From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39A241381F3 for ; Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:34:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 08159E0D43; Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:34:15 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-wi0-f170.google.com (mail-wi0-f170.google.com [209.85.212.170]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A6A16E0CF2 for ; Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:34:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-wi0-f170.google.com with SMTP id l13so1185822wie.5 for ; Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:34:12 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=x-received:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:subject :references:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=CuRzMl4VbAkel0GdN2udC9AlahH5HEmM8ECUR69DA7w=; b=z9dV9iTebb5mT72N9XigdwhRDk9OXGz9VHHs5vmZ39CfWUOtVctvyCAcfnklSYKAst NBG5Q2O7rrnVIvoJc7jF2C6G130iN1JXxWyEu8Thsrg3cEEVFZVEHZ3Wm3vWV0NI7N48 /wl71zKKSDH9EW1GHmgwYrp9yIixwZVDcAyySEzXg/pYUdnPjd6t5yf9hNC0j9nBTif/ FieCpX0EnZgeoe8VuslWP/u8z1bcbsmAj5tbZFRLUIIlNeoHdlNx6Vl0WUdiSSBw2zkP sIdo5RD4RB7h25/9TXHY5iEFf2319YCkH0QaQpEJ5jLisFPCXvzj3cizZHm5tjKilNPU Doxg== X-Received: by 10.180.205.135 with SMTP id lg7mr6341153wic.11.1367008452311; Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:34:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [172.20.0.41] (196-215-203-210.dynamic.isadsl.co.za. [196.215.203.210]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id q13sm6271449wie.8.2013.04.26.13.34.09 for (version=TLSv1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA bits=128/128); Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:34:11 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <517AE48C.8070600@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:33:16 +0200 From: Alan McKinnon User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130413 Thunderbird/17.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Server system date synchronizaion References: <20130426141011.GH24932@syscon7.inet> <517A949D.6030800@gmail.com> <517AA020.2070805@gmail.com> <517AAEF4.1090108@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 304487b0-7b10-48ee-99f8-15aa51ec15d8 X-Archives-Hash: 57798d9cceabbf06ff4695582e9623e8 On 26/04/2013 19:11, Nick Khamis wrote: >>> >> Thank you so much for your response, and I totally understand the >>> >> effort vs. benefit challenge. However, is it really that much >>> >> trouble/unstable to setup our own ntp >>> >> server that syncs with our local isp, and have our internal network sync >>> >> on it? >> > >> > >> > No, it's not THAT much effort. You can get by with installing ntpd on a >> > single machine, pointing it at the upstream time server and pointing all >> > your clients to it. It's clearly recorded in the config file, you can't >> > go wrong. >> > >> > It's understanding how this weird thing called time works that is the >> > issue. Take for example leap seconds..... urggggggggggg... >> > >> > The basic question I suppose is why do you want to do it this way? What >> > do you feel you will gain by doing it yourself? >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Alan McKinnon >> > alan.mckinnon@gmail.com >> > >> > >> > > Hello Alan, > > Thank you so much for your time. Our voip cluster time always vary for > some reason.... > And with long distance, that could mean upwards to a dollar a call. Ah, OK. That changes things quite a bit. I have a little bit of experience with that - I work for a large ISP, we have a large VOIP department and we run a stratum 2 time server that serves most of the country. First things first: you can't just stick any old upstream ntp server in your config and walk away. You are then reliant on the quality of that upstream, and far too often other time servers operate on a "good enough" policy - if it's accurate to about a second, it's good enough (and for desktop users i.e. most ISP clients, it is good enough). I don't know how big your operation is, if you have budget I suggest you invest in a proper master time source that is GPS-driven. We have a Symmetricom (http://www.symmetricom.com) but it's a mature market with several vendors. Shop around, prices are less than you'd expect (about the same as a decent mid-range server and much less than Cisco's routers...) Weather can get in the way, so back up the device with a decent second upstream. I have a good one available run by the Science and Technology Research part of the Dept of Trade and Industry and the third option is all the other big ISPs around. Depending on your accuracy needs you could get away without the GPS unit and just use a good upstream, but I'd fight for the budget for it - tell management it puts control of billing back in your hands, they always fall for that one :-) So the summary would be that I reckon ntpd will do what you want as long as you chose good reliable time sources. With that in hand, the config is easy as rather well documented. Shout here ont he list if you need a hand with this when you come to deployment time -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckinnon@gmail.com