[ntp:questions] Speedstream 5100b time synchronization?

Brad Knowles brad at stop.mail-abuse.org
Thu Jul 7 09:17:25 UTC 2005


At 11:08 PM -0700 2005-07-06, eponymousalias at yahoo.com wrote:

>  I've got a Speedstream 5100b DSL modem provided by my ISP
>  (a major telco).  Looking at its internal settings (which I
>  have no way to modify), I see it synchronizes its own internal
>  notion of time with two restricted-access stratum-1 NTP servers.

	Just two?

>  Isn't this a first-class bad idea, considering the load this
>  would impose as the telco tries to sign up millions of customers?

	If it's using just two, then yes -- that's the worst possible 
configuration for NTP.  See 
<http://ntp.isc.org/bin/view/Support/SelectingOffsiteNTPServers#Section_5.3.3.>.

	Otherwise, if the provider or the hardware manufacturer has not 
negotiated access to those servers, then that would be a world-class 
"bad idea".  See <http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~plonka/netgear-sntp/> for 
one such example of this kind of stupidity.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad at stop.mail-abuse.org>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

   SAGE member since 1995.  See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.



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