Creating a Discussion Group

To create a discussion group, the server must be running.

1. From the General Administration page, click the News Server server name button > Discussion Groups > Manage Discussion Groups > OK.

2. Select the parent discussion group

   or

   Select the root-level discussion group to add a top-level discussion group.

3. Click New.

4. In the Name field, type the name of the discussion group that the user will see.

   The name cannot include spaces, most special characters, numbers, and uppercase letters, unless you specifically configure the server to allow for them. For more information about naming, refer to Naming Your Discussion Groups.

5. In the optional Description field, type the discussion group topic.

   The name can include spaces, lowercase and uppercase letters, and special characters.

6. Click one of the following options:

   • Categorized Discussion Group

     A categorized discussion group provides a three-paned interface in which the user can view the entire discussion group hierarchy, all of the articles within a particular discussion group, and the text of a particular article. The categorized attribute only affects the presentation of the discussion group within the client newsreader.

     In a categorized discussion group, any lower-level discussion group is a category. A categorized discussion group cannot contain another categorized discussion group.

     If the parent discussion group is already categorized, you do not see a choice for the type of discussion group. Instead, the type of discussion group becomes a category discussion group.

   • Standard Discussion Group

     A standard discussion group provides a two-paned interface in which the user can view all of the articles within a particular discussion group and the text of a particular article.

7. Under Advanced Options, select the option you want:

   Option	Purpose
   Create Group on Local Server Only	Specifies to create the discussion group only on the local News Server.
   Create Group on All Internal Connected Servers	Specifies to create the discussion group on all connected servers. The request to create the discussion group is also sent to the replication sites.
   Allow Local and Remote Postings	Specifies to allow local and remote postings. Local postings are articles posted directly to your discussion groups by users. Remote postings are articles sent to your discussion groups by replication.
   Allow Only Remote Postings (Feed Only)	Specifies that only articles sent to your discussion groups by replication can be posted to the discussion group.
   Moderate Discussion Group and Send Postings Via E-Mail To field	Specifies that this discussion group will be moderated and includes an e-mail address for the moderator's e-mail address.
   Gateway to E-Mail Address field	Specifies that the discussion group will be a gateway. Type the e-mail address for the gateway.
   Do Not Keep Articles for This Discussion Group, but Pass Them to Feed Sites	Specifies that articles are stored in the spool only until they are sent to other replication sites. Users cannot read the articles from your server.
   This Discussion Group is a Referral For field	Specifies discussion groups that are no longer in use or useful. For example, suppose you want to obsolete DISCUSSIONA and point users to DISCUSSIONB. In the Referral field for DISCUSSIONA, you type DISCUSSIONB. When users post to DISCUSSIONA, they will get a message to post to DISCUSSIONB.

8. Click Submit.

The server administrator receives a notification control message for each discussion group that is created.

Naming Your Discussion Groups

The News Server enforces the latest proposed newsgroup naming standards. A few Usenet newsgroups do not comply with these standards. Your server will reject these newsgroups.

Although it is not recommended, the server administrator can override discussion group name validity checking.

To change the naming standards:

1. Open the NSNEWS.CONF file.

   The file is located in the NOVONYX\SUITESPOT\NEWS-SERVERNAME\CONFIG directory.

2. Change the REQUIRE_VALID1036_NAMES parameter from DO to DONT.

   IMPORTANT:  If you do change the value, some server problems might occur. For example, your server's replication will fail to hosts that have the parameter set to DO.

When creating your own local discussion groups on a news server that also contains Usenet newsgroups, you shouldn't use any Usenet group names. You should keep the convention of general to specific. For example, if your company is called Royal, you might create a discussion group named ROYAL.HR.BENEFITS. The company name is first, followed by a department name, followed by a topic name.