
>>     
>
> Thanks for your quick response!
>   
It may be quick, but it will not be all you want...  Sorry.
> I am trying to download certain ham-related news groups into JNOS so that
> our locals can read them when they log into JNOS. I also run another BBS
> program (not Ham related) that will download the news and place them into
> message areas for users to read. It uses a username and password to log into
> my news server. 
Jumping ahead:
Can you configure this server for no-login?
Does it have a TCP/IP path to JNOS?
Does it have access to the news groups you want to pull into JNOS?

> The BBS software also requires a username and password to
> read and download the news.
>
> Perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way. How does one get the newsgroups
> into JNOS? All NNTP servers require a username and password.
>   
What follows is only my opinion at this moment...  What you are wanting 
*may* not be directly accomplishable because it involves both AMPRnet 
44... address space where servers like nntp and smtp don't necessarily 
make security challenges,  and it involves the Internet at large where 
servers routinely challenge initial connections with one of many forms 
of security like login.   I suspect you have two options:
  one: find a security-free nntp server as your source of news
  two: find intermediary server software to act as a proxy between JNOS 
and Internet [your other server?]

For JNOS,  files like "ftpusers", "popusers", [others?], do contain some 
rudimentary security stuff used by "BBS", "ftp", "pop", etc,  for login 
[security] purposes attached to some protocols.   These begin to suffer 
when encryption is needed and that is beyond this conversation.  I have 
found linking some jnos functionality [inside 44...] to Internet 
[outside] to be something of a challenge when secure links are 
required.  For example; I do SMTP and POP transfers to both 44... hosts 
and my personal LAN hosts where I sit behind a firewall, but I don't 
SMTP nor POP between JNOS and Internet.  I won't say it "can't" be done 
-- soon as I do somebody will have done it...:-)

And "somebody" is who we need to confer with since I have no 
authoritative answer based on reading the source.  Once the detail is in 
hand, I will insert it into the wiki for the next time.
> 73 de Ray Quinn W6RAY
> Visalia, CA DM06
>   
73 & all the best to you.
Skip