Network News Transfer Protocol
Encyclopedia
The Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) is an Internet
application protocol used for transporting Usenet
news articles (netnews) between news server
s and for reading and posting articles by end user client applications. Brian Kantor of the University of California, San Diego
and Phil Lapsley
of the University of California, Berkeley
authored RFC 977, the specification for the Network News Transfer Protocol, in March 1986. Other contributors included Stan O. Barber from the Baylor College of Medicine
and Erik Fair of Apple Computer
.
Usenet was originally designed based on the UUCP
network, with most article transfers taking place over direct point-to-point
telephone links between news servers, which were powerful time-sharing systems. Readers and posters logged into these computers reading the articles directly from the local disk.
As local area network
s and Internet
participation proliferated, it became desirable to allow newsreader
s to be run on personal computers connected to local networks. Because distributed file systems were not yet widely available, a new protocol was developed based on the client-server
model. It resembled the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP), but was tailored for exchanging newsgroup
articles.
A newsreader, also known as a news client, is a software application that reads articles on Usenet, either directly from the news server's disks or via the NNTP.
The well-known TCP port 119 is reserved for NNTP. When clients connect to a news server with Transport Layer Security
(TLS), TCP port 563 is used. This is sometimes referred to as NNTPS.
In October 2006, the IETF released RFC 3977 which updates the NNTP protocol and codifies many of the additions made over the years since RFC 977.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
application protocol used for transporting Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
news articles (netnews) between news server
News server
A news server is a set of computer software used to handle Usenet articles. It may also refer to a computer itself which is primarily or solely used for handling Usenet. A reader server provides an interface to read and post articles, generally with the assistance of a news client. A transit...
s and for reading and posting articles by end user client applications. Brian Kantor of the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
and Phil Lapsley
Phil Lapsley
Phil Lapsley is an electrical engineer, hacker, and entrepreneur.-Early life:Lapsley attended the University of California, Berkeley in the 1980s, graduating with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science in 1988 and 1991...
of the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
authored RFC 977, the specification for the Network News Transfer Protocol, in March 1986. Other contributors included Stan O. Barber from the Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, USA, is a highly regarded medical school and leading center for biomedical research and clinical care...
and Erik Fair of Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
.
Usenet was originally designed based on the UUCP
UUCP
UUCP is an abbreviation for Unix-to-Unix Copy. The term generally refers to a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers. Specifically, a command named uucp is one of the programs in the suite; it...
network, with most article transfers taking place over direct point-to-point
Point-to-point
Point-to-point or point to point may refer to:Computing* Point-to-point construction, an electronics assembly technique* Point-to-point * Point-to-Point Protocol , part of the Internet protocol suite...
telephone links between news servers, which were powerful time-sharing systems. Readers and posters logged into these computers reading the articles directly from the local disk.
As local area network
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
s and Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
participation proliferated, it became desirable to allow newsreader
News client
A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet . Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a news server, via the Network News Transfer Protocol , to download articles and post new articles...
s to be run on personal computers connected to local networks. Because distributed file systems were not yet widely available, a new protocol was developed based on the client-server
Client-server
The client–server model of computing is a distributed application that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate over a computer network on separate hardware, but both...
model. It resembled the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an Internet standard for electronic mail transmission across Internet Protocol networks. SMTP was first defined by RFC 821 , and last updated by RFC 5321 which includes the extended SMTP additions, and is the protocol in widespread use today...
(SMTP), but was tailored for exchanging newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
articles.
A newsreader, also known as a news client, is a software application that reads articles on Usenet, either directly from the news server's disks or via the NNTP.
The well-known TCP port 119 is reserved for NNTP. When clients connect to a news server with Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
(TLS), TCP port 563 is used. This is sometimes referred to as NNTPS.
In October 2006, the IETF released RFC 3977 which updates the NNTP protocol and codifies many of the additions made over the years since RFC 977.
Network News Reader Protocol
During an abortive attempt to update the NNTP standard in the early 1990s, a specialized form of NNTP intended specifically for use by clients, NNRP, was proposed. This protocol was never completed or fully implemented, but the name persisted in InterNetNews's (INN) nnrpd program. As a result, the subset of standard NNTP commands useful to clients is sometimes still referred to as "NNRP".External links
- Kantor, Brian and Phil Lapsley. RFC 977 "Network News Transfer Protocol: A Proposed Standard for the Stream-Based Transmission of News." 1986.
- Horton, MarkMary Ann HortonMary Ann Horton, formerly Mark R. Horton , is a Usenet and Internet pioneer. Horton contributed to Berkeley UNIX , including the vi editor and terminfo database, and led the growth of Usenet in the 1980s....
, and R. Adams. RFC 1036 "Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages." 1987. - NNTP Version 2 draft an early, abandoned attempt to revise NNTP
- Barber, Stan, et al. RFC 2980 "Common NNTP Extensions." 2000
- IETF nntpext Working Group
- Feather, Clive. RFC 3977 "Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)." 2006