Network Time Protocol (NTP)

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) public domain software from the University of Delaware is included in this version of the ChorusOS operating system. NTP is a server/client implementation that enables you to manage precise time and network clock synchronization in a network environment. The inclusion of NTP in the ChorusOS operating system provides increased time precision.

Pick one system to be the master clock (NTP server), and then set up all your other systems (NTP clients) to synchronize their clocks with the master clock. This is done using the ntpd daemon, which sets and maintains a UNIX system time-of-day in agreement with Internet standard time servers.

The ntpd, ntpq, ntpdate and ntptrace utilities are available with the ChorusOS operating system. For further information on these utilities see ntpd(1M), ntpdate(1M), ntpq(1M), ntptrace(1M).

How to Use NTP

The ntpd daemon sets and maintains the system time-of-day.

The ntpd daemon reads the /etc/ntp.conf file at system startup. See ntpd(1M) for information about configuration options of ntpd.

An NTP client synchronizes automatically with an NTP server when it boots, and if it gets out of sync, it will resync again when it sees a time server.

The method of authentication provided in the NTP implementation of the ChorusOS operating system is MD5.

The only reference clock driver supported is the undisciplined local clock.

Setting up an NTP Client

1. Become superuser.

2. Change to the /etc directory.

3. Copy the ntp.client file to the ntp.conf file:

   # cp ntp.client ntp.conf
   

4. Synchronize the date manually, by using the ntpdate command:

   # rsh target ntpdate <timeserver>

   where <timeserver> is the NTP server running on the network.

5. Start the ntpd daemon:

   # rsh target ntpd

Setting up an NTP Server

1. Become superuser.

2. Change to the /etc directory.

3. Copy the ntp.server file to the ntp.conf file.

   # cp ntp.server ntp.conf
   

4. Start the ntpd daemon:

   # rsh target ntpd