Feature #9439
closedPoll Interval For GPS and PPS
Added by Pierre Poutine over 5 years ago. Updated about 3 years ago.
100%
Description
The default minpoll and maxpoll for GPS and PPS in /etc/inc/system.inc is set to 4. These should both be set to 3. This will reduce the interval from 16s to 8s.
Updated by Jim Pingle over 5 years ago
The documentation for ntpd says the minimum value is 4. Have you tried 3?
Though this value should probably be adjustable at least, I can add fields with the current values to the main settings and GPS/PPS tabs.
If we determine the lower values do work then it's just a matter of adjusting the defaults once that's done.
Updated by Jim Pingle over 5 years ago
- Status changed from New to Feedback
The GUI part of this is I mentioned is in #6787
This can remain open to investigate whether or not values less than 4 are possible/viable.
Updated by Pierre Poutine over 4 years ago
Jim Pingle wrote:
The GUI part of this is I mentioned is in #6787
This can remain open to investigate whether or not values less than 4 are possible/viable.
3 works great. You need a GPS/PPS! I just upgraded to 2.5.0 and saw the new menu which is nice.
You left the defaults at 4 which is fine but you didn't have a menu option for 3.
$ntp_poll_min_value = 4 can be changed to 3 in system.inc. Then 4 is still the default for gps/pps but 3 will be an option in the menus.
Updated by Jim Pingle over 4 years ago
- Status changed from Feedback to New
- Assignee deleted (
Jim Pingle) - Target version deleted (
2.5.0)
What advantage would 3 have over 4 when using a local GPS though? Why would it need to probe that frequently?
If we do add an option for 3, it would need input validation to require that it only be set when using a local GPS then. Otherwise it seems like people might be too tempted to set it low when polling remote servers which would put an undue burden on public NTP servers.
Updated by Pierre Poutine over 4 years ago
Jim Pingle wrote:
What advantage would 3 have over 4 when using a local GPS though? Why would it need to probe that frequently?
If we do add an option for 3, it would need input validation to require that it only be set when using a local GPS then. Otherwise it seems like people might be too tempted to set it low when polling remote servers which would put an undue burden on public NTP servers.
3 offers reduced jitter over 4. It is the capability of ntpd and shouldn't be omitted. Low poll interval is also valuable for polling a server on a low latency network like a LAN. The current menus offer 4 already which is lower than the defaults and not recommended for public pool servers. I run a stratum 1 server in the public NTP pool and personally have no problem with users legitimately polling every 8 seconds especially if they are low latency.
Updated by Jim Pingle over 4 years ago
3 offers reduced jitter over 4.
Low poll interval is also valuable for polling a server on a low latency network like a LAN.
OK
It is the capability of ntpd and shouldn't be omitted.
That may be but it's not the documented capability. Their docs say minimum is 4. My concern is that we'd be going against their own advice. But it's also possible that their docs are wrong/outdated.
The current menus offer 4 already which is lower than the defaults and not recommended for public pool servers.
Yes but 4 is not the default and 4 is what their documentation says should be the minimum.
I run a stratum 1 server in the public NTP pool and personally have no problem with users legitimately polling every 8 seconds especially if they are low latency.
That may be true for you, but you cannot speak for every public server operator.
Updated by Pierre Poutine over 4 years ago
Here is a link to the official documentation: https://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/html/poll.html
The FreeBSD documentation is out of date.
Updated by Viktor Gurov about 3 years ago
ntp.conf(5):
minpoll minpoll maxpoll maxpoll These options specify the minimum and maximum poll intervals for NTP messages, in seconds as a power of two. The maximum poll interval defaults to 10 (1,024 s), but can be increased by the maxpoll option to an upper limit of 17 (36.4 h). The minimum poll interval defaults to 6 (64 s), but can be decreased by the minpoll option to a lower limit of 3 (8 s). These option are valid only with the server and peer commands.
https://gitlab.netgate.com/pfSense/pfSense/-/merge_requests/471
Updated by Jim Pingle about 3 years ago
- Status changed from New to Pull Request Review
- Assignee set to Viktor Gurov
- Target version set to 2.6.0
- Plus Target Version set to 22.01
Updated by Viktor Gurov about 3 years ago
- Status changed from Pull Request Review to Feedback
- % Done changed from 0 to 100
Applied in changeset 76902a1a62bd2785c23fd87d34c9388ef4ebaa00.
Updated by Danilo Zrenjanin about 3 years ago
- Status changed from Feedback to Resolved
Tested against:
2.6.0-DEVELOPMENT (amd64) built on Wed Nov 24 06:23:22 UTC 2021 FreeBSD 12.3-PRERELEASE
3: 8 seconds(00:00:08) can be set as a min/max Poll interval for both GPS/PPS.
The ticket resolved.