NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol

In this article I describe the NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol in computer network for CCNA Exam. The NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol provides the feature to broadcast any news messages in the network for all the networking devices. The NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol works under the UseNet in the computer network. UseNet is a discussion system like a forum on the internet, it provides various posts and articles which works like news in the network for all the networking devices. NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol also transfer the network news from one network to another network. The network news can be accessed by the network clients by using the browsers in the computers. The example of browsers are chrome, internet explorer and opera etc.

NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol follows the client-server architecture in computer networking. NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol is application layer protocol in the OSI reference model. The NNTP use TCP/IP for transport and routing of news and articles in the network. NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol allow to upload the news articles in the servers and as well as allow to download the same from the server to the clients.

History of NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol

The UseNet uses the UUCP protocol. UUCP is acronym of Unix to Unix Copy Protocol. UUCP protocol allow the servers to keep a copy of all news and updates in the local disks. The clients of the network allowed to read the network news directly from the local disk of server. Later the number of clients increased upto a high level so it is not possible to give access to all clients to read the network news directly from the local disk of the server. In that case the SMTP protocol used to forward the news and articles from server to the clients. All clients now able to get the network news and articles from the NNTP server by using the SMTP protocol. You can read about SMTP full article here.

Working of NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol

The NNTP server is responsible to broadcast the news and article to the network clients. Network News Transfer Protocol follow some predefined sets of rules for clients to connect with the server. Some predefined commands used to retrieve the news from the server. The main command is “ARTICLE” which is use by the clients to get the article from the server. NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol works on network port 563, 433 and 119.

The NNTP servers are grouped by multiple servers. The servers keep the information of all other servers of the group. The server shared the news or article with all the grouped servers. When a news or article uploaded in a server, the server broadcast the news to all grouped server firstly. The clients of all servers can then retrieve the news or article from the grouped servers. The administrator have to define the server groups firstly to keep update the clients via using the Network News Transfer Protocol. the NNTP is very similar to the SMTP protocol which delivered the news and articles to the clients similar to email services.

NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol explained in brief

NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol is an application protocol belongs to TCP/IP model suite. Network News Transfer Protocol provides the feature to transport the UseNet news articles (Netnews). Usenet news articles transport between news servers and user client applications. NNTP connect the UseNet servers and systems over the Internet. It is like the email message flow over the internet. The difference is NNTP is designed for newsgroup articles only. Forum is an example of UseNet. Network News Transfer Protocol make connection among server, server and clients. NNTP transmit the replica of newsgroups to all servers and clients. Clients received the newsgroup and forward same to other servers or computers.

Usenet for NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol

Usenet is a discussion system on internet. The Usenet is used to discussion on a subject between the clients. Many newsgroups belongs to a Usenet for a subject. When a user publishes an article in a newsgroup, the server broadcast it to other clients on internet using Network News Transfer Protocol. It is a prototype of many online forums. Usenet is like UUCP(Unix to Unix Copy Protocol). UUCP protocol is a Unix network protocol. Network News Transfer Protocol invented get the functionality of UUCP on internet. The functionality of SMTP forward email is similar to Network News Transfer Protocol. With NNTP protocol newsgroups forwarded.

A Usenet newsgroup is like storehouse for posts posted from different users in a group. These posts are not published for everyone on internet. Only newsgroup members of subject can read the posts of others. There are many online forums available on internet which are similar to newsgroup Usenet. User can create their own newsgroups on new subjects. Network News Transfer Protocol broadcast the posts of new subjects on internet. TCP port 119 is reserved for NNTP. TCP port 433 (NNSP) used during a bulk transfer of articles from one server to another.

Commands supported by Network News Transfer Protocol

Some important commands are supported by NNTP protocol on internet. These commands can be used by news server to another news server for troubleshooting. Example of NNTP commands are ARTICLE, POST, GROUP, NEXT, IHAVE, NEWNEWS, LIST, NEWSGROUP etc. The use of each command is described below

• ARTICLE – Article command used to retrieve an article from a Usenet server.
• POST – Post command used to post a new message or reply to an existing one.
• GROUP – Group command used to select a specific newsgroup in the Usenet server.
• NEXT – Next command used to goto the next message in the newsgroup.
• IHAVE – Ihave command tell the server, the client has an article.
• NEWNEWS – Newnews command used to receive a list of articles created after a specific date.
• LIST – Iist command retrieve the list of newsgroups from the server.
• NEWSGROUPS – Newsgroup command receive the list of newsgroups created after a specific date

In this article I describe the NNTP Network News Transfer Protocol in computer network for CCNA Exam. I hope you found this article helpful. For any query or suggestions you may drop a comment below or contact us. Your suggestions are always welcome by us.