[ntp:questions] drift value very large and very unstable

Richard B. Gilbert rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Tue Mar 11 22:42:33 UTC 2008


David Woolley wrote:
> Danny Mayer wrote:
> 
>> We supply neither an ntp.conf file nor a startup file so this comment 
>> makes no sense. This kind of thing belongs in the Support wiki which 
>> is constantly updated.
> 
> 
> You need to supply both.  Otherwise the packagers will do it for you and 
> they will get it wrong.

Anybody who runs a "packaged" configuration deserves whatever happens to 
him.  Windows comes configured to use time.windows.com.  AFAIK that's 
operated by Microsoft and it's not a problem.  RedHat comes 
preconfigured to use servers provided by RedHat.  That's not a problem 
either.  Neither Microsoft nor RedHat can, or does, guarantee that the 
canned configuration will work well for you!

Further, the NTP developers/packagers/whatever have no idea where you 
will be running your system or what your requirements will be.  A 
configuration that's perfect for a system in Dover, Delaware, will be 
garbage if used in a system in Tokyo! Any canned configuration should be 
treated as an example.  The ultimate user needs to pick his own servers, 
his own security, his own locations for log files, etc, etc.

If you need a configuration you can depend on, you have a responsibility 
to think about the problem and develop a configuration that meets *your* 
needs!

I believe that the developers have met their responsibility by providing 
documentation that tells you how to "roll your own" configuration.




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