On Tue, 4 May 2004, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:

> In message <x7smegdmix.fsf@bonnet.wsrcc.com>, "Wolfgang S. Rupprecht" writes:
> >
> >smb@research.att.com (Steve Bellovin) writes:
> >> I've found that at boot time, ntpdate isn't running properly, because
> >> named isn't ready for it.  I've found that putting in a few seconds
> >> delay before it starts solves the problem.  Is there a simpler
> >> solution?  Am I missing something?
> >
> >        /etc/hosts ???
> >
> >I gave up trying to add delays to allow bind to start.  It was easier
> >to just append the half-dozen addresses I needed for booting to
> >/etc/hosts.  It is a bit of a maintenance hassle to keep it in sync
> >with the addresses bind finds, but it beats a hung boot or improperly
> >started daemons.
>
> The particular problem case is us.pool.ntp.org, which selects among a
> large set of servers.  I suppose I could write a little daemon that
> queries for it (and other important servers) after things are booted,
> and changes the "static" entries in /etc/hosts...

If you're only running "ntpdate", try "ntpd" with "ntpd_flags=-q".
That's supposed to be the replacement for "ntpdate" anyway. It may
work better, or it may not.

Frederick