[ntp:questions] Optimal config

Peter Laws plaws at ou.edu
Mon May 5 15:26:57 UTC 2008


Hello, time nerds.  :-)

Here's what I want:  accurate time to at least a few ms of UTC.  Don't 
think I have users that need better than that.  I'd like the time to be 
continuous and not jump around, of course.


Here's what I have:  3 GPS clocks (two old Datum TymServe 2100s and one 
unknown).  Two are fairly close geographically and the third is about 2 
miles away.


Currently, I have 4 systems (RHEL 3 on Dell HW) that are peered to each 
other and use all three GPS clocks as references.  OK, looks like I have 
two others peered as well - similar to the others but RHEL 5.

I also have another group of 4 servers peered together (RHEL 5 on Dell 
except one that is running an NPAD server on Knoppix) in a similar setup 
with the same three GPS clocks as well as two external Stratum 2 servers.

iburst is on for all (saw that thread and will disable for externals!)

On my own workstation, using 8 of the ten server mentioned above :-) I see 
messages like this:


May  5 09:44:05 toto ntpd[5589]: synchronized to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, stratum 2

where my client daemon seems to flip around from one of my servers to the 
others.

I have real servers that use the first 4 I described above as their 
"server" entries and I see similar "synchronized" messages.


What can or should I do to make this more robust?  Would a "prefer" 
statement help?  Should I use more or fewer peers?



-- 
Peter Laws / N5UWY
National Weather Center / Network Operations Center
University of Oklahoma Information Technology
plaws at ou.edu
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Feedback? Contact my director, Craig Cochell, craigc at ou.edu. Thank you!


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