In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ask Bjørn Hansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> The argument for filling otherwise small or empty zones with "nearby
> regions" is that it'll be easier for clients to get slightly better
> defaults than just using {|0.|1.|2.}pool.ntp.org.
The clients may only get slightly better defaults today, but down the
road when these nearly empty zones can be filled, the clients will
automatically get quite a bit better results.
Right now, automated config scripts can just ask you for your ISO
country code and use it. They have to check to see if that zone
exists yet, and provide a fallback. I think we would be better off if
we created the automatic fallback by filling in the zones.
> I'd counter that if whoever is configuring their ntp server wants a
> better configuration they'll better off handpicking appropriate
> "nearby regions" or just choosing "I only want servers in my country"
> as appropriate to their situation.
Links that cross oceans tend to have high jitter and high latency.
Ending up with an NTP server that is half way around the world is
going to cause you to have something like a 100ms minimum delay.
(65ms for the speed of light, but electric signals only travel at
2/3c, plus router delays, etc.)
> Another problem with filling with "nearby regions" is that it's hard
> to figure out on a country by country basis what's a "nearby region".
Even filling in with random servers from around the world will allow
for automated config scripts to work today.
>> Also, timezone specific zones should be created as another way of
>> dividing up the pool in an easy to configure way. It makes very
>> little sense to give Portugal and Russia the same kinds level of
>> divisions. This also gives a greater division of the pool, allowing
>> for the load to be spread more evenly.
>
> But a server in Lima, Peru is hardly better served by a server in say
> Portland, ME than just getting a random server. A little bit,
> sure. But not nearly as well as a slightly more careful
> configuration on the part of an informed local administrator.
Despite being about the same longitude, I'm pretty sure that the
people in Peru use a different timezone than the people in Maine,
mostly due to daylight savings time differnces.
There are many more than 24 timezones. While timezones aren't perfect
dividers for our purposes, they aren't too bad either.
-wayne
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