Users Guide

Following conventions established by the telephone industry [BEL86], the accuracy of each server is defined by a number
called the stratum, with the topmost level (primary servers) assigned as one and each level downwards (secondary servers) in
the hierarchy assigned as one greater than the preceding level.
Dell Networking OS synchronizes with a time-serving host to get the correct time. You can set Dell Networking OS to poll
specific NTP time-serving hosts for the current time. From those time-serving hosts, the system chooses one NTP host with
which to synchronize and serve as a client to the NTP host. As soon as a host-client relationship is established, the networking
device propagates the time information throughout its local network.
Protocol Overview
The NTP messages to one or more servers and processes the replies as received. The server interchanges addresses and ports,
fills in or overwrites certain fields in the message, recalculates the checksum, and returns it immediately.
Information included in the NTP message allows each client/server peer to determine the timekeeping characteristics of its
other peers, including the expected accuracies of their clocks. Using this information, each peer is able to select the best time
from possibly several other clocks, update the local clock, and estimate its accuracy.
System Time and Date 822