Network Working Group                                           D. Mills
Request for Comments: 1769                        University of Delaware
Obsoletes: 1361                                               March 1995
Category: Informational


                 Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP)

Status of this Memo

  This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
  does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
  this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

  This memorandum describes the Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP),
  which is an adaptation of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) used to
  synchronize computer clocks in the Internet. SNTP can be used when
  the ultimate performance of the full NTP implementation described in
  RFC-1305 is not needed or justified. It can operate in both unicast
  modes (point to point) and broadcast modes (point to multipoint). It
  can also operate in IP multicast mode where this service is
  available. SNTP involves no change to the current or previous NTP
  specification versions or known implementations, but rather a
  clarification of certain design features of NTP which allow operation
  in a simple, stateless remote-procedure call (RPC) mode with accuracy
  and reliability expectations similar to the UDP/TIME protocol
  described in RFC-868.

  This memorandum obsoletes RFC-1361 of the same title. Its purpose is
  to explain the protocol model for operation in broadcast mode, to
  provide additional clarification in some places and to correct a few
  typographical errors. A working knowledge of the NTP Version 3
  specification RFC-1305 is not required for an implementation of SNTP.
  Distribution of this memorandum is unlimited.

1. Introduction

  The Network Time Protocol (NTP) specified in RFC-1305 [MIL92] is used
  to synchronize computer clocks in the global Internet. It provides
  comprehensive mechanisms to access national time and frequency
  dissemination services, organize the time-synchronization subnet and
  adjust the local clock in each participating subnet peer. In most
  places of the Internet of today, NTP provides accuracies of 1-50 ms,
  depending on the characteristics of the synchronization source and
  network paths.




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  RFC-1305 specifies the NTP protocol machine in terms of events,
  states, transition functions and actions and, in addition, optional
  algorithms to improve the timekeeping quality and mitigate among
  several, possibly faulty, synchronization sources. To achieve
  accuracies in the low milliseconds over paths spanning major portions
  of the Internet of today, these intricate algorithms, or their
  functional equivalents, are necessary. However, in many cases
  accuracies of this order are not required and something less, perhaps
  in the order of large fractions of the second, is sufficient. In such
  cases simpler protocols such as the Time Protocol [POS83], have been
  used for this purpose. These protocols usually involve an RPC
  exchange where the client requests the time of day and the server
  returns it in seconds past some known reference epoch.

  NTP is designed for use by clients and servers with a wide range of
  capabilities and over a wide range of network delays and jitter
  characteristics. Most users of the Internet NTP synchronization
  subnet of today use a software package including the full suite of
  NTP options and algorithms, which are relatively complex, real-time
  applications. While the software has been ported to a wide variety of
  hardware platforms ranging from supercomputers to personal computers,
  its sheer size and complexity is not appropriate for many
  applications. Accordingly, it is useful to explore alternative access
  strategies using far simpler software appropriate for less stringent
  accuracy expectations.

  This memorandum describes the Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP),
  which is a simplified access strategy for servers and clients using
  NTP as now specified and deployed in the Internet. There are no
  changes to the protocol or implementations now running or likely to
  be implemented in the near future. The access paradigm is identical
  to the UDP/TIME Protocol and, in fact, it should be easily possible
  to adapt a UDP/TIME client implementation, say for a personal
  computer, to operate using SNTP. Moreover, SNTP is also designed to
  operate in a dedicated server configuration including an integrated
  radio clock. With careful design and control of the various latencies
  in the system, which is practical in a dedicated design, it is
  possible to deliver time accurate to the order of microseconds.

  It is strongly recommended that SNTP be used only at the extremities
  of the synchronization subnet. SNTP clients should operate only at
  the leaves (highest stratum) of the subnet and in configurations
  where no NTP or SNTP client is dependent on another SNTP client for
  synchronization. SNTP servers should operate only at the root
  (stratum 1) of the subnet and then only in configurations where no
  other source of synchronization other than a reliable radio clock is
  available. The full degree of reliability ordinarily expected of
  primary servers is possible only using the redundant sources, diverse



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  subnet paths and crafted algorithms of a full NTP implementation.
  This extends to the primary source of synchronization itself in the
  form of multiple radio clocks and backup paths to other primary
  servers should the radio clock fail or deliver incorrect time.
  Therefore, the use of SNTP rather than NTP in primary servers should
  be carefully considered.

