[OT] NTP servers - was Re: Kernel clock issue "Clocksource tsc unstable"

[Smoot Carl-Mitchell]

On Sat, 2009-02-28 at 09:54 -0400, Derek Broughton wrote:

> So, I'd agree that ntp is serious overkill for most personal-use computers 
> and even ntpdate only needs to be run at boot (or resume-from-hibernate)
> time.  I would _always_ recommend syncing times at start-up, because some
> hardware clocks are notoriously unreliable when the machine is powered
> down.

On my home LAN, all my clients synchronize their clocks to my Internet
facing server which broadcasts time packets on the internal LAN every 30
seconds.  It keeps all the clocks within milliseconds of each other and
it is easy to setup internal clients.  I have several MacOS boxes
syncing this way plus my Ubuntu notebook.  If you rove a lot with your
notebook, I would suggest syncing to pool.ntp.org.  But I agree in lieu
of the above, syncing at boot with ntpdate makes sense.

NTP is just not that traffic or resource intensive.  It also does not
make sudden backward or forward time jumps.  It will slew the clock
slowly to bring it into sync.  What this means is time always moves
incrementally forward.  The software clock never jumps suddenly back in
time.
-- 
Smoot Carl-Mitchell
Computer Systems and
Network Consultant
smoot at tic.com
+1 480 922 7313
cell: +1 602 421 9005