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Rather than money one can donate NTP servers to the pool. [1] It can be a fun learning exercise in setting up a stable stratum-2 time server. One can create g

by Bender 1y ago

Rather than money one can donate NTP servers to the pool. [1] It can be a fun learning exercise in setting up a stable stratum-2 time server. One can create graphs from the optional logs. Why bother? Many of the rabbit holes one could venture down in learning to set up a stable time server can also benefit application servers in terms of latency, responsiveness, learning how to get clients to share resources and so much more. Rather than trying to find cooperative stratum-1 servers, one can start by using each of the Google, Facebook and Apple public stratum-1 servers [2] to get started. They get beat up a lot but most of them are stable most of the time. Ask your favorite LLM how to set up a public NTP server using NTPD or Chrony. For extra credit play with each of them. [1] - https://www.ntppool.org/en/join.html https://www.ntppool.org/en/join.html [2] - # grep -E "facebo|goog|appl" /etc/hosts 17.253.16.253 time.apple.com 129.134.28.123 time1.facebook.com 129.134.29.123 time2.facebook.com 129.134.25.123 time3.facebook.com 129.134.26.123 time4.facebook.com 129.134.27.123 time5.facebook.com 216.239.35.0 time1.google.com 216.239.35.4 time2.google.com 216.239.35.8 time3.google.com 216.239.35.12 time4.google.com

tonyarkles 1y ago
One of the really nifty things about having a stratum-1 time server on-site (because... reasons) is those graphs. You can very readily see the subtle temperature-dependence of timing crystals. At the facility I was at there was a large cycle every day during the week and then smaller cycle on each weekend day. Our HVAC system didn't heat/cool the building as much on the weekend when no one was there so the temperature swing -> frequency swing was smaller. Really drives home one of my favourite half-jokes: every sensor is a temperature sensor; some of them measure other things too.
dboreham 1y ago
We ran a public NTP server for many years. Then, details hazy, but I think there was a UDP amplification vulnerability that was exploited which upset our transit provider so we took it down. Might be fun to try again though.
- Analemma_ 1y ago
  A fully-patched NTP server should be fine. A lot of tier-2 ISPs were treating their NTP servers as abandonware that never got updates, so they ended up being ripe for UDP amplification attacks, but that was a vulnerability in ancient software, not the protocol.
bigstrat2003 1y ago
Yep, I encourage everyone to do this (though don't ask an LLM, actually put effort into learning). It's easy and cheap to do. I have been running a server in the NTP pool on a Digital Ocean droplet for years now, costs me only $6 a month.
- CamperBob2 1y ago
  The people who learn to use LLMs effectively for learning will outcompete you handily. You understand that, right? Tool use is an important skill, arguably among the most important ones we have evolved.

by Bender 1y ago

tonyarkles 1y ago

One of the really nifty things about having a stratum-1 time server on-site (because... reasons) is those graphs. You can very readily see the subtle temperature-dependence of timing crystals. At the facility I was at there was a large cycle every day during the week and then smaller cycle on each weekend day. Our HVAC system didn't heat/cool the building as much on the weekend when no one was there so the temperature swing -> frequency swing was smaller. Really drives home one of my favourite half-jokes: every sensor is a temperature sensor; some of them measure other things too.

dboreham 1y ago

We ran a public NTP server for many years. Then, details hazy, but I think there was a UDP amplification vulnerability that was exploited which upset our transit provider so we took it down. Might be fun to try again though.

Analemma_ 1y ago
A fully-patched NTP server should be fine. A lot of tier-2 ISPs were treating their NTP servers as abandonware that never got updates, so they ended up being ripe for UDP amplification attacks, but that was a vulnerability in ancient software, not the protocol.

bigstrat2003 1y ago

Yep, I encourage everyone to do this (though don't ask an LLM, actually put effort into learning). It's easy and cheap to do. I have been running a server in the NTP pool on a Digital Ocean droplet for years now, costs me only $6 a month.

CamperBob2 1y ago
The people who learn to use LLMs effectively for learning will outcompete you handily. You understand that, right? Tool use is an important skill, arguably among the most important ones we have evolved.