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NetAppKnowledgebaseBestpracticesforselectinganexternalNTPtimesource

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BestpracticesforselectinganexternalNTPtime
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KBID:3013657Version:2.0Publisheddate:06/20/2014Views:928

Answer
Background:
StorageGRIDcomprisesofadistributedsetofservices,mostlyrunningonseparatehardware.This
distributednaturerequiresapreciseandtighttimingoftheunderlyinghardwareiftheclocksonthe
serversdeviatetoomuch,StorageGRIDwillsevercommunicationtotheoutlyingnode(s).
TimingissoimportanttotheStorageGRIDfunctionalitythattheNTPserviceisadependencyforall
othergridservicestheservermanagerwillnotbringanyotherservicesonlineifNTPdoesnotstart
successfully.Infact,thisisutilizedinthemaintenanceprocedures.Itispossibletopreventanauto
startupoftheStorageGRIDsoftwarebycreatinga0bytefile:/etc/sv/ntp/DoNotStart
AbestpracticeforinstallingStorageGRIDistoconfigureNTPinahierarchicalmannertheControl
Nodesareconfiguredfortimesynchronizationwithexternaltimesources.Theyarealsoconfiguredas
synchronizingpeers(thatis,theControlNodessynchronizewitheachotheraswellastheexternal
sources).AllothernodeswithintheStorageGRIDuseControlNodesastheirtimesources.
IfasufficientnumberofControlNodesdeviatefromtheexternaltimesources,theentiregridmight
begintodriftawayfromtheexternaltimesources.
Dramatictimedriftsfromtheconfiguredsourcesarereferredtoas'flywheeling',andcanaffecteither
singlenodesorthewholegrid.
ToensurethebestpossibleconditionsforStorageGRIDtomaintaintimeprecisionandaccuracy,NTP
configurationshouldadheretothefollowingbestpractices:
UseStratum1timesources.Stratum0aregenerallyatomicorradioclocksthatarenotaccessible
throughthenetwork.Stratum1sourcesareserversdirectlyconnectedtotheStratum0sources
andarethereforethemostaccurateNTPsourcesavailable.AcompletedescriptionofNTPstrata
isavailableontheWikipediaNTPpage.
Useatleast5Stratum1sources.UsingmultiplesourcesincreasestheprobabilityofanNTPlock
intheeventofupstreamnetworkdisruptions.
Choosegeographicallylocalsourceswhenselecting.Thiswillreduceboththenetworklatency
andthelikelihoodofnetworkdisruptiontoagivensource.
AlwaystesttheconnectivitytoanewtimesourcebeforeincorporatingitintotheNTP
configuration.
UsetheseresourcestolocateadditionalNTPsources:
https://kb.netapp.com/index?page=content&id=3013657&pmv=print&impressions=false

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3/5/2015

NetAppKnowledgebaseBestpracticesforselectinganexternalNTPtimesource

NISTInternetTimeServers
USNONTPNetworkTimeServers
Formoreinformation,seeSelectingOffsiteNTPServers.
Atthetimeofwriting,thefollowingNTPStratum1sourcesarecommonlyusedinStorageGRID
deployments:
PacificTimeZone
tick.ucla.edu(164.67.62.194)
utcnist.colorado.edu(128.138.140.44)
timekeeper.isi.edu(128.9.176.30)
usno.pax.dec.com(204.123.2.72)

MountainTimeZone
utcnist.colorado.edu(128.138.140.44)
utcnist2.colorado.edu(128.138.141.172)
usno.pax.dec.com(204.123.2.72)

CentralTimeZone
time.nist.gov(192.43.244.18)
nist1lnk.binary.net(216.229.0.179)
nist.time.nosc.us(96.226.123.117)

EasternTimeZone
navobs1.gatech.edu(130.207.244.240)
nist1ny.ustiming.org(64.90.182.55)
nist1nj.ustiming.org(96.47.67.105)

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