Control messages are specially formatted messages that direct Microsoft NNTP Service to delete a specific article from a newsgroup or to add or delete an entire newsgroup. For example, if you post an article to a newsgroup and later decide to remove it using the Cancel command in Microsoft Internet Mail and News, the client sends a control message to Microsoft NNTP Service directing it to delete the article.
You should restrict control messages to prevent unwanted changes to articles and newsgroups. You also might want to restrict other NNTP servers from pulling articles from Microsoft NNTP Service.
This section explains how to create control messages and how to restrict control messages to prevent tampering with Microsoft NNTP Service.
Control messages are generated automatically by NNTP client software, NNTP servers, and special utility programs. You can also generate control messages manually by connecting to Microsoft NNTP Service using Telnet and entering them directly.
Microsoft NNTP Service accepts the following basic control messages:
The Cancel control message is generated by client programs. The Newgroup and Rmgroup messages are typically generated by NNTP servers.
The Cancel, Newgroup, and Rmgroup control messages are received by Microsoft NNTP Service and posted to these special newsgroups: control.cancel, control.newgroup, and control.rmgroup. Restrict control messages by restricting access to these newsgroups.
You can define the special control.* newsgroups as moderated newsgroups, or you can restrict access to these newsgroups to a limited group of users. If you define them as moderated newsgroups, the moderator must approve each control message before it takes effect.
Follow the directions in Restricting Access to Newsgroups. Grant access permissions to the appropriate group of users, such as Administrators.