[ntp:questions] ntpdate.c unsafe buffer write
Richard B. Gilbert
rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Sat Feb 9 12:18:54 UTC 2008
David Woolley wrote:
> David L. Mills wrote:
>
>> Harlan,
>>
>> You make some good points. However, if folks want SNTP from here I
>> think they would prefer it in its own distribution rather than bundle
>> it with the huge NTP distribution. You can make a strong argument to
>> host here
>
>
> I don't think you are ever going to get rid of ntpdate from the
> distribution (as supplied by packagers and vendors) until ntpd offers a
> mode which sets the time within about one second of being started. I'm
> not convinced that SNTP will displace ntpdate for this purpose. People
> don't want to delay boot sequences, but they also don't want to start
> applications until the time has been set.
How long does "ntpd -g" take to set the time? As I understand it, it's
supposed to query the configured servers, make a "best guess" as to what
time it is, set that, and then go to normal operation.
That should put you within a second or so. If you need better, either
wait for it, or keep your server alive 24x7x365. I think most data
centers do run 24x7x365. If you're talking about a "data center" that
lives under the boss's desk, consider buying a UPS and hope that the
power doesn't fail for longer than the run time.
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