Configuring Windows 2003 to Run as a Ntp Network Time Server

Time synchronisation in modern computer networks is essential, all computers need to know the time as many applications, from sending an email to storing information are reliant on the PC knowing when the event took place.

Microsoft Windows Server from 2000 onwards has a time synchronisation utility built into the operating system called Windows Time (w32time.exe) which can be configured to operate as a network time server.

Windows 2003 Server can easily set the system clock to use UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, the World’s time standard) by accessing an Internet source (either: time.windows.com or time.nist.gov). To achieve this, a user merely has to double click the clock on their desktop and adjust the settings in the Internet Time tab.

It must be noted however, that Microsoft and other operating system manufacturers strongly advise that external timing references should be used as Internet sources can’t be authenticated.

To configure the Windows Time service to use an external time source, click Start, Run and type regedit then click OK.

Locate the following subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersType
In the right pane, right-click Type then click Modify, in edit Value type NTP in the Value data box then click OK.

Locate the following subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeConfigAnnounceFlags.

In the right pane, right-click AnnounceFlags and click Modify. The ‘AnnounceFlags’ registry entry indicates whether the server is a trusted time reference, 5 indicates a trusted source so in the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type 5, then click OK.

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is an Internet protocol used for the transfer of accurate time, providing time information along so that a precise time can be obtained
To enable the Network Time Protocol; NTPserver, locate and click:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer
In the right pane, right-click Enabled, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWord Value box, type 1 under Value data, then click OK.

Now go back and click on
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersNtpServer

In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique and you must append 0×1 to the end of each DNS name otherwise changes will not take effect.

Now click Ok.

Locate and click the following
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClientSpecialPollInterval
In the right pane, right-click SpecialPollInterval, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type the number of seconds you want for each poll, ie 900 will poll every 15 minutes, then click OK.
To configure the time correction settings, locate:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

In the right pane, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value box, under Base, click Decimal, under Value Data, type a time in seconds such as 3600 (an hour) then click OK.
Now go back and click:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig
In the right pane, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, then Modify.

In the Edit DWORD box under base, click Decimal, under value data type the time in seconds you want to poll such as 3600 (polls in one hour)
Exit Registry Editor

Now, to restart windows time service, click Start, Run (or alternatively use the command prompt facility) and type:

net stop w32time && net start w32time
And that’s it your time server should be now up and running.

Windows Time Server: Synchronising Your Network With Ntp

Nearly all a computers activity involves time whether logging a timestamp for when a network was accessed to sending an email, knowing the time is crucial for computer applications.

All computers have an on-board clock that provides time and date information. These Real Time Clock (RTC) chips are battery backed so that even when off they can maintain time, however these RTC chips are mass produced and cannot maintain accurate time and tend to drift.

For many applications this can be quite adequate, however if a computer is on a network and needs to talk to other machines, failing to be synchonised to the correct time can mean many time-sensitive transactions can not be completed and can even leave the network open to security threats.

All versions of Windows Server since 2000 have included a time synchronization facility, called Windows Time Service (w32time.exe), built into the operating system. This can be configured to operate as a network time server synchronizing all machines to a specific time source.

Windows Time Service uses a version of NTP (Network Time Protocol), normally a simplified version, of the Internet protocol which is designed to synchronise machines on a network, NTP is also the standard for which most computer networks across the global use to synchronise with.

Choosing the correct time source is vitally important. Most networks are synchronized to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) source. UTC is a global standardized time based on atomic clocks which are the most accurate time sources.

UTC can be obtained over the Internet from such places as time.nist.gov (us Naval Observatory) or time.windows.com (Microsoft) but it must be noted that internet time sources can not be authenticated which can leave a system open to abuse and Microsoft and others advise using an external hardware source as a reference clock such as a specialized NTP server.

NTP servers receive their time source from either a specialist radio transmission from national physics laboratories which broadcast UTC time taken from an atomic clock source or by the GPS network which also relays UTC as a consequence of needing it to pin point locations.