2. Operating Modes and Addressing

  Like NTP, SNTP can operate in either unicast (point to point) or
  broadcast (point to multipoint) modes. A unicast client sends a
  request to a server and expects a reply from which it can determine
  the time and, optionally, the roundtrip delay and local clock offset
  relative to the server. A broadcast server periodically sends a
  message to a designated IP broadcast address or IP multicast group
  address and ordinarily expects no requests from clients, while a
  broadcast client listens on this address and ordinarily sends no
  requests to servers. Some broadcast servers may elect to respond to
  client requests as well as send unsolicited broadcast messages, while
  some broadcast clients may elect to send requests only in order to
  determine the network propagation delay between the server and
  client.

  In unicast mode the client and server IP addresses are assigned
  following the usual conventions. In broadcast mode the server uses a
  designated IP broadcast address or IP multicast group address,
  together with a designated media-access broadcast address, and the
  client listens on these addresses. For this purpose, an IP broadcast
  address has scope limited to a single IP subnet, since routers do not
  propagate IP broadcast datagrams. In the case of Ethernets, for
  example, the Ethernet media-access broadcast address (all ones) is
  used with an IP address consisting of the IP subnet number in the net
  field and all ones in the host field.

  On the other hand, an IP multicast group address has scope extending
  to potentially the entire Internet. The actual scope, group
  membership and routing are determined by the Internet Group
  Management Protocol (IGMP) [DEE89] and various routing protocols,
  which are beyond the scope of this document. In the case of
  Ethernets, for example, the Ethernet media-access broadcast address
  (all ones) is used with the assigned IP multicast group address of
  224.0.1.1. Other than the IP addressing conventions and IGMP, there
  is no difference in server operations with either the IP broadcast
  address or IP multicast group address.

  Broadcast clients listen on the designated media-access broadcast
  address, such as all ones in the case of Ethernets. In the case of IP
  broadcast addresses, no further provisions are necessary. In the case



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  of IP multicast group addresses, the host may need to implement IGMP
  in order that the local router intercepts messages to the 224.0.1.1
  multicast group. These considerations are beyond the scope of this
  document.

  In the case of SNTP as specified herein, there is a very real
  vulnerability that SNTP multicast clients can be disrupted by
  misbehaving or hostile SNTP or NTP multicast servers elsewhere in the
  Internet, since at present all such servers use the same IP multicast
  group address 224.0.1.1. Where necessary, access control based on the
  server source address can be used to select only those servers known
  to and trusted by the client. Alternatively, by convention and
  informal agreement, all NTP multicast servers now include an MD5-
  encrypted message digest in every message, so that clients can
  determine if the message is authentic and not modified in transit. It
  is in principle possible that SNTP clients could implement the
  necessary encryption and key-distribution schemes, but this is
  considered not likely in the simple systems for which SNTP is
  intended.

  While not integral to the SNTP specification, it is intended that IP
  broadcast addresses will be used primarily in IP subnets and LAN
  segments including a fully functional NTP server with a number of
  SNTP clients in the same subnet, while IP multicast group addresses
  will be used only in special cases engineered for the purpose. In
  particular, IP multicast group addresses should be used in SNTP
  servers only if the server implements the NTP authentication scheme
  described in RFC-1305, including support for the MD5 message-digest
  algorithm.

3. NTP Timestamp Format

  SNTP uses the standard NTP timestamp format described in RFC-1305 and
  previous versions of that document. In conformance with standard
  Internet practice, NTP data are specified as integer or fixed-point
  quantities, with bits numbered in big-endian fashion from 0 starting
  at the left, or high-order, position. Unless specified otherwise, all
  quantities are unsigned and may occupy the full field width with an
  implied 0 preceding bit 0.

