On *28 Aug 2000 16:01:18 +0900*
In message *[md-2] Need Feedback: ISP-Usenet-Newsreader Problem*
*Patrick Bartek* wrote:
>
> This dilemma should challenge the little grey cells of all you system
> administrators out there: I get inconsistent, truncated message feeds
> from the Usenet through my ISP. They don't know why. They are
> getting all messages, but I'm not.
>
How often do collect news? Are we talking binaries or text groups?
It is quite possible that your ISP is receiving all the messages but
has no where to put them so unless you're collecting them
regularly they just expire on the server before you collect them and
get over written by newer messages, I believe news feeds are currently
running in excess of 150GB a day (and I read that stat a while ago,
it might have doubled again since!).
> This happens with MD2 (versions 0.198 & 1.4.4 unregistered), mNews (v
> 1.3b), as well as with Quarterdeck Message Center, a dedicated Windows
> 3.1 e-mail/news reader, I run on an old 486 notebook, which was put in
> service for toubleshooting purposes.
All of which would indicate that the problem is not your end, are the
same messages missing on each system or is it different messages at
random?
> With Outlook Express
> (Windows98), all is fine. All messages get through. (I had a friend
> access my account through his PC.) My ISP is running Windows NT
> Server, the latest version, I assume.
How long did s/he test for though, the best way of testing would be to
get them on the phone and do a get new messages on the same group at
exactly the same time to see what messages you pick up.
> After a few weeks, the news server crashed badly while downloading.
> Since then things have declined steadily.
Well at 150GB a day, it can take a few days to catch up again.
> The screwy thing is: some news groups work fine; others I get
> truncated downloads;
High traffic groups will retain the messages for a shorter period of
time, depending on how the ISP has set the system up, let's for
example say that for a text group they allocate 500K of space (I have
no idea whether this is realistic, its an example) before the oldest
messages get over-written, you can see why a group that gets 100 posts
a day will miss more posts than a group that gets 10.
> some I don't get anything at all for days or
> weeks, even though on the ISP's end, all subscribed to groups are
> getting full news feeds. Also, at random, I'm unsubscribed to some of
> the groups I frequent; and have to resubscribe. The SA doesn't know
> why this is happening either.
Sounds like your ISP again.
>
> Also, as an addendum the above problem: my posts never make it out
> there to Usenetland. My ISP's news server gets it, mirrors it back
to
> me the next time I access news, sends me a confirmation by e-mail
(The
> SA did this for troubleshooting purposes.) that it has been sent
> upstream, but the posts disappear into a black hole somewhere never
to
> appear on anyone else's server or computer.
If you're sure about this (check to see if your posts appear on deja),
then again this is a problem for your ISP to sort out, if the posts
are reaching their server but not propagting further it's not your
problem, it's theirs.
> This seems to be an NT related problem. (Why am I not surprised?)
> I've had several ISPs over the past few years -- some Unix based,
> others NT. Had the most problems with the NT ones.
Never ran NT as a news server, but I do have a fair bit of
experience with it at work and if you set it up properly it's no
more or less reliable than any other os. I would hazard a guess that
the ISPs you've tried are having trouble keeping up with the volume of
news which requires a massive hardware investment. News is probably
the hardest thing for an ISP to get right, it is also hard for many to
justify the cost of investing in the new hardware as (proportionally)
not many people use it.
> So, anyone got any ideas, why this is happening and how to fix it? I
> would normally post this problem to the Usenet in some NT network
> group or an Amiga group, but since I can't post, I'll ask the question
> here.
There is nothing you can do short of change ISP or subscribe to a news
service.
Matt
--
Visit My Website http://www.tthewb.u-net.com
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