NTP can maintain time over the public Internet to within 1/100th of a second (10 milliseconds) and can perform even better over LANs.

To configure Windows Time Service to use an external time source simply follow these instructions.

Locate the registry subkey.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

Right click type then Modify the Value by inserting NTP in the Value Data box.

Right click ReliableTimeSource, then Modify the Edit DWORD Value box, by inserting 0 (zero).

Right-click NtpServer then Modify the Edit Value by typing the Domain Name System (DNS), (note each DNS must be unique).

Now locate the original subkey and right-click Period Modify the Edit DWORD Value box with the poll interval (how often a NTP server polls the time), under Value Data (recommended 24)

Run the following command line, Net stop w32time && net start w32time.

Now enable NTP by locating the subkey, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer

Right click Enabled and modify the Value data box by typing 1.

Right Click SpecialPollInterval in the right pain of the subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClientSpecialPollInterval. Edit the DWORD value box the time you want for each poll (900 will poll every 15 minutes)

Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

To configure the time correction settings right click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, then modify the DWORD Value box with a time in seconds such (select decimal under base first, 3600 = one hour)

Now do the same for MaxNegPhaseCorrection the restart windows time service by running (or alternatively use the command prompt facility) net stop w32time && net start w32time.

To synchronise each machine simply type W32tm/ -s in the command prompt and the time server should now be working correctly (note it may take several polls before the correct time is displayed).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows 2003 Installing and Configuring an Authoritative Ntp Network Time Server

Precision and time synchronisation is highly important for modern computer networks, without synchronisation many time sensitive transactions would be impossible to carry out.

The internal clock in computers does keep time and date information but these Real Time Chips are not designed to keep perfect time as computers are mass produced and optimized for low cost rather than being perfect clocks.

Of course for a lot of applications this can be more than adequate but for time-sensitive transactions such as online purchasing not having a network that is synchronised can cause errors in transactions and can even leave the network vulnerable to fraud.

Fortunately Windows Server from 2000 onwards has a time synchronisation utility built in call windows time (w32time.exe) this can be configured to allow the machine to be used as time server.

Windows time uses a form of NTP (Network Time Protocol) which was developed over 20 years ago. It uses an algorithm to synchronise time on a network. NTP (version 4) can maintain time over the public Internet to within 10 milliseconds (1/100th of a second) and can perform even better over LANs with accuracies of 200 microseconds (1/5000th of a second) under ideal conditions.

NTP uses a single time reference and synchronises all machines on the network to that time. It can be configured to both synchronise a network using the internal clock or an external time source.

Note: Microsoft strongly recommends that you configure a time server with a hardware source rather than from the internet where there is no authentication.

To configure the Windows Time service to use an external time source, click Start, Run and type regedit then click OK.

Locate the subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

Right-click Type then Modify, in edit Value type NTP in the Value data box then OK.

Right click ReliableTimeSource, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type 0, then click OK.

Right-click NtpServer in the right pane then click Modify.

In Edit Value, type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique.

Now click Ok.

To set the poll intervals locate:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

In the right pane, right-click Period, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type 24 then OK

Exit Registry Editor

Click Start, then Run then type the following and press Enter:

Net stop w32time && net start w32time

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is an Internet protocol used for the transfer of accurate time, providing time information along so that a precise time can be obtained

To enable the Network Time Protocol; NTPserver, locate and click:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer

In the right pane, right-click Enabled, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWord Value box, type 1 under Value data, then click OK.

Now go back and click on

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersNtpServer

In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique and you must append 0×1 to the end of each DNS name otherwise changes will not take effect.

Now click Ok.

Locate and click the following

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClientSpecialPollInterval

In the right pane, right-click SpecialPollInterval, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type the number of seconds you want for each poll, ie 900 will poll every 15 minutes, then click OK.

To configure the time correction settings, locate:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

In the right pane, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value box, under Base, click Decimal, under Value Data, type a time in seconds such as 3600 (an hour) then click OK.

Now go back and click:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

In the right pane, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, then Modify.

