Re: [gpsd-dev] Clarifications needed for the time-service HOWTO

[Gary E. Miller]

Yo Harlan!

On Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:18:35 +0000
Harlan Stenn <address@hidden> wrote:

> > I would say we prefer more verification than pool.ntp.org, but they
> > have been at it a while longer.
> 
> How about we check with Ask and find a way to work together on this.

The more the merrier.
 
> One of those steps would be to point folks at a good central location
> for this information.

Sadly (?), looks like gpsd is going to be that central location. 
 
> > > So some guidance to chimer auditing tools seems required.
> > 
> > That hhas been discussed at length on the list.  ntptrace is the
> > old way, mature but deprecated.  sntp is the new way, nice andd
> > shiny but moving too fast to document.  ntpq somewhere in the
> > middle.
> 
> In what way is sntp a moving target?  That code has been stable and
> pretty much unchanged for a while.

Well, for one, when I run sntp the results do not look like when other
people run it.'  For example my sntp seems to give more debug info,
yet does not show the remote stratum.  So we can not tell people to 
read the stratum with sntp if it often does not show the stratum.

Here is what I get, not exactly noob driendly:

# sntp -d 0.pool.ntp.org
22 Oct 15:25:20 sntp[30018]: Started sntp
Starting to read KoD file /var/db/ntp-kod...
22 Oct 15:25:56 sntp[30018]: Error looking up 0.pool.ntp.org: System error
Unable to resolve hostname(s)
dagwood www # sntp -d 0.us.pool.ntp.org
22 Oct 15:26:05 sntp[30032]: Started sntp
Starting to read KoD file /var/db/ntp-kod...
sntp sendpkt: Sending packet to 23.92.18.113... Packet sent.
sntp recvpkt: packet received from 23.92.18.113 is not authentic. 
Authentication not enforced.
sntp handle_pkt: Received 48 bytes from 23.92.18.113
sntp offset_calculation:        t21: 0.033617            t34: -0.042188
                delta: 0.075805  offset: -0.004285
2013-10-22 15:26:18.635819 (+0800) -0.00429 +/- 0.068069 secs
sntp sendpkt: Sending packet to 72.8.140.222... Packet sent.
sntp recvpkt: packet received from 72.8.140.222 is not authentic. 
Authentication not enforced.
sntp handle_pkt: Received 48 bytes from 72.8.140.222
sntp offset_calculation:        t21: 0.022373            t34: -0.012774
                delta: 0.035147  offset: 0.004800
2013-10-22 15:26:18.671056 (+0800) +0.004800 +/- 0.028198 secs
sntp sendpkt: Sending packet to 108.61.73.243... Packet sent.
sntp recvpkt: packet received from 108.61.73.243 is not authentic. 
Authentication not enforced.
sntp handle_pkt: Received 48 bytes from 108.61.73.243
sntp offset_calculation:        t21: 0.035720            t34: -0.050951
                delta: 0.086671  offset: -0.007615
2013-10-22 15:26:18.757815 (+0800) -0.007615 +/- 0.025040 secs
sntp sendpkt: Sending packet to 198.110.48.12... Packet sent.
sntp recvpkt: packet received from 198.110.48.12 is not authentic. 
Authentication not enforced.
sntp handle_pkt: Received 48 bytes from 198.110.48.12
sntp offset_calculation:        t21: 0.016210            t34: -0.042004
                delta: 0.058214  offset: -0.012897
2013-10-22 15:26:18.816145 (+0800) -0.012897 +/- 0.047775 secs


> I'm a bit lost - exactly what are the goals here?

To create a document to show the user how to create a 'good' stratum 1
server using a GPS and gpsd.  Along the way the user needs to know how
his chimer compares to that of others and knowing that how to adjust his
fudge.

> > My gut feel is that we are gonna end up writing our own tools.  :-)
> 
> If they are tools for NTP would it be better if they were in the NTP
> distribution?

Ideally, maybe yes.  But esr waits for noone.

RGDS
GARY
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary E. Miller Rellim 109 NW Wilmington Ave., Suite E, Bend, OR 97701
        address@hidden  Tel:+1(541)382-8588

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