NNTPCACHE 3.0.2(8)

NAME
nntpcache - nntp multi-server caching daemon

SYNOPSIS
nntpcached [-ienrs] [-c config_file] [-b address:port]

DESCRIPTION
nntpcache caches and intelligently merges NNTP traffic. It is designed to run as a stand-alone daemon that listens to requests on port 119 (nntp).

OPTIONS

-c config_file
    Specify an alternative configuration file (normally /usr/pkg/etc/nntpcache/config). You must specify the FULL PATH.

-e  Perform an expire then exit.

-i  Interface directly to stdin/stdout (interactive). Once specified for inetd compatible operation, this option is now primarily used for debugging and may not behave as expected.

-b address:port
    Listen for connection on address:port rather than the one in the config file (usually DEFAULT:119, the IANA NNTP port).

-n  Do not automatically detach from tty on startup.

-r  Remove history and cache.mmap database files before running (use with care!).

-s  Swap parent with child. Only useful for debugging.

OPERATION
nntpcache holds a number of files in the cache hierarachy (usually /var/spool/nntpcache). A directory hierarchy containing articles, identical to a standard news-spool under per-server directories, with several additions; ".listgoup", "nnnnn_xover" and "nnnnn_head" files in each group directory a list of valid article numbers (the output of the "listgroup" command), parts of the groups xover cache (at 1-512 entries per file) and cached article headers respectively; a large hash database (cache.history*) which contains Message-Id's to group.subgroup/article translations; a large memory mapped cache structure which contains collated lists, including active, active.times and newsgroup lists, and other peices of information about each group; a raw statistics variables file (nntpcache.stats) (saved when nntpcached is shutdown, and subsequently reloaded when nntpcache starts up again).

STATISTICS
If statistics collation is activated nntpcache gathers a wide-variety of traffic statistics. These may be accessed using nntpcache's built in HTTP server e.g http://localhost:9119/ SH SIGNALS nntpcache responds to various signals, which can be sent with the kill command.

For example:

kill -SIGUSR1 `cat /var/spool/nntpcache/nntpcache.119.pid`.

As used above, such signals to nntpcache are easily incorporated into crontabs.

SIGHUP
    Reread the nntpcache.access & nntpcache.server configuration files This doesn't affect existing connections, only future connections. If nntpcache is configured to drop its privilages after invokation (default) then then the reconfiguration will probably fail.

SIGUSR1
    Force the master server to do a currency check of the active, active.times & newsgroups lists for all configured servers. Normally the list cache is only checked for currency immediately after startup or after each incoming client connection. This can cause the first client to connecting after a period of inactivity greater than the list cache life to receive expired (that is older than it would otherwise be configured to be) data. This behavior is considered optimal, as it is inefficient to have the list cache refresh itself when usage is very low (e.g over the weekend at some sites). It is usually advisable to hand a client slightly out of date data immediately rather than forcing it to wait for a rebuild.

SIGUSR2
    Force the master server to perform an expire.

SIGTERM
    Safely shutdown the master server. It is important to shut the server down safely or the various databases managed by nntpcached maybe corrupted (all processes normally receive this signal when a unix box is instructed to shutdown/reboot/halt).

SIGINT
    Toggle full debugging. All nntpcache.config log* variables are set to TRUE.

EXAMPLE

nntpcached -c nntcache.myconfig -b localhost:119

AUTHORS

Julian Assange (proff@nntpcache.com).

Luke Bowker (puke@nntpcache.com).

FILES

/usr/pkg/etc/nntpcache{config,servers,access,*.filter}.

ARCHIVE

The latest version of this program can be obtained from the ftp.nntpcache.com archives via ftp as /pub/nntpcache/nntpcache.tar.gz.

BUGS AND SUGGESTIONS

You can contact the development team via nntpcache@nntpcache.com. When reporting bugs, include as much detail as possible, including program version, OS version, library version, syslog output and step by step details how to reproduce the bug under consideration.

Please send bug reports, suggestions, words of encouragement or supercilious wit to the development team.

MAILINGLIST
There is a nntpcache mailing list nntpcache-users@nntpcache.com. To subscribe send email with the subject subscribe to nntpcache-users-request@nntpcache.com. Archives are available at http://www.nntpcache.com/.

LICENSING

Please refer to the LICENSING file in the source distribution for details, or send email to nntpcache-license@nntpcache.com.

COPYRIGHT AND WARRANTY INFO

Copyright (c) Julian Assange & Luke Bowker 1996, All rights reserved. This software is a copyrighted product and may not be used by commercial organisations, or by individuals acting in a commercial or profit making manner, or by government departments, institutions or bodies (with the exception of those primarily involved in non-military scientific research, medical treatment or education) including for-profit educational institutions, without an appropriate site license from the copyright holders. Violation of the aforementioned copyright notice is subject to civil and criminal penalties. This software maybe distributed only freely, in full and without modification. It may not be bundled with any sort of hardware or software if a fee is charged, directly or indirectly, for that hardware or software. If you would like to include this software in such an otherwise prohibited distribution then please contact the copyright holders to negotiate reasonable (possibly free) terms. The copyright holders shall not under any circumstances accept any liability for this software, for its use, misuse, or any failings it may or may not have. You're on your own. The copyright holders reserve the right to alter the aforementioned conditions from time to time as they see appropriate. The copyright holders' most recent copyright notice and conditions for this software shall always supersede any issued previously. Use and or distribution of this software implies acceptance of the above.

SEE ALSO

newshound(8), dbz(3), innd(8), nnrpd(8), tin(1), nn(1), trn(1).