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Updated:
23 Dec, 2002



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NTP on Windows 2k

I don't know if anyone else has tried running an NTP environment outside what's offered by MS with Win2k - but here's my observations:

I've run NTP in a Unix environment before and presently. It's fairly straightforward. If NTP is already installed, then just edit /etc/ntp.conf for a typical client and add/edit the line "broadcastclient". ntp.conf could just contain this item alone and it would make the system become a functional NTP client. What this does is allow the client to listen for servers (note: plural) on the network serving time. It allows the client to "lock on" to any usable NTP server on the network. This could be another Unix system or even a router that has an NTP implementation. Some if not all Cisco routers will perform this function quite nicely. To make the NTP client lock on to a particular server or set of servers, one only needs to add "server [ipaddr/hostname]" to the ntp.conf file instead of "broadcastclient". Now the client will lock on to a set of servers so that it one fails, the client still has redundancy built in.

Even better yet, secure keys can be exchanged for NTP server verification so that doing whacky things to the NTP client can be averted.

To make an NTP client into a server, an admin only needs to add a few more commands to the ntp.conf file to make it do so. In the Cisco IOS world, again, a few commands and the router is broadcasting NTP to any number of subnetworks. If an admin truly wants to have some fun, downloading the available NTP source code and a GPS Receiver module ($49-$100) connected to a serial port give the admin a rock solid time source even if the network's connection to upstream NTP sources is lost. Cool, eh?

Conclusion: An NTP server is a very easy thing to configure and run in the Unix or even a router environment. Both the client

Enter Windows:
Before Win2k, if you wanted NTP, you'd have to go to the internet and download possibly free, possibly feeware to allow operation in an NTP based environment. MS finally got around to adding NTP to Win2k. However, in true MS fashion, configuration consists of a single command:

net time [\\computername] [/querysntp] | [/setsntp[:ntp server list]]

Note there is no broadcast mode, there is no server mode... there is just client mode. Client mode instructed to listen to a list of sources, which is ok, if you don't mind hardwiring several hundred machines. "broadcastclient" allows "set and forget" operation. I don't know if DHCP can over-ride this (time servers are a DHCP option). And I'm sure there's probably some way to broadcast this through a policy server provided one goes through the hurdles to set one up.

From what I've seen in Win2K server, this is the same mode of operation. There's no server mode, no broadcast mode. So if one wants to make their Win2K server an NTP server, one would have to look elsewhere than MS.

Why do they do this? I can't answer for the many minds of Bill. But this is how it is.

-Ben


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