  Since NTP timestamps are cherished data and, in fact, represent the
  main product of the protocol, a special timestamp format has been
  established. NTP timestamps are represented as a 64-bit unsigned
  fixed-point number, in seconds relative to 0h on 1 January 1900. The
  integer part is in the first 32 bits and the fraction part in the
  last 32 bits. In the fraction part, the non-significant low-order
  bits should be set to 0. This format allows convenient multiple-
  precision arithmetic and conversion to UDP/TIME representation



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  (seconds), but does complicate the conversion to ICMP Timestamp
  message representation (milliseconds). The precision of this
  representation is about 200 picoseconds, which should be adequate for
  even the most exotic requirements.

                          1                   2                   3
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                           Seconds                             |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                  Seconds Fraction (0-padded)                  |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  Note that, since some time in 1968 the most significant bit (bit 0 of
  the integer part) has been set and that the 64-bit field will
  overflow some time in 2036. Should NTP or SNTP be in use in 2036,
  some external means will be necessary to qualify time relative to
  1900 and time relative to 2036 (and other multiples of 136 years).
  Timestamped data requiring such qualification will be so precious
  that appropriate means should be readily available. There will exist
  a 200-picosecond interval, henceforth ignored, every 136 years when
  the 64-bit field will be 0, which by convention is interpreted as an
  invalid or unavailable timestamp.

4. NTP Message Format

  Both NTP and SNTP are clients of the User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
  [POS80], which itself is a client of the Internet Protocol (IP)
  [DAR81]. The structure of the IP and UDP headers is described in the
  cited specification documents and will not be described further here.
  The UDP port number assigned to NTP is 123, which should be used in
  both the Source Port and Destination Port fields in the UDP header.
  The remaining UDP header fields should be set as described in the
  specification.

















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  Following is a description of the SNTP message format, which follows
  the IP and UDP headers. The SNTP message format is identical to the
  NTP format described in RFC-1305, with the exception that some of the
  data fields are "canned," that is, initialized to pre-specified
  values. The format of the NTP message is shown below.

                          1                   2                   3
      0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |LI | VN  |Mode |    Stratum    |     Poll      |   Precision   |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                          Root Delay                           |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                       Root Dispersion                         |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                    Reference Identifier                       |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                                                               |
     |                   Reference Timestamp (64)                    |
     |                                                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                                                               |
     |                   Originate Timestamp (64)                    |
     |                                                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                                                               |
     |                    Receive Timestamp (64)                     |
     |                                                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                                                               |
     |                    Transmit Timestamp (64)                    |
     |                                                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |                                                               |
     |                                                               |
     |                  Authenticator (optional) (96)                |
     |                                                               |
     |                                                               |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

  As described in the next section, in SNTP most of these fields are
  initialized with pre-specified data. For completeness, the function
  of each field is briefly summarized below.








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  Leap Indicator (LI): This is a two-bit code warning of an impending
  leap second to be inserted/deleted in the last minute of the current
  day, with bit 0 and bit 1, respectively, coded as follows:

     LI       Value     Meaning
     -------------------------------------------------------
     00       0         no warning
     01       1         last minute has 61 seconds
     10       2         last minute has 59 seconds)
     11       3         alarm condition (clock not synchronized)

  Version Number (VN): This is a three-bit integer indicating the NTP
  version number, currently 3.

  Mode: This is a three-bit integer indicating the mode, with values
  defined as follows:

     Mode     Meaning
     ------------------------------------
     0        reserved
     1        symmetric active
     2        symmetric passive
     3        client
     4        server
     5        broadcast
     6        reserved for NTP control message
     7        reserved for private use

  In unicast mode the client sets this field to 3 (client) in the
  request and the server sets it to 4 (server) in the reply. In
  broadcast mode the server sets this field to 5 (broadcast).

