From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Sep 18 03:38:09 1995 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id DAA11711 for questions-outgoing; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 03:38:09 -0700 Received: from mpp.minn.net (mpp.Minn.Net [204.157.201.242]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id DAA11706 for ; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 03:38:05 -0700 Received: (from mpp@localhost) by mpp.minn.net (8.6.11/8.6.9) id FAA29972 for questions@freebsd.org; Mon, 18 Sep 1995 05:38:02 -0500 From: Mike Pritchard Message-Id: <199509181038.FAA29972@mpp.minn.net> Subject: xntpd vs. ntpdate To: questions@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 05:37:58 -0500 (CDT) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 ME7a] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 2054 Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk Some background info: Running -current: I currently have a 28.8 dedicated PPP (with pppd, and don't tell me about "ppp", I don't want to hear it) link to the Internet through my ISP. For the past few months I have been trying to use xntpd (via sysconfig) to keep my system clock in line. The problem I have is that due to my ISP's modem/terminal concentrator/whatever, my initial dial-up & connect during /etc/rc & /etc/netstart almost never works. It usually take between 3 - 6 attempts before I get a "good" connection and my link stays up (this in itself is not a big deal most of the time). I'm also running a caching only name server. Where the problem comes in is that 90% of the time, xntpd will ignore all of the hosts in /etc/ntp.conf if the PPP link is not active when it is started up. E.g. if I reboot and "pppd" can't establish a connection to my ISP, my /etc/netstart will continue on, and then /etc/rc will continue on. If the PPP link is not active when xntpd starts, it pretty much loses/throws away/ignores all of the host infomation in /etc/ntp.conf. Unless I kill xntpd and restart it by hand, while the PPP link is active, xntpd will do no time adjustments. I don't want to make /etc/netstart wait until the PPP link is ready, since that could take a while (esp. if my ISP is down), and I want my machine up NOW if I reboot it. Is there a simple way for me to tell xntpd to try and contact the time servers again without any manual intervention or killing and restarting it? Or is this just a "bug" in xntpd that needs to be fixed (most likely)? I'm willing to try to fix it if it is. I've tried switching back to running ntpdate once an hour, but my clock seems to lose at least 1 second per hour, so I'm always "stepping" the time once an hour, which I would rather not have to do (why can't someone make an accurate PC clock?????). I hope that all made sense. It has been a *LONG* night. -Mike -- Mike Pritchard mpp@mpp.minn.net "Go that way. Really fast. If something gets in your way, turn"