Unofficial NewsPlex FAQ
Prepared and maintained by members of the Yahoo NewsPlex discussion group
Last updated 7 July 2006

I. What is NewsPlex? NewsPlex allows your news-reader to access multiple news-servers simultaneously by merging their content into one single virtual news-server. NewsPlex is not a news-reader nor does it retrieve articles before your news-reader requests them. Instead it creates local indices and redirects article retrieval to outside servers only when requested by your reader. NewsPlex will work with any usenet newsreader.

A. Who can benefit and why? NewsPlex is especially useful if your main news-server is slow, unreliable, incomplete, or has low retention. It allows you to augment your main news-feed with simultaneous connections to other servers increasing overall speed, reliability, completeness and retention. It has many additional powerful features, such as direct support for proxies, asynchronous transfers, the ability to bypass login errors, and the ability to retrieve message-headers from one server and message-bodies from another.

If you use a premium usenet provider such as NewsFeeds that has a farm of multiple specialized servers, NewsPlex can combine them all into one complete virtual server.

NewsPlex may also be helpful if your usenet provider uses a load-balancer that connects to a farm of other servers that are not properly synchronized. You can configure NewsPlex to connect directly to the back-end servers, bypassing the load-balancer. However, your usenet provider may not want you to do this, so check with them and read their TOS (terms of service) before trying this setup.

NewsPlex may also be used to set up a private newsfeed across a LAN, Intranet or the Internet. However (except for async retrievals) it does not store any articles locally and requires an outside feed to function.

B. How does NewsPlex differ from Hamster? Hamster is another multi-server usenet client similar to NewsPlex that works as a local usenet proxy. However, Hamster automatically downloads all message bodies while NewsPlex only retrieves bodies when the user requests them. Hamster also can be used as a mail server allowing you to use your newsreader to read email, but the latest versions of NewsPlex include a supplemental program called nppop3.exe which offers similar functionality. While Hamster is excellent for handling and maintaining archives of text newsgroups, NewsPlex is a more appropriate tool for managing binary newsgroups.

Current versions of Hamster are available at: http://www.arcorhome.de/newshamster/tgl/misc/hamster_en.html

C. How does NewsPlex differ from other multi-server usenet clients? Most other multi-server NNTP clients (Binary News Reaper, GrabIt, NewsBin, NewsPro, etc.) are full-fledged news-readers. NewsPlex is not a news-reader; instead it provides merged content from multiple servers to any news-reader while adding additional functionality.


II. Where can NewsPlex be found? The latest version for Windows, Linux & Solaris is 4.4. Current versions are posted at:

http://newsplex.webstylists.com/ Official download site
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewsPlex/files/ (as of 8/21/03 Yahoo group membership required for access)
http://home.pacbell.net/robbie22/NewsPlex/downloads.htm (no Yahoo membership required)
http://www.intarnut.com/newsplex/ (currently carries versions 3.8, 3.9 & 4.2)

III What operating systems are supported? NewsPlex runs on Windows (95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP), OS/2 and Unix (Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD). For free BSD we suggest you contact the author directly by email at: mirREMOVETHIS@jalunaREMOVETHIS.com

IV. Definitions of critical terms.

A. Explore - When NewsPlex explores a news server, it opens a connection with the server, checks for news groups, obtains a list of active groups, checks to see if there are any new messages available in those groups, and updates its database with the new article headers.
B. Async - NewsPlex has the ability to retrieve multiple articles from the same server or different servers simultaneously. This process is called asynchronous article retrieval. The articles are stored in a local newsgroup where their binary attachments can be accessed and decoded by either a newsreader or a separate decoding utility. When articles are queued for asynchronous retrieval, the download will usually progress faster and the newsreader is free to do other things.
C. .ini file - The behavior of NewsPlex can be modified by various settings inside ASCII text configuration files having the .ini extension. These files are organized into sections and entries for each setting. The servers.ini file contains a list of news servers and their configuration settings. This file is re-written when the program exits. It is necessary to edit the .ini files by hand to make changes to the settings.
D. Proxy - A Proxy server is a machine connected to the Internet that acts on behalf of one or more other servers, usually for screening, firewall, caching, or a combination of these purposes. If you connect to a news-server via a proxy, the news-server thinks the request is coming from the proxy, not from your machine. Some otherwise unavailable news-servers will accept connections via a particular proxy or proxy group. Use of proxies may also provide the user with an extra level of anonymity.
E. Zombie - A zombie is an article for which NewsPlex obtained a header, but after time passes no server reports the article as still available. By default, NewsPlex will retain references to these articles in its index for up to 7 days. You can adjust the duration of this behavior or disable it.

