[ntp:questions] Unauthenticated Broadcast Client Drops Authenticated Server Packets.

Harlan Stenn stenn at ntp.isc.org
Thu Mar 15 19:21:56 UTC 2007


>>> In article <1173964807.863035.296190 at y66g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, "Arul Kumar C" <arulkumar.c at gmail.com> writes:

Arul> Hi Experts, I have got a broadcast server that sends broadcast
Arul> messages authenticated with MD5.  There is a broadcast client that has
Arul> no authentication enabled.

This is different from having a client with authentication disabled.

Arul>  The packets on the broadcast client is
Arul> dropped due to authentication failure.  Could you please let me know
Arul> if this is the expected behaviour of the broadcast client in this
Arul> scenario.

Yes, this is a feature and is exactly what should happen if your client does
not have authentication properly configured.  Again, disabling
authentication is a different matter.

Arul> Since the broadcast cleint is not interested in authentication, it
Arul> could very well accept the packet from the server though the packet
Arul> has MAC, right ?

Yes, but only if you disable authentication on the client, and you should
have a very clear idea of what the effects of this decision will be.

Arul> Please let me know if I miss anything here.

Please reconsider using authentication - is it really that difficult for
your environment to have it set up properly?

H




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