[c-nsp] NTP Servers

[Andrew Miehs]

On 23/06/2012, at 11:14 PM, Josh Baird wrote:

> It seems like a waste to spend money on "NTP appliances," when you can build an "enterprise quality" system using Linux (for free) in a matter of minutes.  We run three, and they have supported over 10k devices with zero problems for over 5 years.  It's not like ntpd is very resource intensive.
> 
> Josh

Agreed - but there are also the political issues to consider - server (hosting team) vs. appliance (network team).
Additionally, I have seen numerous CERT messages regarding ntpd over the last years.

It is easy for *nix admins to support a free Linux environment, but unfortunately, some companies are moving away from *nix based operating systems - and as such would prefer an appliance.

It is cheaper to buy 3 appliances than to hire 2 *nix admins to look after your 3 time servers for you.

Am currently looking at:

http://www.symmetricom.com/products/ntp-servers/ntp-network-appliances/SyncServer-S100/
http://www.endruntechnologies.com/gps-time-server.htm
http://www.spectracomcorp.com/ProductsServices/TimingSynchronization/NetworkTimeServers/tabid/112/Default.aspx
http://www.auroragrp.com/agi/ntp_appliance.html



Regards

Andrew