Synching NTP servers to local clock

[RPC WHQ UNIX Team]

I am thinking of configuring 2 servers each synched to its local clock & to each other. Does that make sense? The idea is to provide redundancy to the dozen or so clients and it seems the two stratum 1 (2?) servers ought to agree on the time. Here is what I expect to have in ntp.conf

server 127.127.1.1 prefer
fudge 127.127.1.1 stratum 10
peer
driftfile /etc/ntp.drift

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Joe:

You would consider synchronizing to a real external clock since it's so easy to achieve.

For a good list of time sources, see:

http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/clock1.htm

I use the USNO (US Naval Observatory) sources to which I synchronize one of my servers, and then specify that server as the upper stratum for my others.

...JRF...

[Rita C Workman]

Here's a thread that will help you touch all your bases.
I agree with James, that getting the time sync'd exactly is a good policy. But I must also admit, that I set mine up the same as your doing. I simply set one servers' time to be the primary that all others sync to.

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,1150,0x87c3854994d9d4118fef0090279cd0f9,00.html

/rcw

[RPC WHQ UNIX Team]

My concern is with the correct use of the peer parameter in ntp.conf. I'm thinking that you can't have 2 servers each with its own clock as stratum 0 and each other as peers (i.e. stratum 1) so as to keep their clocks synched to one another. But, then, how else would you use the peer parameter?

[Satish Y]

I think "server" entry is optional, It works without server entry too.

Cheers.....
Satish.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Joe:

From the documentation, I don't get any sense that "peer" wouldn't work. If you want to try your setup with two of your local hosts providing the time to each other, do so. You can check for synchronization with 'ntpq' (see the man pages and/or the manual below). Remember that synchronization will take a few minutes, and will fail if the time difference between hosts is more than about 1000 seconds.

...JRF...