Chapter 6: System Time - Cisco SF 300-08 Administration Manual

System Time
NOTE
Cisco Small Business 300 Series Managed Switch Administration Guide
Network time synchronization is critical because every aspect of managing,
securing, planning, and debugging a network involves determining when events
occur. Time also provides the only frame of reference between all devices on the
network. Without synchronized time, accurately correlating log files between
these devices is difficult, even impossible.
A few of the specific reasons include, tracking security breaches, network usage.
Problems affecting a large number of components can be nearly impossible to
track if timestamps in logs are inaccurate.
Time also reduces confusion in shared file systems, as it is important for the
modification times to be consistent, regardless of the machine on which the
filesystems reside.
For these reasons, it is important that the time configured on the all devices on the
network be accurate.
The switch supports Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) and when enabled, the
switch dynamically synchronizes the switch time with the SNTP server time. The
switch operates only as an SNTP client, and cannot provide time services to other
devices.
This chapter describes the options for configuring system time, time zone, and
Daylight Savings Time (DST). It includes the following topics:
• System Time Options
• Configuring System Time
• Setting SNTP
• Defining SNTP Authentication
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