nanog mailing list archives
Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe)
From: Masataka Ohta <mohta () necom830 hpcl titech ac jp>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:08:54 +0900
John Gilmore wrote:
Subsequent conversation has shown that you are both right here. Yes, many public NTP servers ARE using GPS-derived time. Yes, some public NTP servers ARE NOT using GPS-derived time.
The point is whether : 2) Run a set of internal NTPd servers, and configure them to pull : time from all of your GPS-derived NTP servers, AND trusted public : NTP servers is a proper recommendation against total GPS failure or not.
At one point I proposed that some big NTP server pools be segregated by names, to distinguish between GPS-derived time and national-standard derived time. For example, two domain names could be e.g.: fromnist.pool.tick.tock fromgps.pool.tick.tock
A problem is that a public NTP server, which is not necessarily stratum 1, may depends on both. Another problem is that domain name management is not so trustworthy. An NTP server once relying on NIST may now relying on GPS but an administrator of the server may not change its domain name. "trusted public NTP servers" is not a trustworthy or verifiable concept.
PS: When we say "GPS", do we really mean any GNSS (global navigation satellite system)? There are now four such systems that have global coverage, plus regionals. While they attempt to coordinate their time-bases and reference-frames, they are using different hardware and systems, and are under different administration, so there are some differences in the clock values returned by each GNSS. These differences and discontinuties have ranged up to 100ns in normal operation, and higher amounts in the past. See:
Because of the relativity, 100ns of time difference between locations more than 30m apart can not be a problem for correct transaction processing or ordering of events. Masataka Ohta
Current thread:
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe), (continued)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Forrest Christian (List Account) (Aug 13)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Jay R. Ashworth (Aug 13)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Forrest Christian (List Account) (Aug 09)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Seth Mattinen via NANOG (Aug 09)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Mel Beckman (Aug 09)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Forrest Christian (List Account) (Aug 09)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Masataka Ohta (Aug 11)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Forrest Christian (List Account) (Aug 11)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Masataka Ohta (Aug 11)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) John Gilmore (Aug 12)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Masataka Ohta (Aug 13)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Forrest Christian (List Account) (Aug 14)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Mel Beckman (Aug 14)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Forrest Christian (List Account) (Aug 14)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) sronan (Aug 16)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) James R Cutler (Aug 14)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Mike Hammett (Aug 14)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Mike Hammett (Aug 13)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Masataka Ohta (Aug 14)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Masataka Ohta (Aug 09)
- Re: NTP Sync Issue Across Tata (Europe) Jay R. Ashworth (Aug 13)