In the Edit DWORD box under base, click Decimal, under value data type the time in seconds you want to poll such as 3600 (polls in one hour)

Exit Registry Editor

Now to restart windows time service, click Start, Run (or alternatively use the command prompt facility) and type:

net stop w32time && net start w32time

And on each computer, other than the time server, type:

W32tm/ -s and the time server should be up and running

 

 

Moving to a Client Server Based Network

Many smaller businesses tend to have a limited understanding of the difference between peer to peer networking and making the leap to a proper client server network. Over the last few months, Microsoft has upgraded its operating systems and applications for servers, notably Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and brining out Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2007. In doing so, they have brought out a very powerful, co-ordinated product offering for organisations from small businesses to the largest corporation.

This can provide some of the advantages in time saving and efficiency to small businesses that have, hitherto, only been accessible to larger organisations.

Windows Server 2008

When you put a server in place, you need an operating system specifically designed to operate in a client sever environment, hence Windows Server 2008.

One of the main advantages that this gives, is in security. The new technologies in Windows Server 2008 help prevent unauthorized connections to your networks, servers, data, and user accounts. Any computer that attempts to access you network runs into Network Access Protection (NAP) which makes sure that they comply with your organization’s security policy. As importantly, BitLocker Drive Encryption gives greater protection against data theft in the event that server hardware is lost or stolen, as well as providing more secure data deletion when your servers are eventually decommissioned.

The Server Manager provides a single console that simplifies server set up , configuration and management as well as allowing administrators to automate routine tasks over multiple servers.

If your business relies on remote workers, has satellite shops or offices, or needs to provide access to company data for sales representatives, Terminal Services RemoteApp provides this. Authorised staff can easily access standard Windows-based programs from anywhere by running them on a terminal server instead of directly on a client computer – without the need for a complicated virtual private network (VPN).

Sharepoint, which comes with Windows Server 2008, provides the ability to share applications like Excel spreadsheets, which can be accessed and updated by staff, whether in the office or remotely. It provides a focal point for company and or team activity which can really boost productivity by having one set of documents that every one can access and update directly.

Exchange Server 2007 SP1

MIcrosofts Exchange Server 2007 is another invaluable aid to keeping everyone up to date and coordinated. It provides e-mail messaging, calendar organisation and unified messaging. It provides built in protection against spam and malware attacks with an integrated, IP based block-and-allow list based on sender reputation and are automatically updated. Administrators can also create additional IP allow-or-deny lists if necessary.

The Calendar Attendant helps to reduce conflicting appointments by limiting calendar items (request, declines, accepts) in the inbox to the latest version. It also shows meeting requests as tentative on individual calendars until all the people invited to attend the meeting reply.

In addition to Exchange Management Shell, the Public Folder Management Console lets administrators quickly manage public folders, including creation, deletion, and the replication configuration of individual folders.

SQL Server 2008

Of course, one of the great strengths, and main reasons for having a proper server based network is providing access to a common database for a number of concurrent users. Whether this is to control information , such as stock movements or provide information for customers from an e-commerce website, SQL Server 2008 delivers integrated services that let you query, search, synchronize, report and analyze data. Furthermore, as it is stored in an organisation’s server and accessed by desktops and mobile devices, it can be simultaneously updated and queried without having to manage replication issues.

The reporting engine in SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services allows you to integrate and report on data from a number of functions within the company. Large and complex reports can be produced in various formats, including list, chart, table, and matrix. They can incorporate data from Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and many other sources and then you can preview, print and publish the reports with the integral report builder. You can also export it easily to Office 2007 products such as Excel to manipulate it into “what if” scenarios or Word for presentations and reports.

Conclusion

Every business has its own, individual, problems and what would be a critical benefit for one company, would be irrelevant to another, so it is not possible to cover all the features and benefits that might be relevant to all businesses. Suffice it to say, that, if you run a small to medium sized business, it would be worth examining the advantages that you might experience by moving to a proper client server network.

