I'm trying to use the NTP server pool detailed here: http://www.pool.ntp.org/. With ntp.conf: server pool.ntp.org iburst server pool.ntp.org iburst server pool.ntp.org iburst driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift logfile /var/log/ntp.log I get: ptolemy root # ntpq -c pe remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter ============================================================================== 207.245.43.147 .INIT. 16 u - 64 0 0.000 0.000 4000.00 207.245.43.147 .INIT. 16 u - 64 0 0.000 0.000 4000.00 *207.245.43.147 130.126.24.44 3 u - 64 1 297.719 -15.444 19.102 All the server addresses are equal. Very ocassionally I will get two different addresses (i.e. one is duplicated). My DNS server (current rev of dnsmasq) correctly round-robins the addresses: ptolemy root # host pool.ntp.org pool.ntp.org has address 202.55.152.4 pool.ntp.org has address 207.245.43.147 pool.ntp.org has address 216.52.237.152 pool.ntp.org has address 216.165.129.244 pool.ntp.org has address 216.221.118.20 pool.ntp.org has address 217.160.252.229 pool.ntp.org has address 65.175.0.112 pool.ntp.org has address 66.92.250.40 pool.ntp.org has address 66.111.46.200 pool.ntp.org has address 68.148.226.244 pool.ntp.org has address 80.85.129.25 pool.ntp.org has address 130.60.7.52 pool.ntp.org has address 142.179.100.217 pool.ntp.org has address 193.201.200.74 pool.ntp.org has address 194.67.106.186 ptolemy root # host pool.ntp.org pool.ntp.org has address 194.67.106.186 pool.ntp.org has address 193.201.200.74 pool.ntp.org has address 142.179.100.217 pool.ntp.org has address 130.60.7.52 pool.ntp.org has address 80.85.129.25 pool.ntp.org has address 68.148.226.244 pool.ntp.org has address 66.111.46.200 pool.ntp.org has address 66.92.250.40 pool.ntp.org has address 65.175.0.112 pool.ntp.org has address 217.160.252.229 pool.ntp.org has address 216.221.118.20 pool.ntp.org has address 216.165.129.244 pool.ntp.org has address 216.52.237.152 pool.ntp.org has address 207.245.43.147 pool.ntp.org has address 202.55.152.4 I have reverted to using addresses: server 0.pool.ntp.org iburst server 1.pool.ntp.org iburst server 2.pool.ntp.org iburst driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift logfile /var/log/ntp.log for 'buggy DNS name resolver' described on the website http://ntp.isc.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. install net-misc/ntp and net-dns/dnsmasq 2. configure ntp.conf to use multiple pool.ntp.org servers from rotation 3. start ntpd 4. run ntpq and note that all (or close to all) peers addresses are the same. Actual Results: All (or close to all) peer NTP servers have same address Expected Results: Each NTP server from pool has different address. pool.ntp.org related 'bugs' also at #54564 and #77657
This also happened without using dnsmasq :-(
I think what your are after is: ntpd.conf: servers pool.ntp.org iburst read man ntpd.conf for details. specifing the same round robin server multiple time can get same answer.
The "servers" option is an OpenNTPD option that is ignored by the currently stable net-misc/ntp-4.2.0.20040617-r3 and, AFAICT, the 4.2.0b development build also. I notice that the configuration suggested by the www.pool.ntp.org site has changed to: driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift server 0.pool.ntp.org server 1.pool.ntp.org server 2.pool.ntp.org which appears to work for the generic pool, but fails for au.pool.ntp.org. I'll chase this down on the pool mailing list. Happy to let this bug drop.
