I was reading the 'everything' log on a 6.03 machine that appears to be working normally and ran across this:

Oct 8 02:55:04 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:09:34 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:29:43 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:46:17 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:50:11 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 04:19:13 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 04:37:51 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 208.77.19.5, stratum 2
Oct 8 06:36:55 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 06:58:20 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 07:14:05 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:29:43 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:46:17 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 03:50:11 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 04:19:13 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 04:37:51 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 208.77.19.5, stratum 2
Oct 8 06:36:55 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 06:58:20 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 66.79.152.35, stratum 2
Oct 8 07:14:05 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 69.65.40.29, stratum 2
Oct 8 07:31:10 mythbox101 ntpd[4992]: synchronized to 208.77.19.5, stratum 2

Why is the box synching on so many timeservers, and is this normal, or are there 'sych' settings in more than one place tripping over each other ?

Note to self: Checking two other 'normal running' machines... they were doing this too.....

That's funny. Mine wasn't checking at all! Had to install ntpdate and now do manual updates.

Have you tried specifying just two ntp servers in your ntpd.conf?

Mike

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LinHES 7.4
Australian Dragon
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So the /etc/ntp.conf file contained this... as part of the original install- I didn't specify anything..

# You do need to talk to an NTP server or two (or three).
#server ntp.your-provider.example

# pool.ntp.org maps to about 1000 low-stratum NTP servers. Your server will
# pick a different set every time it starts up. Please consider joining the
# pool: <http://www.pool.ntp.org/join.html>
server pool.ntp.org
server 0.us.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 1.us.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 2.us.pool.ntp.org iburst
server 3.us.pool.ntp.org iburst

So it looks like this was the intention of the developers.

Try replacing the pool servers with one or two entries with IP addresses obtained from your first post.

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LinHES 7.4
Australian Dragon
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The ntp.conf file contains the 'pool servers' above, but is (today) synching on the three IPs in the first post (without them being set in the .conf file) [Scratching head...]
Looks like the lines in the first post....

The machine is set for a simple one a week synch through Webmin and there I have the server time.windows.com specified.

I'm still puzzled as to how many places call a time synch.

Maybe it's not obvious then. The ones in the list are part of the pool. A URL doesn't necessarily resolve to just one IP address.

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LinHES 7.4
Australian Dragon
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From your log, only one thing is doing the timesync: ntpd. It is a daemon that is typically running all the time.

The reason you so so many sync logs is that ntpd does not set the time directly. It changes the speed of the clock very slightly and waits for it to sync on it's own. Those messages are when it achieves sync. When it drifts too far away from sync again, it changes the clock skew and waits for it to sync again.

It is best to sync to a pool instead of a particular machine. This avoids overloading one machine and means your ntp will still work if that machine is taken down. Generally all machines in a pool are synced to the same stratum 1 box, so to a stratum 3 box (i.e. your box), they can be considered identical.

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ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

Thanks, alien !

I was looking for an edjumication as to what's going on .......



So if LH runs ntpd by default, what happens when Webmin is used to turn on a periodic synch using a specified timeserver ? Redundant ? Cross-purposes ?

I think webadmin uses ntpdate which just sets the time directly instead of smoothly like ntpd. Better to use ntpd as jumps in time can cause odd behaviour.

Webadmin might be useful if the clock is more than an hour off in which case ntpd won't be able to fix it in a reasonable amount of time.

_________________
ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

..So the Webmin time synch would best be left 'off' .....

yep

_________________
ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)