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure:70-291 Exam

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Exam Number/Code: 70-291

 
Exam Name: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

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Windows Server 2003 Active Directory as well as Network Infrastructure

It is a hierarchical representation of all the objects and their attributes available on the network. It enables administrators to manage the network resources, i.e., computers, users, printers, shared folders, etc., in an easy way. The logical structure represented by Active Directory consists of forests, trees, domains, organizational units, and individual objects. This structure is completely independent from the physical structure of the network, and allows administrators to manage domains according to the organizational needs without bothering about the physical network structure.

Following is the description of all logical components of the Active Directory structure:

Forest: A forest is the outermost boundary of an Active Directory structure. It is a group of multiple domain trees that share a common schema but do not form a contiguous namespace. It is created when the first Active Directory-based computer is installed on a network. There is at least one forest on a network. The first domain in a forest is called a root domain. It controls the schema and domain naming for the entire forest. It can be separately removed from the forest. Administrators can create multiple forests and then create trust relationships between specific domains in those forests, depending upon the organizational needs.

Trees: A hierarchical structure of multiple domains organized in the Active Directory forest is referred to as a tree. It consists of a root domain and several child domains. The first domain created in a tree becomes the root domain. Any domain added to the root domain becomes its child, and the root domain becomes its parent. The parent-child hierarchy continues until the terminal node is reached. All domains in a tree share a common schema, which is defined at the forest level. Depending upon the organizational needs, multiple domain trees can be included in a forest.

Domains: A domain is the basic organizational structure of a Windows Server 2003 networking model. It logically organizes the resources on a network and defines a security boundary in Active Directory. The directory may contain more than one domain, and each domain follows its own security policy and trust relationships with other domains. Almost all the organizations having a large network use domain type of networking model to enhance network security and enable administrators to efficiently manage the entire network.

Objects: Active Directory stores all network resources in the form of objects in a hierarchical structure of containers and subcontainers, thereby making them easily accessible and manageable. Each object class consists of several attributes. Whenever a new object is created for a particular class, it automatically inherits all attributes from its member class. Although the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory defines its default set of objects, administrators can modify it according to the organizational needs.

Organizational Unit (OU): It is the least abstract component of the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. It works as a container into which resources of a domain can be placed. Its logical structure is similar to an organization’s functional structure. It allows creating administrative boundaries in a domain by delegating separate administrative tasks to the administrators on the domain. Administrators can create multiple Organizational Units in the network. They can also create nesting of OUs, which means that other OUs can be created within an OU.
In a large complex network, the Active Directory service provides a single point of management for the administrators by placing all the network resources at a single place. It allows administrators to effectively delegate administrative tasks as well as facilitate fast searching of network resources. It is easily scalable, i.e., administrators can add a large number of resources to it without having additional administrative burden. It is accomplished by partitioning the directory database, distributing it across other domains, and establishing trust relationships, thereby providing users with benefits of decentralization, and at the same time, maintaining the centralized administration.

The physical network infrastructure of Active Directory is far too simple as compared to its logical structure. The physical components are domain controllers and sites.

Domain Controller: A Windows 2003 server on which Active Directory services are installed and run is called a domain controller. A domain controller locally resolves queries for information about objects in its domain. A domain can have multiple domain controllers. Each domain controller in a domain follows the multimaster model by having a complete replica of the domain’s directory partition. In this model, every domain controller holds a master copy of its directory partition. Administrators can use any of the domain controllers to modify the Active Directory database. The changes performed by the administrators are automatically replicated to other domain controllers in the domain.

However, there are some operations that do not follow the multimaster model. Active Directory handles these operations and assigns them to a single domain controller to be accomplished. Such a domain controller is referred to as operations master. The operations master performs several roles, which can be forest-wide as well as domain-wide.

Forest-wide roles: There are two types of forest-wide roles:

Schema Master and Domain Naming Master. The Schema Master is responsible for maintaining the schema and distributing it to the entire forest. The Domain Naming Master is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the forest by recording additions of domains to and deletions of domains from the forest. When new domains are to be added to a forest, the Domain Naming Master role is queried. In the absence of this role, new domains cannot be added.

Domain-wide roles: There are three types of domain-wide roles: RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master.

