[ntp:questions] losing time fast

Rob nomail at example.com
Fri Jul 13 15:59:25 UTC 2012


Roger <invalid at invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 13 Jul 2012 09:00:43 GMT, Rob <nomail at example.com> wrote:
>
>>The pool DNS server, when you use "pool pool.ntp.org" or "server pool.ntp.org",
>>lookup your IP address in a location database and give you a server from
>>the country you are residing in.
>
> I get angry when a statement is made which can easily be shown
> to be incorrect. What is your source for that statement?

Well actually it is not your own IP address but the IP address of the
DNS forwarder you use that is being looked up.
"Usually" you will use the DNS forwarder of your own ISP, and it
will be located in the country where you are located yourself.
However, as I already wrote, some people use 8.8.8.8 as a DNS forwarder
and it will not work quite as well because the local instance of that
manycast service can be in a neighboring country.

> Last year you posted:
>
>>On 21 Apr 2011 16:18:39 GMT, Rob <nomail at example.com> wrote:
>>
>>>When I do a lookup of pool.ntp.org I get three addresses returned that
>>>are local to me.
>
> It wasn't true for David Taylor or me last year and it isn't
> true today.

It still is true today for me, and I have tested it at another ISP
that I have access to now (and did not have last year), and it works
OK there too.

> I'm in the UK. I gave up after getting 15 different IP
> addresses, none of them in the UK. I received IP addresses as
> close as France and Netherlands and as distant as Czech
> Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland.
>
> I see that David Taylor also received none UK addresses today.

What DNS forwarder are you using?
Is it the address given to you by your ISP (either on paper or via
DHCP) or did you decice to use another DNS forwarder?

> Again, last year you posted:
>
>>On 22 Apr 2011 13:58:08 GMT, Rob <nomail at example.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Is your Internet provider a company that is also (or mainly) active
>>>in France and Germany?
>>>
>>>Apparently the IP location service misinterprets your IP adress.
>>>That should be fixed.  For the addresses I can test it works
>>>flawlessly.
>
> The IP location service correctly identifies my location as
> Europe. Where is it stated that the location service should be
> giving country specific IP addresses?

The documentation is lacking.  It does not tell that it is using
a location service at all.  But still it does.
This has been the case since 2007.

Check the archives of the timekeepers mailing list for bits and
pieces if information that have appeared there.



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