NTP (Network Time Protocol) Modes of Operation

NTP (Network Time Protocol) can operate different modes. NTP (Network Time Protocol) supports four different modes. 1) Client 2) Server 3) Peer and 4) Broadcast/multicast.

NTP (Network Time Protocol) operating modes define the NTP communication between NTP devices. NTP communication between two different devices includes NTP Time requests and NTP control queries. NTP Time request communication is the request from an NTP client for time synchronization from an NTP server. NTP Control queries are the communication messages for configuration information.

Following are the important NTP operating modes:

NTP Client mode: An NTP client is a network device which is configured to let its clock synchronized from an external NTP Time Server. NTP Client mode devices will not provide synchronization services to other network infrastructure devices.

NTP Server mode: An NTP server is a network device which is running NTP service and configured to provide Time information to NTP clients using NTP. NTP servers provide only Time information to NTP Clients and will never accept time synchronization information from other devices.

NTP Peer: NTP peers does not have authority over the other. IN NTP peer mode, each device can provide time synchronization to the other.

Broadcast/Multicast: In Broadcast/multicast mode, the NTP server broadcasts/multicasts the time synchronization information to all NTP clients.