Keeping system clocks synchronized within a network is required for many databases and authentication services. The following topics are covered in this chapter.Clock Synchronization (Overview) Managing Network Time Protocol (Tasks) Using Other Time-Related Commands (Tasks) Network Time Protocol (Reference) The Network Time Protocol (NTP) public domain software from the University of Delaware is included in the Solaris software from Solaris 2.6 release forward. The xntpd daemon sets and maintains the system time-of-day. The xntpd daemon is a complete implementation of the version 3 standard, as defined by RFC 1305.The xntpd daemon reads the /etc/inet/ntp.conf file at system startup. See xntpd1M for information about configuration options.Remember the following when using NTP in your network:The xntpd daemon uses minimal system resources. An NTP client synchronizes automatically with an NTP server when it boots. If the client becomes unsynchronized, the client resynchronizes again when the client contacts a time server. Another way to synchronize clocks is to run rdate while using cron. The following procedures show how to set up and use the NTP service.&rolestepA;Create the ntp.conf file.To ensure proper execution of the xntpd daemon, the ntp.conf file must first be created. The ntp.server file can be used as a template.# cd /etc/inet # cp ntp.server ntp.conf Start the xntpd daemon.# svcadm enable network/ntp &rolestepA;Create the ntp.conf file.To activate the xntpd daemon, the ntp.conf file must first be created.# cd /etc/inet # cp ntp.client ntp.conf Start the xntpd daemon.# svcadm enable network/ntp The following procedure can be used to update the current time when ever needed, without having to setup NTP.&rolestepA;Reset the date and time to synchronize with another system, by using the rdate command. # rdate another-systemanother-systemName of the another system Verify that you have reset your system's date correctly by using the date command.The output should show a date and time that matches that of the other system. The following example shows how to use rdate to synchronize the date and time of one system with another. In this example, the system earth, running several hours behind, is reset to match the date and time of the server starbug. earth# date Tue Jun 5 11:08:27 MDT 2001 earth# rdate starbug Tue Jun 5 14:06:37 2001 earth# date Tue Jun 5 14:06:40 MDT 2001 The following files are needed for the NTP service to run.File Name Function /etc/inet/ntp.conf Lists configuration options for NTP. /etc/inet/ntp.client Sample configuration file for NTP clients. /etc/inet/ntp.server Sample configuration file for NTP servers. /etc/inet/ntp.drift Sets the initial frequency offset on NTP servers. /etc/inet/ntp.keys Contains the NTP authentication keys. /usr/lib/inet/xntpd NTP daemon. See xntpd1M for more information. /usr/sbin/ntpdate Utility to set the local date and time, based on NTP. See ntpdate1M for more information. /usr/sbin/ntpq NTP query program. See ntpq1M for more information. /usr/sbin/ntptrace Program to trace NTP hosts back to the master NTP server. See ntptrace1M for more information. /usr/sbin/xntpdc NTP query program for the xntpd daemon. See xntpdc1M for more information. /var/ntp/ntpstats Directory for holding NTP statistics.