V. Installation for beginners.

A. The 1-2-3 approach to get things going. See: http://home.pacbell.net/robbie22/NewsPlex/QuickStart.htm
B. How to get your news-reader and Newsplex talking.

    1. Agent
    Point Agent to connect to localhost instead of the single server you were using: Options > User and System Profile > News Server (Enter "localhost" without the quotes here).
    Unless a login/password has been specifically configured (uncommon situation), you should disable any login: Options > User and System Profile > User > News Server Login > No login required
    Refresh your subscribed groups to activate them.
    Make sure crosspost checking is disabled for the async group: Group>Properties>Crossposts>if crosspost checking is enabled globally, check "Override default settings" and "Retrieve the header normally" for the async group.
    Fred Leggett's Agent/NewsPlex tutorial is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewsPlex/message/817
    2. Xnews (freeware).
    Server > New > enter localhost or 127.0.0.1 > enter a name for server On the next screen, the news server port can be entered in the Port Number. Press 'okay' and you will be asked to request the full group list. Most likely you will want to say yes.
    3. Outlook Express.
    This reader does not handle multi-part binaries very well. We recommend switching to a different reader if you intend to use NewsPlex for binaries.
    4. Newsbin Pro.
    Click on "Server" toolbar button > Click on New > Enter a name for the server (e.g. Newsplex) > enter localhost or 127.0.0.1 in Server Address > Add login details if necessary > Set max server connections to 2 (as any higher will be a big drain to system resources) > Press OK Click on "Group Button" > Click on "Download Groups" > When Group Download is complete, tick each group you want to subscribe to > Press OK Click on the Groups Tab on the Left and Double click on a Group in the List to activate that Group in Newsplex
    5. Powergrab (freeware)
    View > Program Settings > > enter localhost or 127.0.0.1 in Server > Add login details if necessary > Press OK.
    Group > Server Group List > Click "Refresh Group List" > Double Click a Group to Subscribe to it > Press OK
    Group > Scan All Groups to activate those groups in Newsplex
    6. GrabIt (freeware) - Note: Async retrieval does not work with this reader.
    Right Click on MyGrabIt > Add Server Fill > Profile Name : 'SimplyTheBest' or whatever name You'd like to see in profile
    Fill > Host Name & Port : In most cases 127.0.0.1 and 119 Fill > User and Pass : Should match entry in newsplex.ini, [access] section if NP is started with login settings there. Otherwise leave blank. Tell GrabIt to get all headers in all subscribed groups to activate them. Wait for NewsPlex to finish. Get headers again. Maximum allowed connections with this reader is eight.

VI. Tweaking the newsplex.ini file.

A. Explanation of settings. An example of common settings might be:

[access]
webPort=80

[async]
lineTrigger=1

[explore]
deferredOnStartup=1

[general]
verbose=1

[startup]
runInBackground=1

These settings are modified by editing the newsplex.ini file that configures NewsPlex. This particular list of modifications sets up a web server on port 80, enables async article retrieval for all binaries over one line, prevents NewsPlex from automatically exploring all servers on restart if it has recently explored those servers, provides verbose logs, and loads NewsPlex in the background.

B. Common newsplex.ini settings. No modifications are required, except you may have to use "runInBackground=1" if you are running a WinNT based operating systems.

1. The [access] "webPort=80" setting provides easy control of NewsPlex functions via your web browser. Point your browser to:

http://localhost:80/

and you will see a display of current information about NewsPlex functions and activities. This web interface also allows you to change NewsPlex's behavior on-the-fly. See below for a discussion of using a non-standard port for the NewsPlex web-server.

2. The [async] "lineTrigger=1" setting activates async binary file transfers for all binaries over one line. Async article retrieval is one of NP's most powerful features. When using your newsreader, in essence, it means "get it now if you can, but otherwise get it later." When article bodies are marked for retrieval via your newsreader, they may not immediately be available. Many newsreaders will error out under these circumstances and fail to continue. This is solved by async retrieval within NewsPlex. When a body is requested within your newsreader, NewsPlex will add it to its queue of retrieval tasks, and the newsreader remains free to do other things. The work then shifts to NewsPlex, which has far, far better error-handling and body-retrieval features. Some hours later, you simply get all (or new) headers in your "async" group and voila! No error popups and NewsPlex has done its job finding all the bodies requested. Furthermore, async retrieval will use multiple connections simultaneously; thus speeding up downloading considerably. This is especially useful if you have a broadband connection, but your news servers are slow or have their speed capped. In addition to using the "lineTrigger=" setting, you should also subscribe to a locally-managed group called "async" so your newsreader can be used to decode the binary attachments. Because this group is created by NP, it will appear in your "All Groups" listing within your newsreader and is treated like any other usenet newsgroup.

