[ntp:questions] Syncing to nearby vs. faraway servers

John Hasler john at dhh.gt.org
Tue Jun 16 13:00:40 UTC 2009


Richard B. Gilbert writes:
> Country pools were a good start and probably adequate for small
> countries.  Countries the size of the U.S.  or the U.S.S.R. can't use a
> country wide pool and have much hope of getting a nearby server.  For the
> U.S. I'd want a "New England pool", a "middle Atlantic pool" (New Jersey,
> Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virgina), a Southern Atlantic Pool,
> etc.  This assumes that "net space" maps well to geographical space which
> may not always be a good assumption.

My best servers are often on the coasts.  I'm in Wisconsin.  In any case
country pools are quite adequate for 99% of users for whom anything better
than +-0.5 seconds is good enough.

> If a request for a pool server could specify the requester's latitude and
> longitude perhaps that information could be used to assign a nearby
> server?

Seems like an unnecessary complication.  Anyone who needs that sort of
performance should be willing and able to select servers by hand.
-- 
John Hasler 
john at dhh.gt.org
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA




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