RID Master: The RID Master is one of the operations master roles that exist in each domain in a forest. It controls the sequence number for the domain controllers within a domain. It provides a unique sequence of RIDs to each domain controller in a domain. When a domain controller creates a new object, the object is assigned a unique security ID consisting of a combination of a domain SID and a RID. The domain SID is a constant ID, whereas the RID is assigned to each object by the domain controller. The domain controller receives the RIDs from the RID Master. When the domain controller has used all the RIDs provided by the RID Master, it requests the RID Master to issue more RIDs for creating additional objects within the domain. When a domain controller exhausts its pool of RIDs, and the RID Master is unavailable, any new object in the domain cannot be created.

PDC Emulator: The PDC emulator is one of the five operations master roles in Active Directory. It is used in a domain containing non-Active Directory computers. It processes the password changes from both users and computers, replicates those updates to backup domain controllers, and runs the Domain Master browser. When a domain user requests a domain controller for authentication, and the domain controller is unable to authenticate the user due to bad password, the request is forwarded to the PDC emulator. The PDC emulator then verifies the password, and if it finds the updated entry for the requested password, it authenticates the request.

Infrastructure Master: The Infrastructure Master role is one of the Operations Master roles in Active Directory. It functions at the domain level and exists in each domain in the forest. It maintains all inter-domain object references by updating references from the objects in its domain to the objects in other domains. It performs a very important role in a multiple domain environment. It compares its data with that of a Global Catalog, which always has up-to-date information about the objects of all domains. When the Infrastructure Master finds data that is obsolete, it requests the global catalog for its updated version. If the updated data is available in the global catalog, the Infrastructure Master extracts and replicates the updated data to all the other domain controllers in the domain.

Domain controllers can also be assigned the role of a Global Catalog server. A Global Catalog is a special Active Directory database that stores a full replica of the directory for its host domain and the partial replica of the directories of other domains in a forest. It is created by default on the initial domain controller in the forest. It performs the following primary functions regarding logon capabilities and queries within Active Directory:

It enables network logon by providing universal group membership information to a domain controller when a logon request is initiated.

It enables finding directory information about all the domains in an Active Directory forest.

A Global Catalog is required to log on to a network within a multidomain environment. By providing universal group membership information, it greatly improves the response time for queries. In its absence, a user will be allowed to log on only to his local domain if his user account is external to the local domain.

Site: A site is a group of domain controllers that exist on different IP subnets and are connected via a fast and reliable network connection. A network may contain multiple sites connected by a WAN link. Sites are used to control replication traffic, which may occur within a site or between sites. Replication within a site is referred to as intrasite replication, and that between sites is referred to as intersite replication. Since all domain controllers within a site are generally connected by a fast LAN connection, the intrasite replication is always in uncompressed form. Any changes made in the domain are quickly replicated to the other domain controllers. Since sites are connected to each other via a WAN connection, the intersite replication always occurs in compressed form. Therefore, it is slower than the intrasite replication.

Exam 70-293 – Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure which is also known as Exam 70-293 targeted mainly on IT experts who want to accelerate their learning capability and development in IT field.

You are a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) once you pass this Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure exam. It also serves as the core credit for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows Server 2003 certification and elective credit for Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) on Microsoft SQL Server 2000 certification.

This is a very important certification for a professional who works on planning and maintaining a network infrastructure. The main objectives of Exam 70-293 are;

 

Planning and Implementing Server Roles and Server Security Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Network Infrastructure Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Routing and Remote Access Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Server Availability Planning and Maintaining Network Security Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Security Infrastructure

After knowing all these, get yourself ready as you will be tested based on these objectives. So, how to prepare for this exam?

 1. Hands-On Experience

Do a lot of practice in Network Infrastructure to learn the basic idea on how to plan and maintain the server effectively. Do not ever go for the exam if you don’t have enough hands-on experiences on this.

2. Study Materials

For this exam, you can use MeasureUp or Self Test Software which will help you a lot in preparing for the exam. There are a lot of test practices for you to self check your knowledge.

