Time Is Running Out for NTP

Article doesn't bother to mention that there are completely different projects which implement NTP servers with varying levels of functionality (openntpd, chrony, ntpsec, ntimed). And while the pool.ntp.org system is a nice scheme, it's hardly a global necessity. You can fairly easily get a stratum 1 server going on your own infrastructure. IMHO, too much of NTP relies on GPS, but that's a separate matter.

I thought NTP was a protocol, not a piece of software. Is the article conflating them, or is there only one single implementation of it that everyone relies upon?

If you care that much about accuracy you should take a look at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Precision_Time_Protocol" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Precision_Time_Protocol</a> ... &quot;IEEE 1588 is designed for local systems requiring accuracies beyond those attainable using NTP&quot;.

Surprised that the whole piece didn&#x27;t mention roughtime, a timesetting protocol developed by Adam Langley with much better security properties (NTP basically has no security): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imperialviolet.org&#x2F;2016&#x2F;09&#x2F;19&#x2F;roughtime.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imperialviolet.org&#x2F;2016&#x2F;09&#x2F;19&#x2F;roughtime.html</a>

&gt; NTP is buried so deeply in the infrastructure that practically everyone reaps the project’s benefits for free.<p>The most common embedded NTP implementation is probably busybox, being used on Linux routers&#x2F;modems&#x2F;etc.. is actually based on OpenNTPD.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;git.busybox.net&#x2F;busybox&#x2F;tree&#x2F;networking&#x2F;ntpd.c" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;git.busybox.net&#x2F;busybox&#x2F;tree&#x2F;networking&#x2F;ntpd.c</a>

why dont dns servers provide this capability? seems like they are the most centralized of all the online services.

The alternatives are most certainly as much underfounded as the mentioned project.

Classic NTP is hardly the only game in town. For example, see the NTPsec work in progress: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ntpsec.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ntpsec.org&#x2F;</a> which I&#x27;ll probably transition to someday, maybe even get an el-cheapo GPS receiver now that I&#x27;m not effectively living in a basement.<p>And I&#x27;ve personally be using chrony for a while, although my needs are significantly less than whatever level of accuracy it provides. There are some other clients out there as well, such as OpenBSD&#x27;s OpenNTPD, although I have a vague memory of it having issues of precision, congruent with the distribution&#x27;s focus on security.