[ntp:questions] refid 'STC ' ? What does "STC" signify?

phreon at gmail.com phreon at gmail.com
Thu Jan 22 16:22:16 UTC 2009


On Jan 22, 9:40 am, Steve Kostecke <koste... at ntp.org> wrote:
> On 2009-01-22, Martin Burnicki <martin.burni... at meinberg.de> wrote:
>
> > Steve Kostecke wrote:
>
> > [---=| Quote block shrinked by t-prot: 35 lines snipped |=---]
> >>                                                           GPS, DCF
> >> 39     hopf clock drivers by ATLSoft                      HOPF (default),
> >>                                                           GPS, DCF
> >> 40     JJY Receivers                                      JJY
> >> 42     Zyfer GPStarplus Receiver                          GPS
> >> 43     RIPE NCC interface for Trimble Palisade            RIPENCC
> >> 44     NeoClock4X                                         NEOL
>
> > AFAIK the refid (as reported in the ntpq -p billboard) can only have up to 4
> > characters since it's transported in a 32 bit value in the NTP packet, so
> > it's not possible to set it e.g. to "OMEGA" or "DUMBCLOCK".
>
> Please see the reference IDs listed on the following pages (among
> others):
>
> http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/html/drivers/driver5.htmlhttp://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/html/drivers/driver33.htmlhttp://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/html/drivers/driver43.html
>
> I assembled a list based on the Official Distribution Documentation
> to provide some useful information to our news-group readers in place
> of the usual dismissive reply of "RTFM".
>
> If there are errors in the documentation please contact the
> documentation maintainer.
>
> --
> Steve Kostecke <koste... at ntp.org>
> NTP Public Services Project -http://support.ntp.org/

Thanks for the links.  I did indeed RTFM, including the links
provided, but as noted in other posts in this thread, "STC" is not
known and the "refid" field can be fudged to any 4 char. string (I did
overlook the important nugget).

 Experience has taught me that if Google searches of the web or usenet
produce zero valid hits, I'm looking for something extremely esoteric
or the information doesn't exist in any online form. This is why I
came to this group. I haven't dug into the code for each driver yet,
but I didn't think it's unreasonable to *hope* the information I was
seeking is available in the official documentation rather than having
to sift through actual code. NTP seems unique that much of the
information necessary to understand and effectively administer it is
scattered about many sources and is often buried in text. I liken it
to trying to learn DVORAK on a keyboard that has no markings by
reading the engineering specifications and firmware code.

 I've read the ( NTP v3) RFC cover to cover in a previous life, but
one of my failings is I don't remember all the fine details if I don't
use them on a regular basis.  Either way, as lazy as it sounds, my job
keeps me busy enough that I can't spend much time tilting at this
windmill.

Thanks,

Phreon




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