3. Other changes to the newsplex.ini defaults are less commonly needed. They are all fully documented in the help file.

VII. The servers.ini file.

A. List of settings and description. All settings are documented in detail the help file.

B. What settings should be used where.

The "category=" setting is used to prioritize server use. NewsPlex scores all your servers to determine which is fastest and normally downloads from the fastest available servers unless categories are set. The value for "category=" is an arbitrary integer. The default value is 0. The category values set the order in which servers will be tried for article retrievals. For a given retrieval task, servers with higher category values (1, 2, 3, e.g..) will not be used unless all of the lower category servers are unable to send the article. The reasons could be because a server is temporarily unreachable, or some other problem occurs, or all allowed connections to it are already being used. Servers with lower category values (-1, -2, -3) will be tried for article retrieval first, before any other available servers regardless of their speed. Note that lower values confer higher priority and that negative values are accepted. This setting only prioritizes retrieval of message bodies. It has no effect on prioritizing explorations for headers. If all your servers are unlimited and free, then there is no need for the category setting. NewsPlex will attempt to get the articles from the fastest server first, but if one or more of your servers has a download limit, you will probably want to get bodies from unlimited servers first. So add a setting like "category=1" to the download limit servers. If you are on a pay server that charges by the number of bytes downloaded, you will probably want to get bodies from the free servers first. Again you will want to add a value of 1 or 2 to your pay servers. If one of your free servers is particularly busy and/or slow, you may want to give it a high category setting to defer getting bodies from it until after all other servers have been tried. Or if you are accessing a server via a questionable open proxy, you may want to place it in a high category so that it will be accessed only as a last resort. Usually the category value will be a positive number, but there may be times when you want to use a negative number to get articles from a particular server first. E.g. you may want to test the efficiency of a new server and give it priority over all others. Adding "category=-1" will configure NewsPlex to try that server first before any other. A setting of "category=-2" will give priority over "category=-1" etc.

The "attemptMsgId=1" setting will find the bodies of articles via Message-ID even if the server does not offer headers for those articles. Some servers have hidden articles, and the "attemptMsgId=1" setting can dig them out. This setting is especially useful in combination with the "explore=0" setting discussed next.

The "explore=0" setting tells NewsPlex not to explore the server. Many users prefer to get headers from some servers and bodies from other servers. There are a variety of reasons you might want to do this. The "attemptMsgId=1" setting should be used with all servers that have the "explore=0" setting. Without it, unexplored servers will never be used for anything.

The "adjustMaxConnections=" setting changes the maximum number of connections to a server from the default of 4. The setting can be positive or negative; for example "adjustMaxConnections=-1" allows 3 connections to the server. If you know the server allows fewer than 4 connections, it is a good idea to use this setting to prevent overstepping the server's connection limit.

The "main=1" setting identifies your main posting server. All posts will go through this server unless you change this setting via the web interface, or automate the selection of other posting servers for specific groups by using the "postingGroup=" setting.

The "reuseForAsync=0" setting may be needed to minimize the use of higher category servers that have been explored. Otherwise they will remain available for asyncav retrievals, regardless of their category, or number of simultaneous retrievals configured.

The "extraConnectTime=" setting allows extra time to connect to known good servers. If the value is non-zero, it extends the timeouts to 6 minutes. Then it adds 3 minutes for every value above 1.

The "extraTime=1" setting allows more time for a server to respond to commands.

Other settings are used less often. All are explained fully in the documentation.

C. Sample listings.

Example 1: The following is a sample section that you might include in your servers.ini file:

[server]
id=1
url=login:password@news.bubbanews.com
adjustMaxConnections=-3
attemptMsgId=1
explore=0
groupBeforeMsgId=1
main=1

The server id= setting is optional. Unassigned servers will automatically be assigned a unique number. Once assigned, the number must not be changed. The login:password combination is the one you obtained when you signed up for an account at bubbanews.

