Features I'd like to add to NTPsec

James Browning jamesb192 at jamesb192.com
Sun Mar 22 18:29:20 UTC 2026


== Server flag to automatically remove it when bad.

> server -4 time.cloudflare.com nts preempt

The intent here is to remove a peer[1] if it's bad for some reason.

This needs a server flag exposed.

I have a merge request for this somewhere.

[1] added via 'server'

== Handle NTS pool correctly

> pool 0.ke.experimental.ntspooltest.org iburst nts

Currently, that only spins up a single server. It should instead
spin up two per round, until enough peers are available.

This will need some work in
ntp_proto.c:dns_take_{pool, server},
nts_client.c:nts_{check, probe}, and ntp_dns.c

== Handle DNS service records [2]

> pool _ntske._tcp.ke.experimental.ntspooltest.org iburst nts srv
> sever _ntske._tcp.jamesb192.com burst nts srv

Eventually, the above should spin up some NTS servers from service
records; this will involve some work in ntp_dns.c and related areas.

[2] Two developers have a branch at:
https://github.com/pendulum-project/pool-ntpsec/tree/srv-client
I do not care for it much.

== Add server filter via DNSsec record check

> server -6 time.cloudflare.com nts dnssec 3 iburst

Soon, we should support three levels of DNSSEC validation:
- reject invalid signatures
- recheck them once after BUILD_EPOCH
- only accept valid signatures.

== Add support for mdns/zeroconf, probably in addition to the above.

> pool -4 _ntp._udp.local mdns srv iburst

This is unlikely to happen anytime soon.


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