[ntp:questions] General ntp architecture question

unruh unruh at wormhole.physics.ubc.ca
Mon Aug 2 15:28:15 UTC 2010


On 2010-08-02, konsu <konrad.azzopardi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I work for an investment bank with 300 UNIX servers, around 3000
> workstation PCs and would like to ask some questions to more
> experience users.

What are your timekeeping requirements? 
>
> a) Are there any banks relying on ntp pool project or should we
> consider having our own GPS clock ?
You should consider it, having the pool as a backup. On the other hand
that makes you reliant on outside. Ie, One could imagine some band of
crooks taking over the outside dns server, directing your pool request
to some specific machine of theirs, which they screwed up the time on,
and then ran some time sensitive stuff with your bank ( your clocks now
being 7 hours off say) .

> b) What are the criteria to consider in deciding when ntp pool project
> is enough for our needs ?
Figure out want your needs for timekeeping are.
> c) Should we decide to use ntp, for an organization of our size would
> 2 servers syncing to ntp pool project in DMZ and 2 servers inside to
> which all UNIX servers + Domain Controller will sync (PCs would sync
> to the Domain controller) suffice ?

It might. What are your requirements?

>
> I thank you in anticipation
> Konrad




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