The entries following the server name are the server settings. In this example, the settings 1. Reduce the number of simultaneous connections to one; 2. Allow NewsPlex to attempt retrieval of message bodies by Message-ID, even though it does not explore this server; 3. Prevent NewsPlex from exploring this server for headers; 4. Does a GROUP request before retrieving a message body; and 5. Designate this server as your main server for posting. Note that NewsPlex automatically adds "addedDate" settings when noticing a server for the first time in the file. The servers.ini file is re-written on program exit.

A list of potentially useful news servers and suggested settings is available at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewsPlex/files/servers.ini

You must register as a member of the Yahoo NewsPlex group to access this file.

Example 2: to log into ISP DSLextreme server using username@dslextreme.com:password@news.dslextreme.com. In servers.ini:

[server]
id=1
url=username%40dslextreme.com:password@news.dslextreme.com
adjustMaxConnections=-2
main=1

id=1 - use first, %40 - @, main=1 - main server, adjustMaxConnections=-2 - use 2 connections

Explanation: DSLextreme is the ISP and is the main news server. It should be used first and used for posting, but speed is capped and you are allowed only 2 connections.

In this example, DSLextreme outsources to supernews, so they have excellent completion and retention along with strong spam filtering. Get all your headers from them and don't bother exploring any other servers. But the corporate supernews servers are speed-capped. You will need to connect to additional servers to maximize your band-width when you collect message bodies. One way to do this is to add all the servers on the sample servers.ini list but make sure that each has both the "explore=0" and "attemptMsgId=1" settings so NewsPlex will attempt to get as many bodies as it can from alternate sources. If you enable async for all binary downloads, NewsPlex should help fill your bandwidth. Also you can see which servers are currently connected on the "connected servers" tab on the web interface. On the "servers" tab, NewsPlex will display the total number of bytes and a speed estimate for the current session for each server, so you can see which servers are being used.


VIII. The web interface. The web interface provides a visual/graphical means to manipulate Newsplex directly via your web browser. It can be accessed by opening a web page at the address:

http://localhost:80/

where localhost (127.0.0.1) designates the web server on port 80 that is running on your machine. The web server must be established by a setting in newsplex.ini at startup, i.e., [access] "webPort=80" (see discussion on tweaking the newsplex.ini file above). We recommend you bookmark "http://localhost:80/" for easy access. If NewsPlex is functioning correctly, your web browser will display a list of servers along with much additional information. A series of links (tabs) are in a frame on the left side of the web interface screen. Hold your mouse over each tab and you will see a popup which briefly describes its function.

Servers: If the server entries are shaded green, it means that they have been successfully explored and their contents added to the database for use by your news-reader. If the server names are shaded in blue, it means that NewsPlex is still in the process of exploring those servers and has not yet updated their databases. If the server names are shaded in red, it means there was a problem that prevented exploration of those servers. The problem is briefly described under "Problems." For more detail on problem servers, check the log files for those servers located in your "\NewsPlex\explore\" or "\NewsPlex\connect" folders. If you have a server that you don't want to use any more, you should delete all its article references in the database by selecting the "delete" button under the "Refs" heading. The "Flags" section is mostly codes for server options set in your "servers.ini" file. Examples:

This web page also displays the number of articles and the number of kilobytes downloaded from each server in the current session giving you an opportunity to see which servers are most useful. We recommend removing servers that do not appear to be useful. You can also dynamically change which server you wish to post from here.

Server connections: Shows all currently connected servers and their current status for each connection.

All groups: Displays a complete list of newsgroups. This tab may take a long time to display. Use with caution. You are better off viewing available groups via your newsreader.

Active groups: A list of all groups for which NewsPlex keeps a database. Statistics for each group is available here, but be cautious about displaying the actual articles. If the group is large the display may take a long time. Again you are better off viewing available articles with your newsreader. Also you can refresh individual groups which will force NewsPlex to explore all servers which carry that group and update the group database. If you rewrite a group it will merge the group index files with new updates and then eliminate out-of-date zombies. If you deactivate a group, it will delete all the databases for that group.

Group popularity: Displays the number of articles and bytes downloaded. Keep the groups shaded in green, but consider deactivating groups shaded in blue. Groups shaded in gray have already been deactivated. To remove deactivated groups from this display, edit them from the "\etc\popular" file.

Accesses: Displays currently accessed newsgroups and incoming connections.

Actions: One of the most useful. From here you can access a frame with buttons that can shutdown or restart NewsPlex. You can also change the minimum number of lines for async retrieval or disable async transfers entirely.

