Re: ietf-nntp Initial draft FINALLY available

[Evan Champion <[e-mail]>]

Stan Barber wrote:
> > Port 119 is the default, but it isn't required that the server listen there.
> 
> Is it really an NNTP service if it is not on port 119, or is it a service
> that supports NNTP? I think it is really NNTP if it is on port 119, otherwise
> it is a service that used the NNTP protocol.

If a server running on port X talks NNTP for the purpose of serving news
to NNTP clients or other servers, then IMHO it is an NNTP server and
should be covered by this document.

The corollary to this is given an accepted NNTP server, moving it to
port X does not change the fact that it is still an NNTP server.  

Examples here are things like Netscape Secure News Server running on its
SSL port (519 was it?) or INN modified so that servers connect on port
1119 while readers stay on 119 (done by some people back when streaming
was just released and readers began seeing very slow connect times, and
may become part of a post-1.5 INN).  You would have a very hard time
convincing me that either are merely services that use the NNTP
protocol.

There is all kinds of precedent for this.  HTTP comes to mind as a
protocol that SHOULD be run on port 80 but is run anywhere someone could
squeeze a server on...  I can't see any RFC mandating that a particular
port be used; rather, it should be suggesting a standard port for the
sake of interoperability.

Evan
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Evan Champion            * Director, Network Operations
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