[HECnet] A USNO GPS network time server is now in operation at Digital Equipment Corporation, Palo Alto, CA

Thu Nov 25 04:39:40 PST 2021

This is my fault. I checked that NTP was running on 204.123.2.72 and then just googled it to find the name.
I found a hit on a page on ntp.org with the name usno.hpl.hp.com and just assumed it was valid.

Turns out it has no name. This was a Stratum 1 server originally, but the page found by google is not actively linked on the official ntp.org.list

This appears to have happened in more recent times. I can find references to it from 2019 where it appears it may have been in the process of being phased out.
https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2019-July/028303.html

cheers, Wiz!!

From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE <owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE> On Behalf Of Thomas DeBellis
Sent: Tuesday, 23 November 2021 2:16 AM
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: [HECnet] A USNO GPS network time server is now in operation at Digital Equipment Corporation, Palo Alto, CA

I'm not sure I'm following all this.

I didn't see that usno.hpl.hp.com exists, see below.  There doesn't appear to be any DNS name associated with the IP address.  It does respond to a ping.
$ ping -c 4 usno.hpl.hp.com
ping: cannot resolve usno.hpl.hp.com: Unknown host
$ nslookup 204.123.2.72

;; Got SERVFAIL reply from 68.237.161.12, trying next server
;; Got SERVFAIL reply from 71.243.0.12, trying next server
Server:        192.168.22.1
Address:    192.168.22.1#53

** server can't find 72.2.123.204.in-addr.arpa: SERVFAIL
$ ping -c 4 204.123.2.72
PING 204.123.2.72 (204.123.2.72): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 204.123.2.72: icmp_seq=0 ttl=53 time=76.880 ms
64 bytes from 204.123.2.72: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=69.378 ms
64 bytes from 204.123.2.72: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=70.053 ms
64 bytes from 204.123.2.72: icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=69.613 ms

I checked the IP address and host name against a number of DNS servers.  It does not respond to a time request on port 37

10:06:31 USER   Site            Greenwich Mean Time ->  Local Time Zone
10:06:31 USER                                                   Difference      Delay
10:06:31 USER   VENTI2          22-Nov-2021 15:06:31  ->  22-Nov-2021 10:06:31-EST
10:06:31 USER   time.nist.gov           Error in TCP receive.
10:06:31 USER   wwv.nist.gov            22-Nov-2021 15:06:31  ->                 :00
10:06:31 USER   utcnist.colorado.edu            22-Nov-2021 15:06:31  ->                 :00
10:06:41 USER   204.123.2.72            timed out.
10:06:41 USER   time.maconbibb.us       timed out.
10:06:41 USER   nist.netservicesgroup.com       timed out.
10:06:41 USER
10:06:41 USER                   Average difference                     :00
10:06:41 USER                   Average clock time      22-Nov-2021 10:06:31-EST
10:06:41 USER                   Time spent surveying = 18.131 seconds.

Getting time on TCP port 37 is old.  I only do it because that is all I have until such time as I port something smarter.  Note the following from NIST: "We will continue to support the "TIME" protocol that uses TCP port 37 for the forseeable future."  So not responding on port 37 might not be a false negative, if only NTP is supported.
On 11/20/21 8:39 PM, David Moylan wrote:

That IP address space is now owned by HP and this NTP host is now known as usno.hpl.hp.com

Side note: the dec.com domain name was sold by HP and is now owned by Paul Kocher.

(He's one of the people that discovered the Spectre vulnerability in x86 CPU's.)

I've been in touch with Paul about dec.com and he told me that he's not interested in selling it or passing it across to any related hobbyist group.

He advised me that he'd purchased it from HP when it was auctioned off.

According to the records, the domain dec.com was sold by Heritage Auctions on July 24th 2014 for $57,500.

In the same auction another person purchased digital.com for $373,750

Cheers, Wiz!!

-----Original Message-----

From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE<mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE> <owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE><mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE> On

Behalf Of Supratim Sanyal

Sent: Sunday, 21 November 2021 9:34 AM

To: hecnet at update.uu.se<mailto:hecnet at update.uu.se>

Subject: [HECnet] A USNO GPS network time server is now in operation at

Digital Equipment Corporation, Palo Alto, CA

"A USNO GPS network time server is now in operation at Digital Equipment

Corporation, Palo Alto, CA. This is an open-access stratum-1 for the Pacific

Timezone:

usno.pa-x.dec.com     204.123.2.72 (CNAME ntp-dec.usno.navy.mil)"

204.123.2.72 still returns time as stratum 1.

usno.pa-x.dec.com and ntp-dec.usno.navy.mil do not resolve.

Ref: March 1997 revision of:

http://gisweb.massey.ac.nz/topic/webreferencesites/gps/usnavy/ntp.html

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