Andrew Stone wrote: > Hi all, > > I would like to configure my ntp client to use 2 servers only. I want > it to receive updates from only one of them, but then use the other when that one fails. What is the best way to do this? Will setting the primary server to use the 'prefer' keyword work?
You totally misunderstand the way that NTP works. Having multiple servers is not meant as a load-balancing or failover mechanism, it meant to be used to find the best and most reliable NTP server over any period and to switch as necessary when the currently chosen server has become worse (whether accuracy, precision, delay or other reasons) than other servers in the list. Failover is purely automatic and you are unlikely to ever notice. Two servers is the worst option since it will be unable to decide which one is better (usually). Three is the minimum recommended and four is preferred. You do *not* normally need to worry about additional NTP packets being sent to the servers, they barely notice the extra load, unless it's one the heavily loaded public servers such as the ones run by NIST. Danny _______________________________________________ questions mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ntp.org/mailman/listinfo/questions
