🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <long.55.0@vax.ox.ac.uk>, long@vax.ox.ac.uk (Neil J. Long) writes:
> Hi
> I have been trying to get a group of 5 Indigos to keep time and I have this 
> slight problem with timed since there are a few other machines running timed 
> but with the wrong time on the same network.
> I have been using xntpd to keep one machine set right relative to 3 others 
> sync'd to 3 other radio controlled beasts and that one machine is running 
> timed -M -F localhost
> So it should be master and not permit its clock to be changed other than by 
> the xntpd daemon.
> The problem is that for the other sgi's I cannot seem to start timed so that 
> they listen only to the master and ignore the other ones on the net which 
> are wrong.
> The problem is that the other machines are in other departments, etc and 
> their SuperUsers never seem to read their email form me suggesting they set 
> their clocks (which would be pointless unless everyone can be reached and 
> set all their clocks before re-starting timed).
> Has anyone ever found a simple solution to this or do I need re-read the man 
> pages!
> Maybe if I define a 'network' such that the other machines aren't part of it?
> thanks
> Neil


Timed cannot solve such problems.  If all of the people operating a
single network cannot compromise on a single notion of "now", then you
cannot use timed.

Recall that the protocol used by timed, TSP, is a broadcast protocol.
It was designed to allow machines to discover the current time without
being especially configured to find a time master.

In such a crazy environment, where people cannot agree on the time, I
would use either (x)ntpd or timeslave instead of timed.

Please note that "master" is not quite the right word for the machine
that is averaging other machine's time.  "Moderator" is has much more
appropriate connotations.



Vernon Schryver,  vjs@sgi.com