  Stratum: This is a eight-bit unsigned integer indicating the stratum
  level of the local clock, with values defined as follows:

     Stratum  Meaning
     ----------------------------------------------
     0        unspecified or unavailable
     1        primary reference (e.g., radio clock)
     2-15     secondary reference (via NTP or SNTP)
     16-255   reserved

  Poll Interval: This is an eight-bit signed integer indicating the
  maximum interval between successive messages, in seconds to the
  nearest power of two. The values that can appear in this field
  presently range from 4 (16 s) to 14 (16284 s); however, most
  applications use only the sub-range 6 (64 s) to 10 (1024 s).




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  Precision: This is an eight-bit signed integer indicating the
  precision of the local clock, in seconds to the nearest power of two.
  The values that normally appear in this field range from -6 for
  mains-frequency clocks to -20 for microsecond clocks found in some
  workstations.

  Root Delay: This is a 32-bit signed fixed-point number indicating the
  total roundtrip delay to the primary reference source, in seconds
  with fraction point between bits 15 and 16. Note that this variable
  can take on both positive and negative values, depending on the
  relative time and frequency offsets. The values that normally appear
  in this field range from negative values of a few milliseconds to
  positive values of several hundred milliseconds.

  Root Dispersion: This is a 32-bit unsigned fixed-point number
  indicating the nominal error relative to the primary reference
  source, in seconds with fraction point between bits 15 and 16. The
  values that normally appear in this field range from 0 to several
  hundred milliseconds.

  Reference Clock Identifier: This is a 32-bit code identifying the
  particular reference source. In the case of stratum 0 (unspecified)
  or stratum 1 (primary reference), this is a four-octet, left-
  justified, 0-padded ASCII string. While not enumerated as part of the
  NTP specification, the following are representative ASCII
  identifiers:

     Stratum Code  Meaning
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
     1   pps       precision calibrated source, such as ATOM (atomic
                   clock), PPS (precision pulse-per-second source),
                   etc.
     1   service   generic time service other than NTP, such as ACTS
                   (Automated Computer Time Service), TIME (UDP/Time
                   Protocol), TSP (Unix Time Service Protocol), DTSS
                   (Digital Time Synchronization Service), etc.
     1   radio     Generic radio service, with callsigns such as CHU,
                   DCF77, MSF, TDF, WWV, WWVB, WWVH, etc.
     1   nav       radionavigation system, such as OMEG (OMEGA), LORC
                   (LORAN-C), etc.
     1   satellite generic satellite service, such as GOES
                   (Geostationary Orbit Environment Satellite, GPS
                   (Global Positioning Service), etc.
     2   address   secondary reference (four-octet Internet address of
                   the NTP server)






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  Reference Timestamp: This is the time at which the local clock was
  last set or corrected, in 64-bit timestamp format.

  Originate Timestamp: This is the time at which the request departed
  the client for the server, in 64-bit timestamp format.

  Receive Timestamp: This is the time at which the request arrived at
  the server, in 64-bit timestamp format.

  Transmit Timestamp: This is the time at which the reply departed the
  server for the client, in 64-bit timestamp format.

  Authenticator (optional): When the NTP authentication mechanism is
  implemented, this contains the authenticator information defined in
  Appendix C of RFC-1305. In SNTP this field is ignored for incoming
  messages and is not generated for outgoing messages.

5. SNTP Client Operations

  The model for n SNTP client operating with either a NTP or SNTP
  server is a RPC client with no persistent state. In unicast mode, the
  client sends a client request (mode 3) to the server and expects a
  server reply (mode 4). In broadcast mode, the client sends no request
  and waits for a broadcast message (mode 5) from one or more servers,
  depending on configuration. Unicast client and broadcast server
  messages are normally sent at periods from 64 s to 1024 s, depending
  on the client and server configurations.

  A unicast client initializes the SNTP message header, sends the
  message to the server and strips the time of day from the reply. For
  this purpose all of the message-header fields shown above are set to
  0, except the first octet. In this octet the LI field is set to 0 (no
  warning) and the Mode field is set to 3 (client). The VN field must
  agree with the software version of the NTP or SNTP server; however,
  NTP Version 3 (RFC-1305) servers will also accept Version 2 (RFC-
  1119) and Version 1 (RFC-1059) messages, while NTP Version 2 servers
  will also accept NTP Version 1 messages. Version 0 (RFC-959) messages
  are no longer supported. Since there are NTP servers of all three
  versions interoperating in the Internet of today, it is recommended
  that the VN field be set to 1.

