Usenet News HOWTO
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# 8. Access control in NNTPd

The original NNTPd had host-based authentication which allowed clients connecting from a particular IP address to read only certain newsgroups. This was very clearly inadequate for enterprise deployment on an Intranet, where each desktop computer has a different IP address, often DHCP-assigned, and the mapping between person and desktop is not static.

What was needed was a user-based authentication, where a username and password could be used to authenticate the user. Even this was provided as an extension to NNTPd, but more was needed. The corporate IS manager needs to ensure that certain Usenet discussion groups remain visible only to certain people. This authorisation layer was not available in NNTPd. Once authenticated, all users could read all newsgroups.

We have extended the user-based authentication facility in NNTPd in some (we hope!) useful ways, and we have added an entire authorisation layer which lets the administrator specify which newsgroups each user can read. With this infrastructure, we feel NNTPd is fit for enterprise deployment and can be used to handle corporate document repositories, messages, and discussion archives. Details are given below.

## 8.1. Host-based access control

TO BE ADDED LATER

## 8.2. User authentication and authorisation

### 8.2.1. The NNTPd password file

TO BE ADDED LATER

### 8.2.2. Mapping users to newsgroups

TO BE ADDED LATER

### 8.2.3. The `X-Authenticated-Author` article header

TO BE ADDED LATER

### 8.2.4. Other article header additions

TO BE ADDED LATER

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