Help: Displays the manual.

Group availablility: Displays statistics for all active groups on a single page. This page may take a long time to load and this information is more conveniently accessed via the Statistics link in the Active Groups tab.

Telnet interface: Invokes the telnet interface.

Async retrieval: Displays currently scheduled and active async transfers. Scheduled articles are shown here in green, while currently downloading articles are shown in blue and zombies are shown in gray. From this frame you can also cancel unfinished async downloads. However, currently downloading articles may not be canceled. The more common async status codes are:

New = Retrieval task scheduled to run (shaded green)
Run = Retrieval task is currently running (shaded blue)
Don = Retrieval finished ok
Dfr = Retrieval task has been re-scheduled (shaded red)
Zom = Article is a Zombie (shaded grey)
Can = Error, article download has been cancelled
Del = Error, article has been deleted
Fil = Article file could not be opened

If this tab shows no scheduled async downloads, and you have retrieved all articles in the async group via your newsreader, NewsPlex will automatically remove the article files from the async group 5 minutes after you retrieve them with the newsreader. However, if you shut down NewsPlex before it has a chance to delete the async files, you will have to delete the files manually.

Tasks: Displays all running or scheduled tasks. Waiting scheduled tasks are in green; running tasks are in blue and deferred late tasks are in red. The time heading is the number of seconds before the task will be executed. You can override the schedule and force execution of any scheduled task using the "force" button. Known tasks are: explore, async, keepali, disconn, syncfree, dferdel, asyncav, compact, zombie, groups, and update. Task states are Wait (shaded green), Run (shaded blue), and Late (shaded red).

For more information, please spend some time exploring the menus and reading the manual.

IX The telnet interface. The telnet interface allows direct manipulation of Newsplex settings. When you install NewsPlex, a telnet shortcut is created in the same directory where NewsPlex is installed. You can access this interface by double-clicking on this shortcut. If you have installed the web interface, you can also access the telnet interface from a hyperlink near the bottom of the left frame. Opening the shortcut with notepad you can see:

[InternetShortcut]
URL=telnet://localhost:119

Double-clicking will invoke your operating system's default telnet client and point it to the virtual NewsPlex server running on your machine. From here a window should open and display the NewsPlex news-server banner as follows:

200 NewsPlex 4.4 (posting allowed)

From here you can type commands directly at the prompt or request a command list by typing "help". Experienced users may find the telnet interface to be faster than the web interface, but almost all telnet functions can now be accessed more easily through the web interface via your web browser.

X. Troubleshooting.

A. I just installed NewsPlex and it didn't find any of the servers I was using before.

If you use the automatic installation, this feature may be broken. Use notepad to manually edit your servers.ini file with the servers you actually want to use.

If you run NewsPlex for the first time and have manually created a servers.ini file with one server designated as main (main=1 setting), NewsPlex may display the error: "Sync with main server failed. Ignoring this error; main server will simply be the default posting server." This appears to be a bug in some versions of NewsPlex. It is normally fixed by closing NewsPlex and running it a second time.

Another error when running NewsPlex for the first time is "Sync with main server failed: No active groups." This means you need to subscribe to some newsgroups with your reader.

B. NewsPlex is working, but it reports "No Active Groups" for all my servers.

You can activate newsgroups via your news-reader by subscribing to them and/or downloading all headers for them. NewsPlex will report that it's getting up to 1000 headers for the group, but actually it is just exploring your servers for headers. This may take some time. Activating groups means getting all the headers, while normally NewsPlex just gets new headers from groups. Check the web interface until all servers for which exploring is enabled are green. Then download headers again into your reader. If it still doesn't work, make sure your "yes=" setting in the [groups] section of newsplex.ini has just one * symbol. Alternatively, you can activate newsgroups manually from the web interface via the "All groups" link on the left frame. See also item U below.

C. My ISP is MSN and I cannot get NewsPlex to access netnews.msn.com

Netnews requires a non-standard method of authentication called "Secure Password Authentication." NewsPlex does not currently support this method of authentication. DellNet users may experience the same problem since DellNet outsources their ISP services to MSN. However, MSN customers may have free access to the news.america.net news-servers which are compatible with NewsPlex.

D. My ISP is AOL and I cannot get NewsPlex to work with it.

AOL has discontinued offering Usenet. However, AOL users may have access to CompuServe news-servers which can be used instead.

