The Basics of an NTP Server
Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
This article explains the basics of NTP servers
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NTP servers or Network Time Protocol are devices that
connect to a computer network and synchronise all machines to a single time source. Of course most
Windows operating systems have an
inbuilt NTP program called Windows Time that can synchronise to an Internet time
source; however, these can not be authenticated and can leave a computer
network open to abuse.
NTP servers are normally rack mountable and take up 1U of
space but some are built smaller for networks without a dedicated server room.
NTP is based on UDP and requires TCP/IP.
The timing source for an NTP server can either be taken from
a specialist radio transmission that are broadcast from national physics
laboratories or from the GPS network.
Radio time references are only broadcast by a few countries,
in particular the US (WWVB), the UK (MSF), Germany (DCF), Japan (JJY), France
(TDF), Switzerland (HBG) and China (BPM). However, depending on the distance
from these transmissions it is possible to receive the signals in neighbouring
countries although being mainly long wave these signals are easily blocked by
mountains , buildings and bad weather.
If a NTP Server is in a location with a clear radio signal it
is possible to receive the transmission indoors which has an advantage over the
GPS system which requires and antenna with a clear view of the sky (although it
is possible to receive a transmission near a window).
GPS is however more accurate than
radio transmission and can provide accuracy to within a hundred nanoseconds (a nanosecond
is 1 billionth of a second). They can also receive a signal from literally
anywhere in the world (as long as the antenna can get a clear view of the sky).
NTP servers are extremely easy to
install and just need to be provided with a static IP address and have its
internal time synchronized with the external timing reference. Once synchronised
(which can take up to an hour) the NTP server will continually ensure all the
clocks on the network are running the correct time.
Heightened security options such as authentication can also
be used to ensure the NTP Server and network is secure from abuse.
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