[ntp:questions] Selection and Clustering of candidates

David Woolley david at ex.djwhome.demon.invalid
Sun Jun 26 09:03:40 UTC 2011


Mischanko, Edward T wrote:
> Some of the servers
> NTP selects have offsets that are higher than the majority;

These might be the ones with the most correct time.  A high offset only 
indicates a poor time if you are certain that the local time is 
absolutely correct.

>  Why are they being selected?

Because they have times that are consistent with the times from all the 
other selected ones and NTP_MAXCLOCKS in ntpd.h hasn't been reached.

> Why are so many being selected when I really want the best 5 or 6.

How is ntpd to determine that they are the best ones.  A high offset may 
simply mean the local time is wrong.

> 
> # Miscellaneous stuff
> tinker allan 7
> tos minclock 4 minsane 3

It is tos maxclock, but it doesn't seem to be documented in at least 
some versions of the HTML.




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