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Network Time Protocol

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Qusai Rihab
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48 views3 pages

Network Time Protocol

Uploaded by

Qusai Rihab
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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NTP

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 General..........................................................................................................................................................1
2 NTP Architecture...........................................................................................................................................2
3 Configuration.................................................................................................................................................2
3.1 Static time config..................................................................................................................................2
3.2 Server config.........................................................................................................................................2
3.3 Client config..........................................................................................................................................3
3.4 Validate.................................................................................................................................................3

1 GENERAL

- = Network Time Protocol


- Used to synchronize time-of-day clocks
- NTP uses NTP messages to send timestamps to each other
- Server port UDP/123, client port is dynamic
- NTP is considered an application, so NTP query can go over multiple hops
- NTP is important for:
o Time-based passwords
o Validating encrypted key exchanges
o Validating encryption certificates
- NTP synchronization is not fast:
o The first polling is done at 16 seconds and the next time onwards, the poll interval would be
64 seconds.
o Large time difference can be synced in couple of seconds (few polling cycles)
o Accuracy of tens of milliseconds requires hours/days to sync
- Best practice to first set the clock statically to a reasonable time before NTP syncing
- Stratum level indicates how accurate the time is (lower is better, level 1-15)
- Atomic clocks are stratum 0
- Each device adds one stratum level if it learns it from an NTP server
- Routers and switches use default stratum level 8
- Stratum level 16 means the time cannot be trusted
- Best practice, the enterprise should refer to at least two external NTP servers for redundancy, but 3
for extra safety in case the time of one of the two NTP servers is off
- Some routers in the enterprise need to be ready to supply clock data if those NTP primary servers
become unavailable. Configure like this:
o Establish an association with the NTP servers per ntp server command
o Establish an association with your internal clock using the ntp master command, set this
stratum level of internal clock higher than the NTP servers stratum
o Router synchronizes with the best source, being the external NTP servers
- It’s best practice to set a loopback address as NTP server because this is always up/up
- Root dispersion is the calculated error of the clock attached to the authoritative source

1
2 NTP ARCHITECTURE

- Client/server model
- NTP primary server:
o only acts as server
o directly connected to an authoritative time source
o stratum level 1
- NTP secondary server:
o server that uses client/server mode
o relies on synchronization with some other NTP server
- NTP Peer
o Devices that are both connected to an external NTP source
o Peers act as clients and server to each other. They try to blend their time
o Used in redundant setups (e.g. 2 WAN routers)
o Peers adjust at a maximum rate of two minutes per query

3 CONFIGURATION

3.1 STATIC TIME CONFIG

- Best practice to first set the clock statically to a reasonable time before NTP syncing

Clock timezone timezoneName +- Conf Name of timezone can be chosen by


hourOffset admin, only offset has to be correct
Clock summer-time timezone recurring Conf Configure daylight savings time, recurring
means the router will spring forward and
backward an hour automatically
Clock set hh:mm:ss dayOfMonth month Statically configure clock
year
Example: clock set 19:18:30 22 Oct 2020

Time Belgium:

clock timezone CET 1

clock summer-time CEST recurring last Sun Mar 2:00 last Sun Oct 3:00

service timestamps log datetime localtime year

3.2 SERVER CONFIG

2
Ntp master stratum-lvl Conf Device acts as NTP server only. Gets its
time information from the internal clock on
the device, default level is 8
Ntp source loopback nr Conf
Ntp peer ipAddress Conf

3.3 CLIENT CONFIG

ntp server {address|hostname} [prefer] Conf - Device can act both as client or
[source interface] server. First it acts as a client and
synchronizes its time with the
server. Then it acts as a server
itself
- Multiple servers can be set for
redundancy, but only one server is
actively used
- Source is used to stipulate the
source IP address for queries to
server
- Prefer keyword for which NTP
server the time should come from
ntp source GigabitEthernet0/0 Conf Exaple when using VRF
ntp server vrf MgmtVRF 10.24.0.1
ntp logging Conf Log NTP events
ntp panic update Conf Reject time updates too for of internal
clock (> panic threshold (default 1000Sec))

Service timestamps log datetime localtime Conf Sync logging time with local NTP time

3.4 VALIDATE

Show ntp status


Show ntp associations ‘*’ means it is connected to server
~ means the server is configured

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