The Microsoft Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 onwards has a built-in time synchronization service – ‘Windows Time’. This article describes how to configure the Microsoft Windows 2003 and Windows 2000 time service as a NTP time server. It shows how to modify registry entries to configure the Microsoft Windows Time Service. The Windows Time service allows a Windows network to provide synchronisation of all machines within a domain.
Windows 2003 Server Configuration
Windows 2003 has expanded on the original Windows 2000 time service by providing a true NTP implementation. The time service, installed by default, can synchronise to a NTP Server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings for the service it can act as both an NTP server and client to synchronise other network clients in the domain.
The ‘Windows Time’ service should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is ‘w32time.exe’. The parameter list for w32time can be found in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Time
Before modifying registry entries it is good a dood idea to backup the registry settings. The registry can then be restored in the event of problems being encountered.
To configure a Windows 2003 machine to synchronise to an external NTP server, edit the following registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHI Continue reading »
Network Time Protocol (NTP) provides algorithms and defines messages for the synchronisation of time clients to an accurate time reference. This article discusses how to configure a Linux NTP Time Server to synchronise time with an Internet based public NTP Server.
NTP server systems fall into two categories: primary reference servers and secondary reference servers. Primary reference servers use an external timing reference to provide time, such as GPS or radio clocks. Secondary reference servers synchronise with primary reference NTP servers and offer slightly reduced accuracy. Primary reference servers are designated stratum 1 servers, while secondary servers have a stratum greater than 1.
The NTP Distribution
The NTP source code is freely available from the Network Time Protocol web site. The current version available for download is 4.2.4. NTP is available for the Linux operating systems with ports available for Windows NT. Once the source code is downloaded, it should be configured, compiled and installed on the host machine. Many Linux operating systems, such as RedHat, offer NTP RPM packages.
Configuring NTP
The ‘ntp.conf’ file is main source of configuration information for a NTP server installation. Amongst other things, it contains a list of reference clocks that the installation is to synchronise. A list of NTP server references is specified with the ‘serv Continue reading »