On 2011-12-13, Harlan Stenn <[email protected]> wrote:
> Richard wrote:
> [much elided]
>
>> Like it or not, NTPD, when started, will need up to TEN HOURS to
>> settle down with the best time that you are going to get!  This is not
>> a hardship if you run NTPD 24x365 (366 in leap years).  If you have to
>> shutdown frequently and can't wait for NTPD to reach steady state then
>> NTP is the wrong tool for you!
>
> You say this as if it is necessarily a bad thing.

If it were the only way of ensuring good timing, it would not be. It is
not. It is an extremely primative feedback loop, which IMHO wastes a
huge amount of information in the data. And the slowness of the settling
down initially is just the other side of ntpd's poor handling of changes
in the clock frequency ( due for example to heating because of the
computer suddenly having to do some heavy computing).
 
>
> NTP is *careful* about choosing reference time.  It acts conservatively.

In some ways, yes, in some ways it is extremely profligate. 
>
> There are a bunch of folks who consider this to be a feature.
>
> Are you implying that before ntpd gets "the best time that you are going
> to get" that the actual time on the box is inadequate?

It has a much larger displacement from the true time than it needs to
have. 



I suppose it depends on what you want. 
>
> In that interim, is the time "bad" or are the error numbers just
> shrinking?
>

_______________________________________________
questions mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ntp.org/listinfo/questions

Reply via email to