[ntp:questions] Source address in response always the same as target address in request?

Brian Utterback brian.utterback at sun.com
Fri Dec 14 21:17:05 UTC 2007


David L. Mills wrote:
> Brian,
> 
> I recall the SHOULD was inserted to support the anycast model where any 
> of a number of servers could respond to a specific request. NTP along 
> with many others in the late 1970s did not anticipate such a model and, 
> even if they did, as later in NTP manycast, the addresses are still 
> necessary for operation sugbsequent to discovery.
> 
> Dave
>

Perhaps. You were there, I was not involved at the time. However, my
understanding is that not all systems at the time could be made to
meet the requirement and thus the SHOULD was necessary. But even so,
my point is that although ther SHOULD is there, most UDP applications
on most operating systems do not actually follow the SHOULD at all.

Brian Utterback.




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