ntpd-rs

ntpd-rs is an NTP implementation written in Rust, with a focus on security and stability. It includes client and server functionality and supports NTS.

If a feature you need is missing please let us know by opening an issue.

Installation

The recommended way of installing ntpd-rs is with the pre-built packages from the releases page. The installers automatically handle setting up users, permissions and configuration.

Alternatively, you can use cargo install ntpd or build from source.

Build from source

Currently, ntpd-rs only supports Linux-based operating systems. Our current testing only targets Linux kernels after version 5.0.0, older kernels may work but this is not guaranteed.

ntpd-rs is written in rust. We strongly recommend using rustup to install a rust toolchain, because the version provided by system package managers tends to be out of date. Be sure to use a recent version of the rust compiler.

To build ntpd-rs run

cargo build --release

This produces a ntp-daemon binary at target/release/ntp-daemon, which is the main NTP daemon.

Before running the ntpd-rs daemon, make sure that no other NTP daemons are running. E.g. when chrony is running

systemctl stop chronyd

The ntpd-rs daemon requires elevated permissions to change the system clock. It can be tested against servers in the NTP pool:

sudo ./target/release/ntp-daemon -p pool.ntp.org -p pool.ntp.org -p pool.ntp.org -p pool.ntp.org

By default, at least 3 peer servers are needed for the algorithm to change the time. After a few minutes you should start to see messages indicating the offset of your machine from the server.

2023-04-11T10:06:24.847375Z  INFO ntp_proto::algorithm::kalman: Offset: 1.7506740305607742+-12.951528666965439ms, frequency: 8.525844072881435+-5.089483351832892ppm
2023-04-11T10:06:25.443852Z  INFO ntp_proto::algorithm::kalman: Offset: 1.8947020578044949+-12.981792974220694ms, frequency: 7.654657944152439+-3.3911904299378386ppm
2023-04-11T10:06:25.443979Z  INFO ntp_proto::algorithm::kalman: Changed frequency, current steer 4.26346751414286ppm, desired freq 0ppm

A complete description of how the daemon can be configured can be found in the configuration documentation

Minimum supported rust version

We make no guarantees about supporting older versions of rust. When building from source (either manually or with cargo install) use the latest rust version to prevent issues.

We are committed to keep ntpd-rs working on at least the latest stable, beta and nightly rust compiler. Beyond this, we keep track of the current minimum rust version needed to compile our code for purposes of documentation. However, right now we do not have a policy guaranteeing a minimum amount of time we will support a stable rust release beyond the 6 weeks during which it is the latest stable version.

Please note that the Rust project only supports the latest stable rust release. As this is the only release that will receive any security updates, we STRONGLY recommend using the latest stable rust version for compiling ntpd-rs for daily use.

Package substructure

Currently, the code is split up into several separate crates:

• ntp-proto contains the packet parsing and the algorithms needed for clock selection, filtering and steering.
• ntp-daemon contains the main NTP daemon, and deals with orchestrating the networking and configuration.
• ntp-ctl contains a control interface for the NTP daemon, allowing readout of current synchronisation state and dynamic configuration changes.
• ntp-metrics-exporter contains a HTTP interface for exporting the prometheus metrics.
• test-binaries contains a number of simple NTP servers that can be used for testing (see below).
• ntp-os-clock contains the unsafe code needed to interface with system clocks.
• ntp-udp contains the unsafe code needed to deal with timestamping on the network layer.
• ntpd contains the entrypoints for all our binaries

All unsafe code is contained within the ntp-os-clock and ntp-udp packages, which are kept as small as possible. All interfaces exposed by these crates should be safe. For a more detailed description of how ntpd-rs is structured, see the development documentation.

Test Binaries

This crate contains extremely limited NTP servers for testing purposes

• demobilize-server always sends the DENY kiss code, the client must demobilize this association
• rate-limit-server forces an increase of the poll interval to 32 seconds

Roadmap

In Q1 2023 we completed our work on NTS. Our implementation is now full-featured, it supports NTP client and server with NTS.

Our roadmap for 2023:

• Q2 2023: Adoption work, improved packaging, FreeBSD support
• Q3 2023: Stable release (pending funding)
• Q4 2023: Development work on experimental features, NTS pool, NTPv5 (pending funding)

We seek sponsorship for features and maintenance to continue our work. Contact us via pendulum@tweedegolf.com if you are interested!

History

2022

The project originates from ISRG's project Prossimo, as part of their mission to achieve memory safety for the Internet's most critical infrastructure.

Prossimo funded the initial development of the NTP client and server, and NTS support. The NTP initiative page on Prossimo's website tells the story.

2023

After completion of the initial development, the project's ownership moved from Prossimo to Tweede golf in April 2023. See the announcement here.

Tweede golf is the long-term maintainer of ntpd-rs, that is now part of Tweede golf's Project Pendulum. Pendulum is building modern, open-source implementations of the Network Time Protocol and the Precision Time Protocol.