Time synchronization is a service that maintains consistent server time across the network. Time synchronization is provided by the server operating system, not by eDirectory. eDirectory maintains its own internal time to ensure the proper order of eDirectory packets, but it gets its time from the server operating system.
This section focuses on integrating NetWare time synchronization with the time synchronization of Windows, Linux, and Solaris.
In IP networks and mixed protocol networks, NetWare 5.x servers communicate time with other servers using IP. NetWare 5.x servers use TIMESYNC.NLM and Network Time Protocol (NTP) to accomplish this.
Time synchronization in NetWare 5.x always uses TIMESYNC.NLM, whether servers are using IP only, IPXTM only, or both protocols. TIMESYNC.NLM loads when a server is installed. NTP can be configured through TIMESYNC.NLM.
If your network also uses Windows, Linux, or Solaris, you should use NTP to synchronize the servers because it is a standard to provide time synchronization.
For NetWare 3 and NetWare 4, third-party NTP time services are available.
For more information on time synchronization software, see the U.S. Naval Time Service Department Web site.
NTP functions as part of the UDP protocol suite, which in turn is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Therefore, a computer using NTP must have the TCP/IP protocol suite loaded. Any computers on your network with Internet access can get time from NTP servers on the Internet.
NTP synchronizes clocks to the Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) standard, the international time standard.
NTP introduces the concept of a stratum. A stratum-1 server has an attached accurate time piece such as a radio clock or an atomic clock. A stratum-2 server gets time from a stratum-1 server, and so on.
For NetWare 5 servers, you can load NTP.NLM to implement NTP time synchronization through TIMESYNC.NLM. When NTP is configured with the TIMESYNC.NLM on an IP server, NTP becomes the time source for both IP and IPX servers. In this case, IPX servers must be set to secondary servers.
For more information on time synchronization, refer to Network Time Management Administration Guide in the NetWare 6 documentation set on the Novell Documentation Web site.
TIMESYNC.NLM synchronizes time among NetWare servers. You can use TIMESYNC.NLM with an external time source like an Internet NTP server. You can also configure Novell Client workstations to update their clocks to servers running the TIMESYNC.NLM.
For more information on time synchronization, refer to Network Time Management Administration Guide in the NetWare 6 documentation set on the Novell Documentation Web site.
Windows does not include an NTP time-synchronization utility. You can obtain an NTP-compatible timeserver in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit.
For more information on time synchronization for Windows, refer to the server documentation.
You can use the TIMESYNC 5.09 utility to synchronize time on Linux, Solaris, and NetWare systems. The TIMESYNC utility is available as part of NetWare 5 Support Pack 2 and can be downloaded from the Novell Support Connection Web page.
If xntpd is running on the Linux or Solaris systems, kill the process.
To set up the Linux or Solaris server as a Timesync server in a mixed network of NetWare and Linux or Solaris servers:
Modify the ntp.conf file.
server IP_address_of_the_Linux_system
fudge IP_address_of_the_Linux_system stratum 0
server IP_address_of_the_Solaris_system
fudge IP_address_of_the_Solaris_system stratum 0
Start xntpd.
Verify ntptrace.
The following information displays:
localhost:stratum1, offset 0.000060. synch distance 0.01004, refid 'LCL'
The stratum number can be any number between 1 and 14.
On the NetWare server, load monitor > go to Server Parameters > go to Time > go to Timesync Time Source > enter the following:
IP_address_of_the_Linux_system:123;
IP_address_of_the_Solaris_system:123;
Save and quit.
This enables the NetWare sever to synchronize time using NTP.
To set up a Linux or Solaris system as a Timesync client:
Enter the following line in /etc/ntp.conf (on Linux systems) or /etc/inet/ntp.conf (on Solaris systems):
server IP_address_of_the_Timesync_server
Use the ntpdate command to adjust the time on the Linux or Solaris machine to be as close to the Timesync server as possible.
Repeat the following command until the time is adjusted to the Timesync server:
ntpdate IP_address_of_the_Timesync_server
Start xntpd.
Verify ntptrace.
The following information displays after a few minutes:
localhost:stratum 2, offset 0.000055, synch distance 0.02406 Solaris_server_name: stratum 1, offset 0.000030, synch distance 0.01064, refid 'LCL'
The stratum number in the first line can be any number between 2 and 15. If the number is below 16, the machine is synchronized with the machine in the second line.
To verify that time is synchronized in the tree, run DSREPAIR from a server in the Tree that has at least read/write rights to the Tree object.
At the server console, load DSREPAIR.
Select Time Synchronization.
For help interpreting the log, click F1.
Go to the NDSCONSOLE > select DSREPAIR > click Start.
Click Repair > Time Synchronization.
Run the following command:
ndsrepair -T