his chapter describes some of the configuration files that are stored in the server root directory.
When you make configuration changes by using the Collabra Server administrative forms, these changes are automatically reflected in the configuration files.
Warning!
DO NOT EDIT any of the server configuration files unless directed to do so by Netscape technical support. You should make changes only by using the Collabra Server administrative forms.
ns-admin.conf file is the configuration file for the administration server, which is independent of the Collabra Server. The administration server uses ns-admin.conf to configure the Collabra Server and other Netscape servers.
control.ctl file specifies how the Collabra Server handles control articles. All lines consist of five fields separated by a colon:
message:from:newsgroups:action:host
The message field is the name of the control message the line refers to. Two common control messages are newgroup to create a new discussion group and rmgroup to remove a discussion group.
The from field is a shell-style pattern that matches the email address of the person posting the message. (The poster's address is first converted to lowercase.)
If the control message is either newgroup or rmgroup, then the newsgroups field specifies the wildcard pattern that must match the discussion group being created or removed. If the control message is of a different type, then this field is ignored.
The action field specifies what action the server takes.
The host field specifies from which hosts you will accept this control article. The default is all hosts (*).
dblist.ini file is an internal file that is used by the full-text indexing engine. It defines the indexing path, language supported, and so on.
distrib.pats file adds a distribution header to all articles that don't have one. This is useful for discussion group replication because some replication sites won't send articles that have certain distribution headers.
Unlike other configuration files, the order of lines in this file is not important. All lines consist of three fields separated by a colon:
weight:pattern:value
The weight field is the weight to assign to this match. If a discussion group matches multiple lines in this file, the line with the highest weight is used. This number must be greater than zero.
The pattern field is a wildcard pattern for the name of the discussion group. Multiple patterns are not allowed.
The value field is the text you want to put in the distribution header. It can be an empty string.
expire.ctl file is the configuration file for the application that removes old articles from the article spool. All lines have one of two formats as described in the following two sections.
/remember/:days
where days is a floating-point number that specifies the number of days to keep a Message-ID in the history file--even if the article has already expired. This line doesn't affect article expirations.
expire.ctl file will use the second format:
pattern:modflag:keep:default:purge
The pattern field is a comma-separated set of single wildcard patterns that specify the discussion groups to which the rest of the line applies. Because the file is interpreted in order, the most general patterns should be specified first, and the most specific patterns should be specified last.
The modflag field further limits discussion groups. There are three flags:
M is for moderated groups only
U is for unmoderated groups only
A is for all groups
keep, default, and purge) are used to determine how long an article should be kept. Each field should be either a number of days to keep the articles (fractions like 8.5 are allowed) or the word never to never store the article. The most common use is to specify the default value for how long an article should be kept.
The keep field specifies the minimum time to keep an article that has an Expired header. For example, if an expiration header says to keep an article 2 days, you might set the keep field to store it a minimum of 5 days. You can specify a value of never to keep articles indefinitely.
The purge field specifies the maximum time to keep an article that has an Expires header. Both keep and purge are ignored if an article has no expiration header.
The default field specifies how long to keep an article if no expiration header is present. If this field is the word never, then articles without explicit expiration dates will never be removed.
It is often useful to honor the expiration headers in articles, especially those in moderated groups. To do this, set keep to zero, default to any value, and purge to never. To ignore all expiration headers, set all three fields to the same value.
There must be exactly one line with a pattern of * and a modflags of A--this matches all groups and is used to set the expiration default. It should be the first expiration line. For example:
## How long to keep expired history
/remember/:5
## Most things stay for two weeks
*:A:14:14:14
## Use expiration dates in moderated groups, up to six weeks
*:M:1:30:42
## Keep local royal.* newsgroups for 30 days
royal.*:A:30:30:30
extensions file defines what NNTP extensions your server supports. For example: SEARCH, PROFILE, LISTMOTD, LIST, and so on. This information is requested by client software, such as Netscape Communicator.
gateways file lists email addresses for news-to-email gateway groups. This file has the same format as the moderators file.
hosts.nntp file is used by the Collabra Server to get the list of replication hosts that send news to your server. It reads this file at start-up. When a host connects to the NNTP port for your news server, innd checks to see if their Internet address is the same as one of the hosts named in the hosts.nntp file. If the host is not mentioned, then innd starts an nnrpd to process the connection.
All lines consist of 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.
The second field, which can be blank, is the password the host is required to use when first connecting. The third field, which can be omitted, is a list of discussion groups the host may post articles to. Discussion groups not in the list are ignored. The following example shows one replication host that must enter a password and one host that doesn't need a password but can't post to any local discussion groups with the category name
royal.