3. Step-by step Guideline

If you are not good in time management or how to start preparing for this Exam 70-293, you can search for books that will give you step-by-step guideline designed by experienced IT professionals.

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself ready for the exam with these tips.

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure:70-291Exam

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Exam Name: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

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Ntp Server Systems ? the Network Time Protocol

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is utilised by NTP Server systems to distribute accurate time information to network time clients. The NTP protocol is widely used throughout the Internet to provide synchronisation of computers and processes. This article discusses how NTP server systems utilise the Network Time Protocol to provide networks with an accurate reference of time.

NTP Overview

NTP has been in use as an Internet protocol for over 25 years. It is the longest running continuously operating Internet protocol. The protocol was born through the need to provide synchronisation of time critical processes across the Internet. NTP primarily runs on LINUX and UNIX platforms including Free-BSD but has also been, in part, ported to Windows operating systems. Dedicated NTP server systems generally utilise the LINUX operating system.

The NTP Protocol

NTP is designed to provide network time clients with three products: system clock offset, round-trip delay and dispersion relative to a specified reference clock. Clock offset is the time difference between the local clock and reference clock. Round-trip delay measures the amount of time the protocol takes to receive a response from the server. Dispersion is the maximum error of the local clock relative to the specified reference.

NTP Stratum

NTP operates in a hierarchical manner, the primary reference followed by secondary references and clients. At the top of the hierarchy, the primary reference is usually synchronised to an external time source such as a radio or GPS clock. The primary reference is attributed a stratum of one. Each level down in the hierarchy is attributed a stratum one greater than the preceding level. As the stratum increases, the accuracy of the reference degrades slightly due to inconsistencies in network path timing. Secondary references have a stratum of between two and fifteen.

NTP Messages

NTP utilises the UDP (User Data-gram Protocol) protocol. The NTP message consists of a number of fields: Leap Indicator; Version Number; Mode; Stratum; Poll; Precision; Root Delay; Root Dispersion; Reference Identifier; Reference Timestamp; Originate Timestamp; Receive Timestamp; Transmit Timestamp; Key Identifier and Message Digest.

The leap indicator warns of an impending leap second addition or deletion. The version number indicates the NTP version in use. Mode specified the NTP mode of the current message. Stratum is an eight-bit value indicating the hierarchical level of the reference clock. Poll interval specifies the maximum interval between messages. Precision specifies the accuracy of the local clock. Root delay indicates the round-trip delay time to the reference. Root dispersion indicates the nominal error relative to the primary reference. Reference identifier is a 4-character ASCII string identifying the reference source, such as GPS, DCF or MSF. Reference timestamp specifies the time at which the reference clock was last corrected. The Originate Timestamp specifies the time the NTP request message departed the client for the NTP server. Receive timestamp specifies the time the NTP request message was received by the NTP server. Transmit timestamp specifies the time the NTP response message was transmitted by the server to the client. The key identifier field is utilised when authentication is required and provides the message authentication code.

NTP Server Operation

A NTP server can operate in three modes: unicast; anycast and multicast. In unicast and anycast modes, the client transmits a NTP request message to the server. The server responds with a NTP time message that the client uses for time synchronisation. In multicast mode, NTP time messages are broadcast at periodic specified intervals.

NTP Reference Clocks

Primary NTP servers can synchronise with a number of external reference time sources. The GPS (Global Positioning System) is often used to provide an accurate timing reference. There is also a number of national time and frequency radio broadcasts available. The WWVB radio time broadcast is transmitted from Colorado and covers most of the US. The DCF-77 radio time signal is broadcast from Frankfurt, Germany, and covers much of central and Western Europe. The MSF radio time signal is broadcast from Rugby, UK, and covers the British Isles and much of Western Europe. Other local time and frequency radio broadcasts include: TDF, France, and CHU, Canada.

NTP Versions

The current release of NTP is version 4. The only significant modification to the protocol between versions 3 and 4 is a slight header re-interpretation to accommodate IPv6.

