[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Just look at the NTP/SNTP request format and for ***every*** field > explain why would a client send it to a server. Do not pick just one > field like MODE, explain for ***all*** fields.
I believe that the principal reason for having the same format for the received and the transmitted packet is so that the server can reply simply by modifying the received packet and transmitting the result. This means that there is no need to allocate memory for constructing the reply packet, no need to copy data from received to transmitted packet, etc. This could conceivably be done very close to (or indeed in) the hardware, but even if it is done in user space (as is the case in ntpd) this saves precious time, which is important in a timing application. Optimising the packet format for conveying just enough information (i.e. optimising for bandwidth) is of secondary importance (particularly given the overhead that IP already represents), and is in fact counterproductive in the light of the above argument. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jan _______________________________________________ questions mailing list questions@lists.ntp.org https://lists.ntp.org/mailman/listinfo/questions
