[ntp:questions] SBC-ATT Time Servers

xsiunnu at gmail.com xsiunnu at gmail.com
Tue Jul 31 23:31:23 UTC 2012


at&t just doesn't have much of a clue, when it comes to Network Time.
for years, they had clocks running on NIS+ servers, mainly to keep time in sync on the network devices.

The "new" at&t ... launched U-Verse, which had insane timing requirements, hence the build of the Anycast ntp servers (ntp1.sbcglobal.net/ntp2.sbcglobal.net).
Most of the U-Verse STBs sync to these ... but not the network equipment!
The network hardware, talks directly to the stratum 1 clock(s).

Correction, most of the network equipment talks to the Richardson stratum 1..
Apparently, nobody but me still uses the SNFC21 or WLFRCT stratum 1 clocks :p

I strongly suspect, after I told Darth Felo to take my job, and shovel it ... NOBODY has been minding the clocks, at all. 
The RCSNTX stratum 1 (151.164.60.81) is almost always 50 seconds off now.
I'd be willing to bet nobody has so much as performed one iota of maintenance on that system, since I deployed it, in 2008.

There is another stratum 1 clock source, in Wallingford, CT.
So far, I've never seen any of the anycast nodes so much as ask it for time!
I find it to be MUCH more reliable: st1gs-ntp3.wlfrct.sbcglobal.net

Unless someone gets a swift kick in the hiney up in the 'new' at&t ... I'd avoid
the stratum 1 clock in RCSNTX (st1gs-ntp.rcsntx.sbcglobal.net) and the anycast clock nodes that sync off it (ntp1.sbcglobal.net/ntp2.sbcglobal.net)

The stratum 1 clocks ARE open to any clients, however they are restricted and controlled, somewhat. My initial configs seem to still be in place. Though, sometimes I think someone's foo!bar'd the SNFC21 clock, as it's over 60 seconds out-of-whack, pretty consistently.



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