Search:

Home | Internet


Use a NTP Server To Keep Precise Network Time

By: David Evans

Computers systems have internal real-time clocks that are notoriously poor at keeping accurate time. Hence, the time on all computers and network devices can drift away from one another at different rates. This can be a real headache when trying to synchronise time-critical processes. However, it is quite simple to synchronise every device on your network to an accurate time reference - a NTP time server.

NTP servers are Internet, or locally, based time references that maintain a highly precise time and make this time available to client computers. These time servers obtain accurate time from external reference clocks such as GPS, radio time and frequency sources or other NTP servers.

NTP, or Network Time Protocol, is used by the Internet to distribute accurate time information to network time clients. NTP has been an important part of the Internet for over 25 years. The protocol was developed because of the need to provide synchronisation of critical processes. Most operating systems in use today, including Windows XP, 2003 and LINUX have the built-in ability to synchronise time with a NTP Server. Additionally, there are any number of Internet based NTP Time Servers with public access that can be used to synchronise your network infrastructure.

Microsoft Windows XP/2000/2003 has pre-configured SNTP, Simple Network Time Protocol, client software that can synchronise time with a time server. This is achieved by simply entering the domain name of an Internet NTP Server in the time properties tab or registry entry. The Windows machine will then contact the NTP Server and synchronise the system time to the specified reference at periodic intervals.

LINUX based systems have a NTP daemon that is available from the official NTP website. The NTP daemon runs constantly in background and monitors specified NTP servers. The daemon reads a structured list of NTP servers from a configuration file and periodically synchronises time with a selected reference.

To summarise, NTP time servers are dedicated network time servers that obtain time from an accurate external reference, such as radio or GPS, and provide an accurate timing reference. Time servers are often rack-mountable devices with external antenna's and an Ethernet connection. The devices obtain time from a radio or GPS timing reference and maintain an accurate internal time. This time is then distributed to time clients over an IP network. Dedicated NTP servers often minimize the set-up and configuration effort required to get a NTP time server installation up and running.

Article Source: http://www.newagelivingarticles.com

Dave Evans is an experienced technical author with many years experience of NTP Server and Time Server systems and solutions to ensure accurate time on computers and network infrastructure. Dave has been heavily involved in the architecture of dedicated NTP time server systems, synchronised digital wall clocks and atomic clock timing products. Please visit our web site to find out more about time server and NTP Server systems.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Internet Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Internet

 Free Traffic


banner











Sign Up for a free account or learn more.
Article Directory Software
Click here to download the exact software that powers this directory for FREE. Start your own article directory today!
Google
Top Authors
Submit Articles
Member Login
Most Popular Articles
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Little Book Of Becoming
Masters of the Secret
The Singularity Is Near
Distribute Your Articles to 1000's!
Wildwind Enterprises
Bookstore
About Us
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Links
All Links Directory All Links Directory is 100% SEO friendly Directory and Human Edited.

Accurate Online Psychic Readings Lilly provides a unique personal empowerment, spiritual approach to intuitive readings, as well as a vast array of other resources for the spiritual seeker. Access your Spiritual Guidance and turn negative karma into spiritual gold!

Psychic Sights An extensive portal of Psychic links, Metaphysical and New Age links and resources focused on quality.

Earth Spirits.org

Gaiam.com, Inc
Spiritual Cinema Circle
Visit the metaphysical directory for a complete list of metaphysics related websites.
Royalty Free Images
NewAgeLivingArticles.com » Copyright © 2007 WildWind Enterprises
Terms of Service | Submission Guidelines | Contact Us | Link to Us| Privacy Policy | About Us | Article Submissions With A Click 100's of Sites!

Powered by Article Dashboard