## ROYAL has a password called 123yourpass, NETSCAPE doesn't.
## NETSCAPE cannot post to local groups called royal.*
news.royal.com:123yourpass
news.netscape.com::!royal.*
Note: If sites you send to require your server to send a password, you need to enter the password in the
passwd.nntp file.
Note: If this file contains passwords, only the Collabra Server administrator should have read and write permissions.
inn.conf file contains configuration data for Netscape Collabra Server programs. It is used to set a variety of important parameters, though some may be overridden in other files. This file is accessed only once, and the innd process must be restarted if the contents are changed.
Among the elements determined are the name of the host that appears in a news article's From header line and the name of the default machine containing forwarding aliases for moderated groups. This file also:
moderators file contains the email addresses for moderators of moderated discussion groups. When the Collabra Server receives an unapproved article for a moderated discussion group, it uses this moderators file to look up the moderator's email address, and then the server sends the article to that email address.
The moderators file contains entries for any local discussion groups that are moderated. It has the format:
Thenewsgroup:pathname
newsgroup field is a wildcard pattern or a specific discussion group. The first line that matches a discussion group is used.
The pathname field is the email address for the moderator. You can use %s if the email address is the same as the newsgroup name with dots changed to dashes.
motd file contains the message of the day, which some clients might request. You set the message of the day through the Collabra Server administrative interface.
newsfeeds file specifies how incoming discussion groups are sent to the sites that receive discussion groups from the Collabra Server. The Collabra Server uses this file when it starts up or when directed to by ctlinnd. This file is very complex, so you should manage discussion group replication through the Collabra Server administrative forms.
All lines start with the name of the site to which a discussion group can be sent. If a line is blank or starts with a # sign, it is ignored. All other lines are interpreted as replication entries.
An entry should consist of four colon-separated fields; two of the fields can have optional sub-fields. For fields or sub-fields that take multiple parameters, separate values by a comma.
Except for the site names, case is significant. The simple format of an entry is:
sitename:newsgrouppattern:flag:param
The sitename is the hostname of the news server to which you are sending discussion groups.
The newsgrouppattern is a series of wildcard patterns for the discussion groups you send to the site. You can also use extensions. To send all discussion groups, use * for the pattern.
The flag field is optional; it specifies options for how large articles can be and what type of articles to send.
The param field is used as parameters for some flags.
newsgroups file contains descriptions of discussion groups. These descriptions are optional and are provided by the administrator when creating a discussion group from the Collabra Server administrative interface.
newstime.conf file controls when and how often the applications nntpsend and news.daily run. The server reads the news.time file at startup.
The nntpsend program sends articles to remote sites. Sites can be named via the command line, but the defaults are contained within the nntpsend.ctl configuration file.
The news.daily program performs various administrative functions, including generating status reports, removing old articles, processing log files, cycling log files, renumbering the active file, removing old socket files from the firewall directory, and collecting output.
nnrp.access file is the access file for local NNTP sites. It allows or prohibits access for NNTP sites not handled by the innd process and is read by the server when it is first started.
The file grants or denies permission to clients who want to read or post articles. You can configure client access by specific discussion groups.
nntpsend.ctl file specifies the default list of sites to be fed by nntpsend. The file contains site names as specified in the newsfeeds file. The format is:
Thesite:fqdn:max_size:[<args...>]
site field is the name used in the newsfeeds file for this site.
The fqdn field is the fully qualified domain name of the site passed as the parameter to innxmit.
The size field is the maximum size for the batch file.
The args field are other arguments to pass to innxmit.
nsnews.conf file configures variables and path names so that you can run commands and utilities, such as ctlinnd, from the command line. It is also where a wide variety of administrative functions are configured.
This file maintains user preferences for various administrative tasks and is used to determine who gets various messages. It sets modes of articles, directories, and files and chooses Collabra Server routines. It configures how to handle rejected articles and sets the paths for numerous utilities, tools, and programs. The nsnews.conf file also keeps the path to the key file and certificate file for security, and it has information on where the news server is installed. This file also contains the password, stored in plain text, used by the Collabra Server to access the Directory Server.
overview.fmt file is used by newsreaders to get to the articles in your spool.
passwd.nntp file contains the hostname and password information that your news server uses to connect to remote NNTP servers. This file and the nntp.access file shouldn't be widely available.
prettynames file contains a list of all discussion groups and their associated display names. The client requests the information stored in this file.
searches file stores information about what discussion groups are indexed for searching purposes.
snmp.conf file stores information about SNMP configurations.
srchheaders file stores information about what discussion group headers are indexed and are therefore searchable.
subscriptions file stores a list of default discussion groups that will appear in the client presentation as subscribed discussion groups. Users can choose not to subscribe to these files.
system.ini file contains search engine configuration information, including port number, IP address, hostname, service level, protocol ID, and so on.
version file contains Collabra Server version information.