[ntp:questions] Re: how many servers should I poll?

Rob MacGregor me at privacy.net
Sun Aug 10 20:19:06 UTC 2003


Brian Garrett wrote:
> If only more ISP's agreed with you.  When I was first told that Cox had no
> NTP server available and found out the next day that that was false, I
> thought perhaps their tech support droids were simply unaware that they had
> one.  The more I hear of professionals talking being told by their ISP's
> being told by service reps that their server have no NTP servers available,
> the more convinced I am that most ISP's don't *want* their customers to know
> about their NTP service.  Why this is, I'm not certain; we certainly pay
> them enough.  Perhaps those of us who are treated this way need to call
> their bluff more often.

Actually, I'm fairly confident that most of the techs you reach as a 
user don't have a clue.  My own ISP claimed for long enough that they 
didn't have an NTP server, despite having 2.

It was only when those behind the scenes were reached that people were 
told that they had NTP servers that their customers could use.  They've 
even advertised it's existence (to a small degree) since then.

Sadly my experience is that the front line droids rarely have a clue 
(and I'm not just referring to my ISP here).  Very often their little 
more than call taking people and it's a rare day I come across ones that 
understand what I'm talking about.  When I reach the second line (or 
deeper) people I usually find individuals with a clue, who are surprised 
when they discover that the phone driods didn't know about X (whatever 
that may be).

-- 
   Rob MacGregor (BOFH)        Oh my God! They killed init! You bastards!
       The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming dragon.




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