SUMMARY: Syncing Time Clocks

From: Neil W. Van Dyke (neil@cadre.com)
Date: Wed Sep 23 1992 - 03:24:02 CDT


My original question was how to keep the time synchronized among a
heterogeneous net of Unix workstations.

The overwhelming answer is that "ntp" is indeed the right way to do it.

"ntp" is reportedly available from the following anon-ftp sites (and others):

  ftp.uu.net:/networking/applic/ntp/
  louie.udel.edu:/pub/ntp/
  louie.udel.edu:/pub/xntp.new.tar.Z
  world.std.com:/src/network/ntp/

Several people suggested that I make sure to get version 3.

I plan to grab a copy and try it out as soon as possible.

There is also a newsgroup, "comp.protocols.time.ntp", devoted to "ntp".

Other suggestions on syncing clocks included:

  1. Using an example from Doug Comer's book, ``Internetworking with TCP/IP
     Vol. III'', 1993.

  2. For the Ultrix system, building the program in
     "spi.ens.fr:pub/unix/syst/rdate.c".

  3. The Berkeley Net-2 distribution includes the "netdate" program, which may
     be similar to SunOS' "rdate".

  4. A cron job which rsh-es to a time server to get the current timestamp, and
     uses it as the argument to "date" on the local system.

Steve Kilbane also sent me the responses to a similar question he asked a while
ago.

Thanks to everyone who responded:

  John Hasley<uunet!andy.bgsu.edu!hasley>
  Christian Sebeke <uunet!frodo.lfi.uni-hannover.de!cseb>
  uunet!cirrus.com!gls (Gary L. Schaps)
  uunet!ens.ens.fr!Jacques.Beigbeder (Jacques Beigbeder)
  uunet!eptsun1.ctd.ornl.gov!ept (E P Tinnel)
  "Paul M. Mickel" <uunet!oes.orst.edu!mickel>
  uunet!pex.eecs.nwu.edu!phil (William LeFebvre)
  uunet!gateway.mitre.org!cperry (Chris Perry)
  uunet!ncbi.nlm.nih.gov!randy (Rand S. Huntzinger)
  Patrick Shopbell <uunet!pegasus.rice.edu!pls>
  uunet!mcc.com!knutson (Jim Knutson)
  uunet!thor.ece.uc.EDU!montjoy (Robert Montjoy)
  uunet!ide.com!bobh
  uunet!cs.athabascau.ca!daryl (Daryl Campbell)
  uunet!xerox.com!Perry_Hutchison.Portland
  Christian Lawrence <uunet!soac.bellcore.com!cal>
  David Fetrow <uunet!biostat.washington.edu!fetrow>
  uunet!hub.eng.wayne.edu!lists (Mailing Groups mailstop)
  uunet!ees1s0.engr.ccny.cuny.edu!dan (Dan Schlitt)
  uunet!jpmorgan.com!cyerkes (Chuck Yerkes)
  uunet!gec-epl.co.uk!Steve_Kilbane
  ...and those whose responses I have not yet received.
  

-- 
Neil W. Van Dyke <> neil@cadre.com <> +1 503 690 1586 <> Fax: +1 503 690 1320
"My employer disclaims that I even work for them, much less speak for them."



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