Configuring Ntp; Information About Ntp; Ntp - Cisco MDS 9000 Series Configuration Manual

Configuring NTP

This chapter describes how to configure the Network Time Protocol (NTP) on CIsco MDS 9000 Family
switches.
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Information About NTP

This section describes information about NTP.

NTP

In a large enterprise network, having one time standard for all network devices is critical for management
reporting and event logging functions when trying to correlate interacting events logged across multiple
devices. Many enterprise customers with extremely mission-critical networks maintain their own stratum-1
NTP source.
Time synchronization occurs when several frames are exchanged between clients and servers. The switches
in client mode know the address of one or more NTP servers. The servers act as the time source and receive
client synchronization requests.
By configuring an IP address as a peer, the Cisco NX-OS device will obtain and provide time as required.
The peer is capable of providing time on its own and is capable of having a server configured. If both of these
instances point to different time servers, your NTP service is more reliable. Even if the active server link is
lost, you can still maintain the correct time due to the presence of the peer.
OL-29291-02
Information About NTP, page 131
Prerequisites for NTP , page 133
Guidelines and Limitations for NTP, page 133
Configuring NTP, page 133
Verifying NTP Configuration, page 139
NTP Example Configuration , page 139
Default Settings for NTP, page 140
C H A P T E R
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