Time server
A time server is a server that provides clients with its current time stamp .
Time servers are primarily used for synchronization of hosts . This synchronization is necessary for directory services , for example . The Network Time Protocol is usually used. The Precision Time Protocol is used for particularly high accuracy requirements . The Daytime protocol is primarily used for troubleshooting and analysis.
Due to their low computing power and memory requirements, time servers are usually operated on a common host alongside other servers, and rarely on a dedicated host . But there are also corresponding appliances . In most cases, a time server for its part obtains current time stamps from other time servers or from a highly precise timer, for example a radio clock or a GPS receiver, in order to be coordinated with the coordinated world time .
In Germany the atomic clock of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig is decisive for the legal time , in Switzerland in Bern that of the Federal Office of Metrology , in Austria that of the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying .
These institutions operate public time servers on the Internet , which are queried, among other things, by the time servers of many Internet providers . In order to avoid overloading the official server, the time server of your own provider or an NTP pool should generally be queried.