[TriLUG] Speaking of ntp: that would be a great service for Trilug to provide.

[Mike Johnson]

Jon Carnes [jonc at nc.rr.com] wrote:
> It would be great if TriLUG would provide an NTP server for our
> membership use.  The current time.trilug.org server no longer works.

I don't think it makes sense for TriLUG to run an NTP server.  First,
you can't just turn on ntpd and say 'yay, we have an NTP server'.  You
have to have a decent source of time.  We have no direct source of
decent time (GPS, radio signals, our own atomic clock, etc), so we
cannot be a stratum 1 time server.  -If- we provide time for over one
hundred systems, we can become a stratum 2 time server, and use a
stratum 1 server for our source.  Since I don't think we can commit to
one hundred clients, that means we would have to point at a stratum 2
server, and, essentially, become stratum 3.  And then you point your
clients at us, and you're four steps removed from the quality time
source.  Why not eliminate a step and point your clients at a stratum 2
server, so you're one step closer?  What's the point of using a TriLUG
time server?

If you're having trouble finding a time server, go to:
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/clock2a.html
and look for 'open access' systems, and start pinging.  Choose three
with the lowest latency, and put their dns names (not IP addresses) in
your ntpd.conf, and move on.
 
Mike
-- 
"If life hands you lemons, YOU BLOW THOSE LEMONS TO BITS WITH 
 YOUR LASER CANNONS!" -- Brak

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