Novell OPEN ENTERPRISE SERVER - PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE 12-2010 Implementation Manual page 105

Planning a Time Synchronization Hierarchy before Installing OES
The obvious goal for time synchronization is that all the network servers (and workstations, if
desired) have the same time. This is best accomplished by planning a time synchronization hierarchy
before installing the first OES 2 server, then configuring each server at install time so that you form
a hierarchy similar to the one outlined in
Figure 12-7 A Basic Time Synchronization Hierarchy
External, reliable
time sources
As you plan your hierarchy, do the following:
1 Identify at least two authoritative external NTP time sources for the top positions in your
hierarchy.

If your network already has an NTP server hierarchy in place, identify the IP address of an
appropriate time server. This might be internal to your network, but it should be external
to the eDirectory tree and it should ultimately obtain time from a public NTP server.

If your network doesn't currently employ time synchronization, refer to the list of public
NTP servers published on the
WebHome) and identify a time server you can use.
2 Plan which servers will receive time from the external sources and plan to install these servers
first.
3 Map the position for each Linux server in your tree, including its time sources and the servers it
will provide time for.
4 Map the position for each NetWare server in your tree:
4a Include the server's time sources and the servers it will provide time for.
4b If your network currently has only NetWare 4.2 or 5.0 servers, be sure to plan for their
time synchronization needs by including at least one newer NetWare server in the tree and
configuring the older servers to use the newer server as their time source. (See
5.0 and 4.2 Servers" on page
5 Be sure that each server in the hierarchy is configured to receive time from at least two sources.
Figure 12-7.
ntp.org Web site (http://ntp.isc.org/bin/view/Servers/
101.)
"NetWare
Network Services 105