[ntp:questions] Test internal clock
Rob Neal
hundoj at comcast.net
Fri Mar 20 13:24:58 UTC 2009
On Fri, 20 Mar 2009, Unruh wrote:
> hundoj at comcast.net (Rob Neal) writes:
>
>>>
>>> It almost seems like a religious group. Most people try to convert
>>> the world to Mills' NTPD, and then there is the dissident who tries
>>> to push Chrony in every thread.
>> Chrony has an impulse response that is ill-advised in
>> a network of NTP servers. It's really rather crude, IMHO.
>
> An interesting claim. What is it about the chrony impulse response that you
> do not like and why is it "ill-advised" in a network of ntp servers? I
> really am interested in the answer. I would think it is far less crude than
> is ntpd, but would love to understand your reasons.
The slew rate. NTP limits the slew rate to 500 PPM,
for purposes of error bound analysis and conformance
to common software constraints. It is, in the end,
a PLL.
Chrony does not appear to have either such analysis
of errors, nor a bound on the slew rate.
If you have no bound on the slew rate, then
you cannot make mathematical statements about
the response to transient inputs - such as the time
to amortize an offset.
If one cannot bound, via mathematics, the transient
response, then how can one constrain the loop
stability?
And if one cannot bound or define the loop stability,
then its use in a large network of like performers
becomes problematic. How does one bound the
oscillation between partners, under these conditions?
It may be that these questions have practical answers,
disjunct from the analysis, that are perfectly adequate
in practice. I have seen no such demonstration, so I
prefer the bounds within NTP. These have been supported
by extensive analysis, and practical deployment.
Perhaps not perfect for all purposes, but usable.
I would expect that for leaf nodes, Chrony would be
a totally acceptable solution, with characteristics
that would make it attractive to a large number of
system administrators.
Does this answer address your concerns?
Regards,
Rob
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