E. NewsPlex is bogging down my system. I cannot run any other applications while NewsPlex is running.

NewsPlex can be heavy on resources. The program works best on newer faster systems with lots of memory. Increasing the amount of RAM in your system may solve your problem. Otherwise you can try using the [startup] "lowerPriority=1" setting in newsplex.ini, which reduces NewsPlex's CPU priority to "idle." Using this setting will slow NewsPlex down, but will free up the CPU for other tasks.

The size of the NewsPlex databases has a profound effect on NewsPlex's use of resources. If you are subscribed to many large binary groups such as CD image or multimedia groups, NewsPlex will use far more resources than if you are using it only to access a few text groups. Be sure to deactivate any large binary groups that you are no longer using. Unsubscribing in your reader does not deactivate newsgroups in NewsPlex. You have to do that manually for each group using the web interface.

Crosspost checking can cause heavy disk usage in configurations with large index files and/or many active groups. You can disable cross-post checking with the "useXrefs=0" setting in the [explore] section of newsplex.ini. See also item "H" below.

To speed up retrieving of local articles, you can lower your reader's CPU process priority. This is known to work with both xnews and agent. On WinNT based operating systems, the easiest way is to put a .cmd-file in the readers startup directory with the line:

start /low xnews.exe
or
start /low agent.exe

Then make a shortcut to the .cmd-file and start it with that. You can also do it by hand through the task manager. In Win9x based systems there is no direct way to lower application priority, but there are several third-party tools which can do the job. E.g. "Process Explorer" from Sysinternals http://www.sysinternals.com.

Heavy usenet users may find it helpful to dedicate a separate computer on their network to NewsPlex. The ability to control NewsPlex via a web or telnet interface makes this relatively simple and convenient, and it solves all resource issues on the client computer.

F. One or more of my subscribed newsgroups are not updating.

Try retrieving all headers for the non-working group via your news-reader. The update pointer databases may have become corrupted and this may fix it.

G. I cannot access certain newsgroups at all, either by the web interface or from my news-reader. My reader says, "no newsgroup has been selected" but when I attempt to deactivate via the NewsPlex web interface it says, "Cannot access group...Number not greater than previous"

Try shutting down NewsPlex and then deleting the "index" and "update" files for the group. They will be reconstructed from the "dataset2" file and servers will be re-explored for that group. In the meantime, the articles will be zombies. For this to work, do not set [general] "zombieDays=0" in newsplex.ini, because then the articles might be eliminated before they get a chance to recover any server references.

H. NewsPlex crashes or exits abruptly without warning while exploring my long list of servers on startup.

You may be running out of free physical memory. Try using the [explore] "simultaneousNormal=" setting in newsplex.ini to reduce the number of simultanous explorations. The default is 8, so start with "simultaneousNormal=7" and see if the problem disappears. If not, try "simultaneousNormal=6", etc.

Cross-post checking in NewsPlex uses additional memory. You can disable cross-post checking with the "useXrefs=0" setting in the [explore] section of newsplex.ini.

NewsPlex also uses virtual memory, so the lack of memory can be fixed by increasing the size of the swap file or the
swap partition.

I. When I do a "Shields Up" security port probe at Steve Gibson's site, http://grc.com/ it shows I have an open port 80.

If you use the [access] "webPort=80" setting, NewsPlex creates a web server on port 80 so you can control NewsPlex via your browser. However, this open port may be of interest to hackers who are scanning IP blocks looking for open proxies. For this reason, some users prefer to put the NewsPlex web server on an alternate port which is less likely to be scanned. E.g. "webPort=8" will put the web server on port 8 instead of 80. Then you must specify the alternate port number to access the web interface via your browser. In this case the URL would be:

http://localhost:8/

Likewise you may wish to put your local news-server on a non-standard port. NewsPlex defaults to the NNTP standard port 119. It is possible that a port scanner might be interested in your computer because you have an NNTP news server running on it. To avoid this, you can put your virtual news-server on a non-standard port via the "nntpPort=" setting. E.g. "nntpPort=1119" will place your news-server on port 1119, instead of 119. If you want to try this, remember to configure your news reader to point to the correct port. In Agent the port number of your news-server must be entered manually in the agent.ini file. Pointing Agent to a server at localhost:1119 will not work. NewsPlex's secure access control is turned on by default in the [access] section of newsplex.ini. If you enable insecure mode with the "otherComputers=1" setting, then also set login/password in the same section.

