[comp.protocols.time.ntp] Malfunctioning xntpd on Sun workstations.

net@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Oliver Laumann) (06/06/91)

I have experienced a strange problem with xntp 1.4 on our local
Sun workstations (Sun-3 and Sun-4 with SunOS 4.1 and SunOS 4.1.1).

When xntpd is started, the `peers' command of xntpdc lists a dispersion
of 63.5 or 64.0 for all peers.  Then the dispersions increase by a
factor of 2 after each polling interval.  When the dispersion listed
for a peer sinks below a certain threshold, xntpd synchronizes to this
peer, i.e. its name in the `peers' listing is prefixed with `*', and all
others are prefixed with `+'.  So far everything looks fine.

Now the strange thing--  `poll' seconds after the local machine has
synchronized to a peer, all dispersions start over with a value of 63.5
or 64.0 again, and the synchronization is (therefore) lost.

This cycle repeats ad infinitum.  I have tried several peers with
different strata (from stratum 1 to stratum 3) without success.

Is this normal?  If not, where should I start looking for a problem?

By the way, tickadj reports a hz value of 100, tickdj is 5us, and
dosynctodr is off.

Regards,
--
Oliver Laumann         net@tub.cs.tu-berlin.de       net@tub.UUCP