Expert Network Time Protocol: An Experience in Time with NTP (Expert's Voice)

I once heard a Buddhist master, speaking of the nature of maya declare, "Time is not; space is not." But when I have to catch a bus, I find myself much less interesrted in philosophy than in being at the bus stop at the same illusory time as the bus. Now, if you think that concept is a bit too commonplace to be worth mentioning, consider the consequences when said bus is carrying "passengers" traveling at the speed of light, such as the electronic denizens of our computers. As Elvis would put it, "There's a whole lot a shakin' goin' on in there." And for a guy like me, whose tolerance for complexity doesn't extend beyond rebuilding a 1960 Chevy standard tranny, I think stuff like Network Time Protocol is a Godsend. Keeping track of differences in clock precision, different operation modes--server, client, host and peer, symmetric active, symmetric passive, broadcast, multicast, manycast/anycast, and a veritable multitude of variables determining the success or failure of the transmission and reception of a simple message could definitely affect your ability to get a good night's sleep. Praise NTP. But that's just the beginning. As Rybaczyk points out, there is more to this univese than us poor Horatios ever dreamt of in our philosophy. If we are ever to succeed in deep space travel, for instance, we will have a lot more than wristwatch consulting to keep us busy as we attempt to coordinate extraterrestrial events. Rybaczyk even joins forces with Pandora as he forces us to peer into the black box of life at the quantum level. "Different strokes for different folks," they say. Well, how does one know when the stroke of, say 9 pm, occurs when the operational time frame is in billionths of a second and even the concept of a "second" is relative conjecture? Personally, I am content with "Que sera sera" and enjoying the modulating frequencies of a setting sun. But some of our species seems bent on other schemes. They would do well to study Rybaczyk's very first chapter, "Multiple Views of Time," before burying themselves in untimely assumptions. Sam, Rybaczyk's protagonist, adroitly navigates the temporal stream, punctuating the story liberally with asides--humorous, informative, dramatic, zealous, some even a bit caustic--only to finally arrive at the conclusion that NTP lies at the heart of a possible future (silly concept) in which memory is shorn of its mystery, time is transcended, and the past, present and future are found to be mere figments of minds mired in mythical maya, mostly oblivious to Shakespeare's observation, "we are such stuff as dreams are made on." Get Rybaczyk's book. Even if you have no professional interest in computing, read the first three chapters. Partake of the author's fantastic ability to draw analogies between everyday and historical events and the inner workings of the computers we have become so dependent upon. Share his amusement at time's seemingly innocent and subtle, yet fantastically determinative influence u

The great thing about Rybaczyk's book is that it brings together in one volume information about the many aspects of NTP that's only available in fragmentary and diluted form from white papers, trade magazine articles, product manuals, web site postings, or on a few pages of networking books that are dedicated to numerous other topics and treat NTP as a sideshow. This book makes a great addition to any network administrator's library, especially given the growing need for synchronized and accurate time keeping on networks that continue to grow in importance and complexity. The first two chapters of the book spur one's creative thinking and give the reader pause for some reflection and laughter before getting into the nuts and bolts of NTP.

Time, always a compelling subject is covered in a unique and refreshing way. The author covers NTP in a well rounded manner - from design issues, to support, to configuartion and maintenance.

If you review the thousands of Internet RFCs, you'd be hard pressed to find a protocol that lends itself to philosophical overtones, save for one -- the Network Time Protocol (NTP). The nature of time is abstract, difficult to measure and highly subjective. Yet time is a critical element in everyone's life, and in the effective operations of corporate networks." NTP is built on top of the TCP/IP protocol suite and is used to ensure accurate time-keeping with a trusted time reference. These references can be radio signals, GPS satellites, atomic clocks, Internet-based time servers and more. NTP is powerful enough to synchronize network clocks with millisecond accuracy. In Expert Network Time Protocol: An Experience in Time with NTP, Peter Rybaczyk merges the philosophical aspects of time with the nuts of bolts of the NTP protocol. The book is composed of two parts, the first concerned with the meta-philosophy of time, and the second detailing the inner workings of NTP. The attempt in part one to merge technology and science with philosophy is a daunting task, and most often does not succeed. The notable exception to this is Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Rybaczyk creates Sam, a fictional character who walks through the history of time. It is unclear who this Sam is -- whether he is supernatural being, or someone who got root on a time server. The author writes that the transcendental nature of time and the nuts and bolts of NTP are inseparable, but I personally found it difficult to determine what message part one was meant to convey. Fortunately, part one takes up but the first 34 pages. Where the book shines, and where most readers will find value, is in part two, which details how to effectively design, configure, deploy and operate NTP. Where part one is conceptual, part two is extremely practical. Chapter 3 opens up with a comprehensive overview of the what, how and why effective time-keeping via NTP is needed. The book details from a business perspective why synchronized and accurate time is a universal need. From transactional integrity, airline departures, sporting events, job shift changes, to FedEx pickups and more, nearly every activity requires time synchronization to work at peak levels. Effective network administration also requires time synchronization for network login procedures, directory synchronization, backups, and routing stability to work accurately. From an information security perspective, password and digital ID synchronization, log file accuracy and auditing, and access control security are just a few of the areas where correct time can mean the difference between success and failure. Where time synchronization is crucial, though, is in the realm of digital forensics. An otherwise painstaking digital forensic process might be worthless if time-related evidence from network devices is not correctly synchronized. If network devices are not correctly synchronized, you can basi

I just got Rybaczyk's latest book and have only read the first two chapters. I thoroughly enjoyed all I have read so far. The ideas he expresses stetch one's finite mind into new possibilities. It's great to see a topic that would normal be "textbook" dry presented in such an audacious and fun manner.