Two-thirds of 2.bd.pool.ntp.org’s IPv6 answers are NOT in Bangladesh

Pool Development
1

Hi all,

While checking the Bangladesh NTP pool I noticed that only 1 of the 3 AAAA records returned for 2.bd.pool.ntp.org actually belongs to Bangladesh:

  • 2a12:bec4:1821:25c:1249:1249:1249:1249 → Located in GB (ntpinfo / RIPE Atlas agree)

  • 2a12:bec4:1821:25c:125a:125a:125a:125a → Located in GB (same ASN 214677)

  • 2401:f40:1515:17c3:a28c:fdff:fec3:3903 → Located in BD (ASN 134732, stratum-1, PPS ref)

That’s two foreign servers currently listed in the Bangladesh pool. Could the zone maintainers please remove the two 2a12:bec4::* addresses so users in Bangladesh actually get a local time source?

Thanks!

2

1 (one) individual in Bangladesh volunteered to join the pool pool.ntp.org: NTP Servers in Bangladesh, bd.pool.ntp.org - to serve a population of 173 millions. I think BD should be thankful for other regions to help carrying the load

4 Likes
3

Appreciate the community’s help in sharing the load!

4

Even when a single server can deal with the load of an entire country, having only a single server each for IPv6 and IPv4 potentially also raises a question of resilience through diversity: Even when a client were configured with multiple numbered subdomains, and able to use both IPv6 and IPv4, it would still end up with a single actual server only, behind two IP addresses.

I have a case where I have the only server in a zone, at least during parts of the day, for one IP family. I’ve been considering removing my server altogether for that IP family to allow clients to access a more diverse set of servers for that family, namely the enclosing continent zone (when there is no server in the country zone), rather than just getting my server, plus sometimes one, two, or so other servers.

But that zone still has slightly more than a handful of servers of the other IP family to provide some diversity when both families are used. And when I remove my server, then clients would probably not see much of a change because the other servers of the same IP family phasing into and out the zone will often also be alone when they are in, so I think it might be slightly better for diversity for me to leave my server in place.

I would be curious at to whether leaving a server in a continent zone, and the global zone, but removing it from the country zone, would be possible. That might be an option here, and might also be helpful for various other underserved zones, or to help servers overwhelmed in their zones - if the respective operator so chooses.