  In both unicast and broadcast modes, the unicast server reply or
  broadcast message includes all the fields described above; however,
  in SNTP only the Transmit Timestamp has explicit meaning and then
  only if nonzero. The integer part of this field contains the server
  time of day in the same format as the UDP/TIME Protocol [POS83].
  While the fraction part of this field will usually be valid, the
  accuracy achieved with SNTP may justify its use only to a significant



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  fraction of a second. If the Transmit Timestamp field is 0, the
  message should be disregarded.

  In broadcast mode, a client has no additional information to
  calculate the propagation delay between the server and client, as the
  Transmit Timestamp and Receive Timestamp fields have no meaning in
  this mode. Even in unicast mode, most clients will probably elect to
  ignore the Originate Timestamp and Receive Timestamp fields anyway.
  However, in unicast mode a simple calculation can be used to provide
  the roundtrip delay d and local clock offset t relative to the
  server, generally to within a few tens of milliseconds. To do this,
  the client sets the Originate Timestamp in the request to the time of
  day according to its local clock converted to NTP timestamp format.
  When the reply is received, the client determines a Destination
  Timestamp as the time of arrival according to its local clock
  converted to NTP timestamp format. The following table summarizes the
  four timestamps.

     Timestamp Name          ID   When Generated
     ------------------------------------------------------------
     Originate Timestamp     T1   time request sent by client
     Receive Timestamp       T2   time request received at server
     Transmit Timestamp      T3   time reply sent by server
     Destination Timestamp   T4   time reply received at client

  The roundtrip delay d and local clock offset t are defined as

                      d = (T4 - T1) - (T2 - T3)
                   t = ((T2 - T1) + (T3 - T4)) / 2.

  The following table is a summary of the SNTP client operations. There
  are two recommended error checks shown in the table. In all NTP
  versions, if the LI field is 3, or the Stratum field is not in the
  range 1-15, or the Transmit Timestamp is 0, the server has never
  synchronized or not synchronized to a valid timing source within the
  last 24 hours. At the client discretion, the values of the remaining
  fields can be checked as well. Whether to believe the transmit
  timestamp or not in case one or more of these fields appears invalid
  is at the discretion of the implementation.












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     Field Name              Request        Reply
     -------------------------------------------------------------
     LI                      0              leap indicator; if 3
                                            (unsynchronized), disregard
                                            message
     VN                      1 (see text)   ignore
     Mode                    3 (client)     ignore
     Stratum                 0              ignore
     Poll                    0              ignore
     Precision               0              ignore
     Root Delay              0              ignore
     Root Dispersion         0              ignore
     Reference Identifier    0              ignore
     Reference Timestamp     0              ignore
     Originate Timestamp     0 (see text)   ignore (see text)
     Receive Timestamp       0              ignore (see text)
     Transmit Timestamp      0              time of day; if 0
                                            (unsynchronized), disregard
                                            message
     Authenticator           (not used)     ignore

6. SNTP Server Operations

  The model for a SNTP server operating with either a NTP or SNTP
  client is an RPC server with no persistent state. Since a SNTP server
  ordinarily does not implement the full set of NTP algorithms intended
  to support redundant peers and diverse network paths, it is
  recommended that a SNTP server be operated only in conjunction with a
  source of external synchronization, such as a reliable radio clock.
  In this case the server always operates at stratum 1.

  A server can operate in unicast mode, broadcast mode or both at the
  same time. In unicast mode the server receives a request message,
  modifies certain fields in the NTP or SNTP header, and returns the
  message to the sender, possibly using the same message buffer as the
  request. The server may or may not respond if not synchronized to a
  correctly operating radio clock, but the preferred option is to
  respond, since this allows reachability to be determined regardless
  of synchronization state. In unicast mode, the VN and Poll fields of
  the request are copied intact to the reply. If the Mode field of the
  request is 3 (client), it is set to 4 (server) in the reply;
  otherwise, this field is set to 2 (symmetric passive) in order to
  conform to the NTP specification.

