24.0 Time Synchronization with NTP
The NTP (network time protocol) mechanism is a protocol for synchronizing
the system time over the network. First, a machine can obtain the time
from a server that is a reliable time source. Second, a machine can
itself act as a time source for other computers in the network. The goal
is twofold—maintaining the absolute time and synchronizing the
system time of all machines within a network.
Maintaining an exact system time is important in many situations. The
built-in hardware (BIOS) clock does often not meet the requirements of
applications like databases. Manual correction of the system time would
lead to severe problems because, for example, a backward leap can cause
malfunction of critical applications. Within a network, it is usually
necessary to synchronize the system time of all machines, but manual time
adjustment is a bad approach. xntp provides a mechanism to solve these
problems. It continuously adjusts the system time with the help of
reliable time servers in the network. It further enables the management of
local reference clocks, such as radio-controlled clocks.
