[ale] possibility of running an NTP server

[Ron Frazier]

Hi JD,

I know this was a reply to Leam, but there were a few things I wanted to 
clarify about my original post. See comments inline.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 01/11/2012 08:38 AM, JD wrote:
> On 01/11/2012 07:48 AM, leam hall wrote:
>    
>> JD,
>>
>> I think Ron wants to provide an external NTP server as a service to
>> the community.
>>
>> Leam
>>      
>
> quote from RonF:
>    
>>>> All I would want this
>>>> particular device to do is run NTP and be accessible to me on the
>>>> Internal LAN for maintenance and configuration.
>>>>          
> That sounds like an internal NTP server to me.  Pretty much any computer capable
> of running NTP will be sufficient, however, many devices under a heavy load tend
> to lose time, so I do not trust NTP on a consumer router.
>
> NTP servers inside virtual machines often have issues too - not always, but often.
>
>    

I guess my choice of words was poor there. I was considering making an 
external NTP server available to the world to join the NTP pool. I would 
want everyone to be able to access it as a regular time server, not a 
peer. I want private internal LAN access to it for myself only for 
maintenance and configuration. I don't even know if this can be done on 
a residential internet connection. I also don't know what all the legal 
ramifications may be. Just wanted to help add some time karma to the 
internet.

> "sudo apt-get install ntp" on every Ubuntu box.
> In Windows, you'll need to hack the registry to use your internal NTP server.
> Use an IP address, not hostname/DNS for this - at least under Vista and Win7.
> Again, there are lots of 3 step NTP guides on the internet.
>
> NTP adjusts for network hops and drift as part of the protocol.
>
> I've had to fight with time on MS-Windows.  Seems that Microsoft thinks time
> within 5 minutes is fine. I've seen corporate Windows desktop clients off by
> more than 3 minutes. At home, I've seen MS-Windows off by more than 45 minutes
> with daily NTP updates. I had to drop back to NTP updates every 15 minutes for
> those machines if I wanted TV recordings to happen on time.  The exact same
> hardware with Linux never lost even a second.
>
> NTP is not a big-deal service.
>    
I think a large part of the problem with Windows PC's is the obnoxious 
crummy real time clock hardware. I think Windows periodically resets 
it's clock to match the hardware. I have a Dell Laptop which drifts 15 
sec / day without correction. I understand that the quartz clocks in 
atomic radio controlled clocks are supposed to drift less than 1/2 sec / 
day between synchronizations, so 15 sec / day is terrible. If a PC is 
off by 45 minutes a day, I think there's something wrong with the 
hardware, or maybe the CMOS battery. What I don't know is if the 
hardware clock can be disciplined to adjust it's frequency, other than 
resetting it every 15 minutes or so with an NTP utility.


-- 

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Ron Frazier

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