SNTP – Simple Network Time Protocol

SNTP is a simplification of the Network Time Protocol, where the complexities of the full-blown protocol are not required. SNTP can be implemented when the high synchronisation performance of NTP is not required. The message format of the SNTP protocol is almost identical to that of the NTP protocol. However, the complex subroutines designed to maintain a highly accurate synchronised time are removed or simplified. Small computers with reduced processing power, such as micro-controllers or monitoring equipment most often use SNTP. The SNTP and NTP protocols are fully interchangeable, a SNTP client can synchronise to a NTP server without any issues.

More Information: NTP RFC’s

The original Network Time Protocol was introduced in RFC 958 (Request for Comments: 958). The full NTP version 3 protocol and synchronisation algorithms are described in RFC 1305. The SNTP version 4 protocols are described in RFC 2030.

Windows Server: Configuring as a Ntp Network Time Server

 

Precision and time synchronisation is highly important for modern computer networks, without synchronisation many time sensitive transactions would be impossible to carry out.

 

The internal clock in computers does keep time and date information but these Real Time Chips are not designed to keep perfect time as computers are mass produced and optimized for low cost rather than being perfect clocks.

 

Of course for a lot of applications this can be more than adequate but for time-sensitive transactions such as online purchasing not having a network that is synchronised can cause errors in transactions and can even leave the network vulnerable to fraud.

 

Fortunately Windows Server from 2000 onwards has a time synchronisation utility built in call windows time (w32time.exe) this can be configured to allow the machine to be used as time server.

 

Windows time uses a form of NTP (Network Time Protocol) which was developed over 20 years ago. It uses an algorithm to synchronise time on a network. NTP (version 4) can maintain time over the public Internet to within 10 milliseconds (1/100th of a second) and can perform even better over LANs with accuracies of 200 microseconds (1/5000th of a second) under ideal conditions.

 

NTP uses a single time reference and synchronises all machines on the network to that time. It can be configured to both synchronise a network using the internal clock or an external time source.

 

Note: Microsoft strongly recommends that you configure a time server with a hardware source rather than from the internet where there is no authentication.

 

To configure the Windows Time service to use an external time source, click Start, Run and type regedit then click OK.

 

Locate the subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

Right-click Type then Modify, in edit Value type NTP in the Value data box then OK.

 

Right click ReliableTimeSource, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type 0, then click OK.

 

Right-click NtpServer in the right pane then click Modify.

In Edit Value, type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique.

Now click Ok.

 

To set the poll intervals locate:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

In the right pane, right-click Period, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type 24 then OK

Exit Registry Editor

 

Click Start, then Run then type the following and press Enter:

Net stop w32time && net start w32time

 

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is an Internet protocol used for the transfer of accurate time, providing time information along so that a precise time can be obtained

 

To enable the Network Time Protocol; NTPserver, locate and click:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpServer

In the right pane, right-click Enabled, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWord Value box, type 1 under Value data, then click OK.

 

Now go back and click on

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersNtpServer

In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value under Value Data type the Domain Name System (DNS), each DNS must be unique and you must append 0×1 to the end of each DNS name otherwise changes will not take effect.

Now click Ok.

 

Locate and click the following

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNtpClientSpecialPollInterval

In the right pane, right-click SpecialPollInterval, then click Modify.

In the Edit DWORD Value box, under Value Data, type the number of seconds you want for each poll, ie 900 will poll every 15 minutes, then click OK.

 

To configure the time correction settings, locate:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

In the right pane, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, then Modify, in the Edit DWORD Value box, under Base, click Decimal, under Value Data, type a time in seconds such as 3600 (an hour) then click OK.

 

Now go back and click:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Timeconfig

In the right pane, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, then Modify.

In the Edit DWORD box under base, click Decimal, under value data type the time in seconds you want to poll such as 3600 (polls in one hour)

 

Exit Registry Editor

Now to restart windows time service, click Start, Run (or alternatively use the command prompt facility) and type:

net stop w32time && net start w32time

 

And on each computer, other than the time server, type:

W32tm/ -s and the time server should be up and running

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