time and date

[JD]

On 01/16/2013 08:45 AM, Oliver Grawert wrote:
> hi,
> Am Mittwoch, den 16.01.2013, 08:29 -0600 schrieb Cybe R. Wizard:
>> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:04:22 +0100
>> Oliver Grawert <ogra at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>>
>> I think ntp is a daemon and set of utilities, not a server:
>>
>> (ntp)
>> "This package contains the NTP daemon and utility programs.  An NTP
>> daemon needs to be running on each host that is to have its clock
>> accuracy controlled by NTP. ...  An NTP
>> daemon needs to be running on each host that is to have its clock
>> accuracy controlled by NTP."
>>
>> One would run it in order to have the correct time set on their
>> computer.  Why would one /not/ want it on a default installation?
>>
>> that said, there /is/ ntpdate, but it says, "ntpdate by itself is
>> useful for occasionally setting the time on machines that do not have
>> full-time network access, such as laptops," so, unless the b ox is
>> connected full time, ntp.
> ntpd runs constantly, occupying constant resources, it opens a listening
> port to the outside world by default which opens a possible attack
> vector ...
Occupies resources? Have you even looked at how much resources
it takes?? Have a look:
F S UID        PID  PPID  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN    RSS PSR STIME 
TTY        TIME CMD
5 S ntp       2386     1  0  80   0 -  1439 poll_s  1956 0 Jan15 ? 
          0:01 /usr/sbin/ntpd -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g -u 116:128

The total size is under 2kb.
And it does NOT run very often at all
The communication overhead is too small to have any impact on the network.
So, it is  obvious you know very little about how ntp daemon operates.
>
> ntpdate simply syncs with ntp.ubuntu.com once you establish a network
> connection, unless you have a bad BIOS battery i doubt you will ever
> need ntp installed on a laptop/desktop to keep your clock correct.
WRONG!!
System load slows down the time and date which are updated when
the clock interrupt is serviced. Again, you know not how the kernel
operates, so please refrain from posting wrong statements that
might mislead others .

>
> note that ntp is installed by default on ubuntu-server installs ...
It should also be installed on desktops by default!