[ntp:questions] Why does ntp keep changing my conf file?

Kevin Oberman oberman at es.net
Fri Sep 17 16:52:26 UTC 2010


> From: Steve Kostecke <kostecke at ntp.org>
> Date: 17 Sep 2010 12:34:35 GMT
> Sender: questions-bounces+oberman=es.net at lists.ntp.org
> 
> On 2010-09-16, Daniel Havey <dhavey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > I want ntpdate, and don't really care about ntpd.
> 
> Why? ntpd is both an ntp server and an ntp client.
> 
> > I need an ntp server running on one node, and the other nodes connect
> > to the first node with ntpdate ...
> 
> ntpd continuously disciplines the system clock
> 
> ntpdate can only apply/initiate an adjustment each time it runs. The
> system clock will drift in the interim.

Worse yet, ntpdate may cause the time to step backwards which really
screws up some stuff that makes silly assumptions about the "arrow of
time".

Aside from the fact that ntpdate was deprecated a LONG time ago, it is
really a poor way to try to sync time. ntpd or chrony would be a much
better choice. Even sntp would work better.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman at es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634
Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4  EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751



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