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Date:      Fri, 24 Nov 2000 23:00:41 -0800
From:      Doug Barton <DougB@FreeBSD.org>
To:        allan.dib@tfc.net.au
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org, dan@mostgraveconcern.org
Subject:   Re: NTP Problems
Message-ID:  <3A1F6399.1D0A8B1E@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <3a1c6b75.d5.0@webcentral.com.au>

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Allan Dib wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am running FreeBSD 4.1.1 and followed the advice given on this mailing list
> regarding NTP. I created /etc/ntp.conf and put in the line:
> 
> server ntp.mel.nml.CSIRO.AU

	All you really need is one lower stratum public server to synch a
workstation. You definitely don't want to use this server, it's a
stratum 1 time server and good netiquette dictates that strat 1 servers
are only used to synch publicly available strat 2 servers. It's very
common for ISP's to set up their nameservers as time servers, and in
fact, your ISP has done just that:

 dig tfc.net.au ns

;; ANSWER SECTION:
tfc.net.au.             1D IN NS        oldent.powerup.com.au.
tfc.net.au.             1D IN NS        galileo.powerup.com.au.

 ntptrace oldent.powerup.com.au.
oldent.powerup.com.au: stratum 4, offset -0.033629, synch distance
0.05203
lnx02-f1.powerup.com.au: stratum 3, offset -0.000951, synch distance
0.04160
oznet.ozemail.com.au: stratum 2, offset -0.024467, synch distance
0.01111
stl0gps0.syd.ops.au.ozemail.net: stratum 1, offset -0.019876, synch
distance 0.00000, refid 'GPS'

 ntptrace galileo.powerup.com.au.
galileo.powerup.com.au: stratum 1, offset -402.350426, synch distance
0.01044, refid 'LCL'

You could use either one of those as time servers, but in this case it
would be a bad idea to use both, since they are at different stratums. 

	If this technique doesn't yield you a timeserver to use, you can take a
look at the publicly available server list at
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/


> I also tried the following in the ntp.conf :
> (taken from the suggestions at http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/ntp.html)

	The problem with this is that A) time.nist.gov is definitely not
appropriate for anyone other than a publicly available strat 2 server.
B) There is no explanation as to what the server 127.127.1.0 lines are
for, who should use them, or why they aren't needed for a workstation
that's permanently connected to the internet. 
 
> server time.nist.gov prefer
> server 127.127.1.0
> fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 10
> driftfile /etc/ntp.drift
> 
> then ran    "ntpd -p /var/run/ntpd.pid"
> 
> The system log first showed the following (which I beleive is normal)
> 
> Nov 23 18:43:01 www ntpd[318]: ntpd 4.0.99b Mon Sep 25 23:37:27 GMT 2000 (1)
> 
> Nov 23 18:43:01 www ntpd[318]: using kernel phase-lock loop 2041
> 
> But then after a while the following appeared in the system log:
> 
> Nov 23 18:50:47 www ntpd[318]: time error -28161 over 1000 seconds; set clock
> manually

	As someone else already mentioned, you should run 'ntpdate
oldent.powerup.com.au' (or whatever server you choose) before running
ntpd by hand. ntpd won't synch the clock if it starts off more than a
certain number of seconds away from real time. 

Good luck,

Doug
-- 
    So what I want to know is, where does the RED brick road go?

	Do YOU Yahoo!?


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