I've been tasked to implement ntp on my SCO Unix servers. I have over 600 servers spread across the US in different time zones. Each remote server has network connectivity to a main server here, through their local ISP. (That's how we currently deliver mail to them).

My question is, how can I implement ntp to keep accurate time across different time zones? I was wanting to send out one ntp.conf file to each server, but I believe that will make the time on a server in California the same as the time on a server in New York. Is this correct? Does the server not compensate for the time based upon the time zone it is configured for?

I appreciate your responses and your effort in helping me understand this.

Most machines store their internal clock in Universal time (UTC) a.k.a GMT. The local time is then configured via a timezone setting, commonly with an environmental variable named TZ. In other words, it should not matter which ntp source your machines use, if their timezone information is correct they will all keep the correct time.

If you have 600 machines to synchronize, you may wish to setup one master time server which is under your control, have them sync to that one and then have it in turn sync to a stratum-1 server. (i.e. distribute the load)

Thank you PxT for your reply.

That is exactly what I had planned on doing with regards to having my 600 servers look at one server here, and that server looking at the stratum 1 server. My concern was the timezone differences.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Yesterday I posted a thread about ntp configuration and the effects of servers located in different timezones. After configuring ntp on my server, today I came in to discover that my the time on my server is now one and a half hours off. What is causing this problem?

The following is my /etc/ntp.conf file:

#
# Peer configuration file for server
#
peer 128.252.19.1 #navobs1.wustl.edu
peer 198.147.38.140 #chrivh40.cch.com
peer 127.127.1.1 #local clock
fudge 127.127.1.1 stratum 10

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!!

Can you verify that the output of "date -u" is incorrect. That command should output in Universal time (GMT).

PxT,

date command displays time as 10:47:01 CDT 2002
date -u command displays time as 15:47:02 GMT 2002

It is currently 11:17 CDT here in Kansas City.

Any ideas?