List of Usenet Clients that support fill-servers

[zot]

Due to the completion problems that exist with Astraweb at this moment (as well as every major service provider to varying degrees) setting up a block account as a secondary "fill" server to automatically catch the primary server's missing parts has become a necessity. But sadly, most newsreaders and NZB clients with multi-server capability DO NOT support a fill-server arrangement.

So I thought I'd put together a list of usenet clients with fill-server capability:


Free Software:

Altbinz v0.25
Binary News Reaper (BNR2/BNR3)
Ninan
NNTPGrab
NZB-O-Matic
SABnzbd


Comercial Software:

Newsbin v6 (v5 splits bandwidth between servers)
Newsleecher
Newsreactor
Usenet Explorer
(possibly others)


Linux

HellaNZB
Pan
URD? (will confirm later)


Fill-server support may not always be apparent, as some newsreaders may - without indicating it in any way - automatically try every server in the list whenever the first server has a missing article. (NZB-O-Matic works this way)

Conversely, many others that support multiple servers typically do not allow combining servers sequencially on the same article if the first server comes up short. (Grabit comes to mind regarding this 'non-feature').

I think I've probably covered all the free software, but I'm open to any suggestions/corrections. :)

[Hypatia]

zot where do u set fill server in Usenet explorer?
Is it "preference" for a server in servers window?

[zot]

Yes, UE calls its server priority setting "preference" - just as every client, it seems, has its own unique name for it :)

[Funkin']

Is Hella still abandoned?

[hdjunky]

It is nice to see Newsbin got there shit together for this type of setup. They always had it really ass backwards and made it seem like there way was the best.

[mfalaura]

Thanks for the list ! I've tried NNTPGrab from the free software list and Newsbin from the commercial . I'll write a review about it, soon

[sapa50]

Hella is abandoned

[Funkin']

^ That's too bad. I was hoping somebody else would pick it up. This was my favorite client for quite a while. I really liked having using a client from Terminal. It was super light.

Any other clients similar to Hella?

[zot]

Hella is abandoned

Free, open-source projects can never really get "abandoned" - they can only go dormant. ;)

I've never understood people's obsession with software release dates. To me, if a program does everything I need it to do, then it makes absolutely no difference how old it might be. (and in many cases, older versions of software can be outright superior)

Although NNTP is an ancient format, there have been a few advances in binary usenet clients in recent years. These include features such as:

NZBs
SSL
RSS
multi-connections
auto-Rar/auto-Par
fill servers
streaming media player
compressed headers
memory caching
(future feature) download headers using multiple connections

Some of these features can be performed by installing additional software, such as using Stunnel for SSL and compression.

I'd probably have to say that support for NZBs and multiple connections forms the basis of all modern binary clients. But other than that, I would have to rate fill-server support as the most necessary feature, since it can make all the difference between getting a file ... or not getting a file. :(



^ That's too bad. I was hoping somebody else would pick it up. This was my favorite client for quite a while. I really liked having using a client from Terminal. It was super light.

Any other clients similar to Hella?


Thanks for reminding me.

There is also Nget, an open-source, command-line Linux client. Nget also supports fill-servers -- but not multi-thread downloading.

Like Hellanzb, Nget could probably be classified as dormant (or even "abandoned") - but like I said earlier, if a software release does everything you need it to do, what difference does it make when it was released?

[heiska]

^ That's too bad. I was hoping somebody else would pick it up. This was my favorite client for quite a while. I really liked having using a client from Terminal. It was super light.

Any other clients similar to Hella?
NZBGet.

[KFlint]

I'm curious, how do you setup a client like sabnzbd to use astraweb and blocknews to fill missing parts? Never looked at this before.

Just by setting a secondary server and clicking backup server and it will go look automatically for blocks that are missing?

[MultiForce]

I'm curious, how do you setup a client like sabnzbd to use astraweb and blocknews to fill missing parts? Never looked at this before.

Just by setting a secondary server and clicking backup server and it will go look automatically for blocks that are missing?

Sounds correct to me.

[ensisoft]

Also latest development version of Newsflash Plus has fill server support. It's free and runs both on Windows and Linux.

[mesaman]

Unison for Mac? Anything for Mac?

[cola]

Are there any windows clients that will only use the fill server if the RARs can't be repaired? SABnzbd will download all the fill server before trying to repair.

[zot]

Are there any windows clients that will only use the fill server if the RARs can't be repaired? SABnzbd will download all the fill server before trying to repair.

No, none that I'm aware of. But Usenet Explorer comes close.

The idea of tapping into your fill server only as an absolute last resort is an interesting concept. But since a small Blocknews block should last you a lifetime if used only for fills, I wonder if such a feature is really needed for anyone (other than Highwinds diehards)?

If you really insist on saving a penny or two per downloaded file by utilizing every available par file and only using the fill server when absolutely necessary, some clients will let you manually do this. Usenet Explorer and Newsbin can be set up to preserve downloaded articles after the corresponding rar is assembled. (Most clients delete the articles immediately after the rar is assembled)

Basically, you would need to download the file using one server, then download it again using the other server. If set up correctly, then only the articles missing from the first server will be downloaded from the second server during the second run. Then you can stop the process early (before all the missing articles are downloaded) to save that tiny amount of bandwidth and then unpar/extract the file.

Although I think it's a cumbersome way to save a few pennies, it's a handy feature for times when no fill-server was originally set up and a file can't be fixed, thereby saving you from having to re-download several gigs of the same content a second time.

[cola]

I think what I might do instead is leave my fill servers in SAB disabled until something fails, then enable and hit retry if Pars weren't enough.

[zot]

I think what I might do instead is leave my fill servers in SAB disabled until something fails, then enable and hit retry if Pars weren't enough.
Are you sure that you won't be downloading the entire file over again? I could be wrong, but I didn't think that Sabnzbd (yet) works the way you are intending.

I only know of Usenet Explorer and Newsbin that are capable of doing this. One clue is whether or not the articles remain after the rar is assembled -- if not, than the entire file will need to be re-downloaded.

[jack_spratt]

How do use fill servers with NNTPGrab? I have added a secondary server but files are still corrupted, presumably because the backup server is not correctly fetching the missing parts. Primary server has high priority, secondary server has low priority.

[zot]

How do use fill servers with NNTPGrab? I have added a secondary server but files are still corrupted, presumably because the backup server is not correctly fetching the missing parts. Primary server has high priority, secondary server has low priority.
You appear to have the servers set up correctly - I assume that you also checked the box for "server is enabled" on both servers? I suggest (temporarily) unchecking that box in order to test out each server by itself. Are the files complete on each server? Does each server work alright individually, but creates errors when combined?

If you enable logging, the logfile might help you (or a software developer) isolate the problem.

Question: What operating system are you using?

In my experience, NNTPGrab seems to work much better (less buggy) on Linux than Windows. In fact, I've had a very similar problem recently when I installed NNTPgrab on an XP system, set up with primary/fill server: every downloaded file was highly corrupted. I never investigated why (this was not my computer) -- I just installed Altbinz, and downloaded the same NZB. All files downloaded 100% (without pars) in Altbinz. Since this was obviously a bug in NNTPgrab, I uninstalled it and never looked back.