Bug 23530

Summary:	RFE: start ntpd earlier
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Linux	Reporter:	Michael Redinger <michael.redinger>
Component:	ntp	Assignee:	Preston Brown <pbrown>
Status:	CLOSED RAWHIDE	QA Contact:	Wil Harris <wil>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	7.1	CC:	dr
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	FutureFeature
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Enhancement
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2001-01-08 20:14:30 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Michael Redinger 2001-01-07 11:48:21 UTC

Could ntpd be started a bit earlier? This would 
guarantee correct time for more init scripts/programs.
I'd suggest 
# chkconfig: - 26 74
instead of
# chkconfig: - 55 10
(this would still guarantee that ntpd is found - this
config would mean starting it right after and stopping
it just before netfs.)

Comment 1 Daniel Roesen 2001-01-08 18:55:20 UTC

ntpd usually takes some minutes before correcting system time, so moving it in
the bootup sequence doesn't make any difference.

Comment 2 Jeff Johnson 2001-01-08 19:13:20 UTC

Not true. ntpdate sets the time efficiently, synchronization an PLL lock is what
takes 5+ minutes.
All dependent on configuration, which we cannot ship with enabled by default,
YMMV.

Comment 3 Daniel Roesen 2001-01-08 19:16:26 UTC

Yes, ntpdate does immediately set system time. But ntpd (which we are talking
about) does not.

Am I screwed somewhere? ;>

Comment 4 Michael Redinger 2001-01-08 19:24:14 UTC

If /etc/ntp/step-tickers is used, ntpdate is called immediately at 
ntpd startup (see the startup script). No delay here (hm, don't
think this is documented; should be, I suppose ...). I used to 
call ntpdate in  rc.local until I found out that this is provided in the
ntpd startup script ...

Comment 5 Jeff Johnson 2001-01-08 19:32:23 UTC

What's needed is to set the system accurately and early as possible,  not  to
synch with
a server. FWIW, ntpd guarantees monotonicity (i.e. time never goes backward),
which
ntpdate does not, but that's another reason to run ntpdate if possible as early
as possible.

Comment 6 Michael Redinger 2001-01-08 19:38:48 UTC

:) Seems to be perfectly ok with my request (yes, some time ago
our time server admin who's using one of my Linux servers told
me about all that stuff ...).
Starting ntpd early means starting ntpdate early, right?

Comment 7 Jeff Johnson 2001-01-08 20:14:11 UTC

Yup. Howvere, the real problem is that we can't distribute with a pre-configured
step-ticker
(hate the name, <shrug>) server.

Comment 8 Preston Brown 2001-02-05 20:41:30 UTC

changed in ntp 4.0.99k-7 and later.