J. NewsPlex seems to be running correctly, but the statistics on my active groups are missing or incorrect on the web and/or telnet interface.

You may have edited your servers.ini file and given a new server the same number as an old server. To fix this problem you may have to do a clean restart with the -C command line option, wiping all the existing databases. Never delete a server from your servers.ini file without first deleting its database entries via the web interface (see above); and never renumber existing servers in your servers.ini file for any reason.

K. Suddenly I'm seeing "/r" or "/ra" in front of articles. Why?

It means that the article was previously retrieved, and usually happens when you use another newsreader to look at the same group, or if you unsubscribe and resubscribe to a group. It is only provided to your newsreader, and mostly happens with old articles. If you want to read old articles (according to their Date), but do not want to read the same ones again and again, then you can use the information stored in the etc/retrievd file in order to "mark" again previously read articles in the database with these /r flags.

The logical procedure would be:

1) Add the server
2) Let it be explored
3) Issue the "NPAPPLYRETRIED" command, so that Newsplex reads the etc/retrievd file and "marks" with "/r" all the articles whose Message-ID is listed there.
4) Connect the newsreader and read the groups.

The "previously retrieved" list can be deleted every once in a while.

L. Where do I change the retry time for failed servers?

This time interval is hard-coded into Newsplex depending on the type of failure (usually 30 minutes) and cannot be changed. See the "extraConnectTime=" servers.ini setting to extend the connection response time for slow servers. This may (or may not) help matters.

M. Where do I adjust the automatic server exploration frequency?

This time interval is hard-coded into Newsplex at every two hours. However explores can be forcibly initiated via the web interface. It is also possible to use the npnntp.exe utility in a batch file or script to change the exploration frequency for individual servers. E.g.:

npnntp -v -b "NPEXPLORESERVER 7"

will force exploration of server #7 whenever it is executed. You can time the script with CRON in linux or AT / Scheduled Tasks in Windows.

N. Async stopped working. On the web interface, all my scheduled async downloads are shaded red with a status of "fil."

This status code means that the article files can not be opened. Either you just scheduled too many retrievals at once, or you may have deleted the async directory inadvertently. Restarting NewsPlex usually fixes the problem.

O. I found a list of over 900 free and open news servers. How can I check to see if they are still open and if they have any of the newsgroups I want?

Use NewsPlex's minimal exploration feature.

1. Install a second instance of NP into a different directory.
2. List the servers (not numbered) in a text file with one server on each line.
3. Invoke this second installation via "Newsplex.exe -i [filename] -m"

Note: If you want to determine server usefulness solely via binaries, then add the "yes=" setting in the [groups] section of newsplex.ini with just the groupname wildcard mask, like:

yes=*binaries*
yes=*mp3*

After a while, useful servers will appear in in the explore folder. Unusable servers will appear in the logs folder in a file called "unusable". You'll probably find that the vast majority of servers you've collected aren't suitable for binaries, since binaries consume a massive amount of space and bandwidth as opposed to text-only groups.

P. I have async configured for all binary downloads, but sometimes NewsPlex fails and the files download normally instead.

NewsPlex determines whether a file is binary by the filename in the subject line of the article. It can easily misinterpret a binary file as non-binary and a text file as binary if it gets confused by the a string in the subject line. If you want to queue up a number of binary files that NewsPlex thinks are text, we recommend activating async download for all files. Then change it back when you are done. Likewise if you know all the articles in your group are text, you may wish to disable async downloading temporarily. You can also add a binary filter pattern to the [async] section of newsplex.ini which will match or exclude strings in the subject lines of articles.

Q. In some newsgroups I see articles with the subject "fake subject". When I open the article and look at the subject in the header, it has the original subject from the poster. Also, when starting newsplex, I get some errors: "no dataset for article <x>".

This is another example of database corruption. It is usually fixed by shutting down NewsPlex, setting [startup] "compactAll=1" in newsplex.ini, and running NewsPlex again. This will remove bad entries in the index file and schedule re-exploration for corresponding groups so that correct, full, article descriptions are obtained (again).

R. When exploring certain servers I get an "Error during XOVER emulation" error. Is there a setting I can use to fix this problem?

Unfortunately there is no fix for the current version of NewsPlex. Servers which have disabled the XHDR command cannot be successfully explored. However you can still retrieve bodies from these servers.

S. I'm using Agent and async downloads don't appear in the async group even though present in the \async\ folder. Why?

Make sure crosspost checking in Agent is disabled for the async group. Also try checking the box for "Server creates messages out of order" in Agent's "User and System Profile" options.