  In broadcast mode, the server sends messages only if synchronized to
  a correctly operating reference clock. In this mode, the VN field is
  set to 3 (for the current SNTP version), and the Mode field to 5
  (broadcast). The Poll field is set to the server poll interval, in



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  seconds to the nearest power of two. It is highly desirable that, if
  a server supports broadcast mode, it also supports unicast mode. This
  is necessary so a potential broadcast client can calculate the
  propagation delay using client/server messages prior to regular
  operation using only broadcast messages.

  The remaining fields are set in the same way in both unicast and
  broadcast modes. Assuming the server is synchronized to a radio clock
  or other primary reference source and operating correctly, the
  Stratum field is set to 1 (primary server) and the LI field is set to
  0; if not, the Stratum field is set to 0 and the LI field is set to
  3. The Precision field is set to reflect the maximum reading error of
  the local clock. For all practical cases it is computed as the
  negative of the number of significant bits to the right of the
  decimal point in the NTP timestamp format. The Root Delay and Root
  Dispersion fields are set to 0 for a primary server; optionally, the
  Root Dispersion field can be set to a value corresponding to the
  maximum expected error of the radio clock itself. The Reference
  Identifier is set to designate the primary reference source, as
  indicated in the table above.

  The timestamp fields are set as follows. If the server is
  unsynchronized or first coming up, all timestamp fields are set to
  zero. If synchronized, the Reference Timestamp is set to the time the
  last update was received from the radio clock or, if unavailable, to
  the time of day when the message is sent. The Receive Timestamp and
  Transmit Timestamp fields are set to the time of day when the message
  is sent. In unicast mode, the Originate Timestamp field is copied
  unchanged from the Transmit Timestamp field of the request. It is
  important that this field be copied intact, as a NTP client uses it
  to check for replays. In broadcast mode, this field is set to the
  time of day when the message is sent. The following table summarizes
  these actions.


















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     Field Name              Request        Reply
     ----------------------------------------------------------
     LI                      ignore         0 (normal), 3
                                            (unsynchronized)
     VN                      1, 2 or 3      3 or copied from request
     Mode                    3 (see text)   2, 4 or 5 (see text)
     Stratum                 ignore         1 server stratum
     Poll                    ignore         copied from request
     Precision               ignore         server precision
     Root Delay              ignore         0
     Root Dispersion         ignore         0 (see text)
     Reference Identifier    ignore         source identifier
     Reference Timestamp     ignore         0 or time of day
     Originate Timestamp     ignore         0 or time of day or copied
                                            from Transmit Timestamp of
                                            request
     Receive Timestamp       ignore         0 or time of day
     Transmit Timestamp      (see text)     0 or time of day
     Authenticator           ignore         (not used)

  There is some latitude on the part of most clients to forgive invalid
  timestamps, such as might occur when first coming up or during
  periods when the primary reference source is inoperative. The most
  important indicator of an unhealthy server is the LI field, in which
  a value of 3 indicates an unsynchronized condition. When this value
  is displayed, clients should discard the server message, regardless
  of the contents of other fields.

7. References

  [DAR81] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program
  Protocol Specification", STD 5, RFC 791, DARPA, September 1981.

  [DEE89] Deering, S., "Host Extensions for IP Multicasting. STD 5,
  RFC 1112, Stanford University, August 1989.

  [MIL92] Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol (Version 3) Specification,
  Implementation and Analysis. RFC 1305, University of Delaware,
  March 1992.

  [POS80] Postel, J., "User Datagram Protocol", STD 6, RFC 768,
  USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1980.

  [POS83] Postel, J., and K. Harrenstien, "Time Protocol", STD 26,
  RFC 868, USC/Information Sciences Institute, SRI, May 1983.






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RFC 1769                          SNTP                       March 1995


Security Considerations

  Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

  David L. Mills
  Electrical Engineering Department
  University of Delaware
  Newark, DE 19716

  Phone: (302) 831-8247
  EMail: [email protected]






































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