[ntp:questions] Re: NTP client on Windows platform provides less accurate results then on the UNIX or Linux. Why?

Danny Mayer mayer at ntp.isc.org
Sun Apr 2 03:43:10 UTC 2006


Ry wrote:
> How often are these boxes restarted? NTP seems to take a 8 hours or
> more to really "settle". If you're rebooting the Windows machines
> frequently (and you *should* be at least once per month to get MS
> security patches),

Why? There is very rarely a need to reboot a Windows machine. 99% of all
hotfixes should not require a reboot. I probably reboot once every 3
months. Only badly written installers require reboots.

 NTP will always perform worse in comparison with a
> Linux box that is always on.
> 

Most people running NTP on Windows would disagree with you.

> If your hardware has any power-management features enabled (Intel
> SpeedStep, AMD CoolNQuiet, etc.), that would do it. Others may have
> mentioned disabling ACPI in the BIOS, but you will also want to
> checkDevice Manager to make sure you don't have speed-throttling "CPU
> drivers" or other "system devices" installed or activated.
> 

That's almost unavoidable and is not just Windows.

> Finally, the WinXP firewall or other software firewall could be adding
> small delays if it is enabled and CPU utilization isn't genreally low.
> So could any host-based intrustion prevention, anti-spyware, or
> antivirus software that scans live network connectios for threats
> (e.g.Symantec Client Security). Also make sure the multimedia timers
> are enabled during setup of NTPd.
> 

All systems have firewalls, routers, switches, etc. There's no real
difference here.

Danny



More information about the questions mailing list