T. NewsPlex refuses to start and gives the following error: "NewsPlex is terminating with code 22: Error when initializing asynchronous retrieval.

This error is most likely caused by too many scheduled async retrievals. If there are many thousands of retrievals scheduled, your computer may have simply run out of memory. The fix is to either delete the "etc\scheduld" file and reschedule in smaller groups, or manually edit your "etc\scheduld" file into smaller pieces.

U. I have activated several new groups, but NewsPlex seems to be ignoring most of them.

This delay in getting headers for newly activated groups is normal. Have patience; the groups will be populated eventually. See also item B above. If you shut down NewsPlex before it finishes exploring newly activated groups everywhere, it will forget about still having to do this on certain servers. The newly activated groups will not be explored on these servers until NewsPlex requests the full newsgroup list from them, which is only done every 24 hours. You can accelerate this process in 3 ways:

1) Deleting the ",list" lines from files in the newsrc2 directory. This is not very practical.
2) Set the modification time of the etc/newsplex.ini file to the current time. Opening and saving this file from a text editor like notepad should be enough. Make sure you have updateNewsplexIni=0 in the [shutdown] section inside.
3) Deleting the newsrc2 directory. This is easy but will cause much more network traffic in the end.

V. NewsPlex won't start, claiming I have another server running on port 119.

This error is usually caused because NewsPlex is already running or because it has not been completely shut down. Check tasks under task-manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) to see if you already have an instance of NewsPlex running. You may also see this error if you are running certain versions of Norton Personal Firewall even though you create a rule allowing NewsPlex. This firewall apparently blocks outbound port 119 by default. One solution is to put NewsPlex on an alternate port. See item I above. Also the [startup] ignoreAnother=1 setting in newsplex.ini may allow NewsPlex to start when there is a firewall or proxy running on the computer.

W. NewsPlex refuses to start and gives the following error: "Could not add GROUPNAME to group list, in line LINENUMBER of etc/groups file, Tree node is duplicate. NewsPlex is terminating with code 21: Error when processing the groups.* files."

Most likely your etc/groups file has become corrupted. Try editing it with a text editor and removing the offending LINENUMBER entry. If that fails, delete the entire file and NewsPlex will rebuild it when it restarts.

X. NewsPlex refuses to start, claiming there is a syntax error in one of my server entries.

Usually correcting the stated syntax error fixes the problem.

Y. I upgraded to ver. 4.3 or 4.4 and my async downloads have begun pausing periodically for no apparent reason.

These interruptions may be caused by NewsPlex attempting to open "Server Available" (asyncav) connections to unexplored bad servers. To prevent this behavior, set reuseForAsync=0 in servers.ini for servers which have not been successfully explored, or you can disable asyncav connections entirely by setting [async] serverAvailable=0 globally in newsplex.ini.

Z. I upgraded to WinXP SP2 and the event viewer started showing errors: EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

For security reasons, WinXP SP2 imposes a limit of 10 concurrent TCP connect attempts. If you have a large number of servers, NewsPlex may overstep this limit. You can change the [connect] maxTasks setting from the default 16 to e.g. 10 in servers.ini. Alternatively, a free third-party Windows patch has been posted which increases the number of allowed concurrent TCP attempts. This patch is the best solution if you use NewsPlex in minimal mode to test a large number of potential servers.

XI. Support information.

A. Adam Mirowski, author. The author may be reached via email at: mirREMOVETHIS@jalunaREMOVETHIS.com

B. The Newsplex yahoo group. Post questions or share tips at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewsPlex/

You must join the group to browse the message archives or access the databases. This is primarily to help protect our members against spam

C. The NewsPlex forum at newsserverguide.de NewsPlex discussion primarily in German at:

http://www.solo-liebe.de/usenet/viewforum.php?f=16

D. Appropriate usenet newsgroups. NewsPlex is occasionally the topic of threads in a variety of usenet newsgroups. The following is not a complete listing:

alt.free.newsservers
alt.usenet.offline-reader
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent
news.software.nntp
news.software.readers

XII Miscellaneous

A. Utilities Numerous free utilities are included in the Windows and Linux versions of NewsPlex, . A list of each utility and a brief description of their function can be found in the "descript.ion" file in your NewsPlex distribution archive. In general, running each program will bring up a list of commands. None of these utilities is otherwise documented, nor are any required for Newsplex to function.