PROBLEM: Can't access ASNA Newsgroups

The information in this article applies to:

• ASNA's Newsgroups
• Web

SYMPTOMS:

Can't access ASNA Newsgroups.

CAUSE:

The inability to access ASNA Newsgroups is a function of the requestor's Service Provider that does not allow access to semi-private Newsgroups such as ASNA's.

The requestor cannot get to ASNA's newsgroups because the requestor's firewall is strictly configured and probably limits news access to only their local ISP's news server. Most ISPs provide Usenet as their de facto "Internet News" service.

ASNA newsgroups are not part of the global "Usenet" system. ASNA runs its own private news system which is not gatewayed to Usenet for two reasons:

1. The porn / spam problem on Usenet.
2. Most ISP's keep only 7 days of articles, whereas our server has over 3 years of articles. The benefit of being able to browse old articles would then be lost.

RESOLUTION:

NOTE:  Please coordinate with your Network Administrator of Firewall Software vendor while modifying security settings.

The requestor must open a hole in their firewall for our news server.

MORE INFORMATION:

There is no greater risk in "a hole" in the firewall than allowing access to any other news server. The risk is similar to allowing users to receive e-mail.

There is little jeopardy providing access to ASNA's news server for the following reasons:

1. There is an obvious business case to giving ASNA customers access to technical information about the tools they use.
2. The risks posed by allowing access to the ASNA news server are the same as allowing access to any other news server including Microsoft's, or to e-mail. If the requestor already allows access to such services ,then they do not change their risk by allowing access to ASNA.
3. The ASNA news server is relatively obscure and therefore not very likely to be subject to attack.
4. ASNA does not intend to gateway our newsgroups into the Usenet system, due to the spam and porn messages that are a fact of life on Usenet.

Location of our Newsgroups can be reached by visiting the following address:

• http://www.asna.com/newsgroups.asp

Please Note that our new community based discussion group is now at the following location:

• http://forums.asna.com/forums

Keywords: Newsgroup, web, access, Usenet, firewall, security, server