2001-08-29 14:35:15 +00:00
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<title>External Clock Discipline and the Local Clock Driver</title>
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<h3>External Clock Discipline and the Local Clock Driver</h3>
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<hr>
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<p>The NTPv4 implementation includes provisions for an external
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clock, where the system clock is implemented by some external
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hardware device. One implementation might take the form of a bus
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peripheral with a high resolution counter disciplined by a GPS
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receiver, for example. Another implementation might involve another
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synchronization protocol, such as the Digital Time Synchronization
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Service (DTSS), where the system time is disciplined to this
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protocol and NTP clients of the server obtain synchronization
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indirectly via the server. A third implementation might be a
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completely separate clock discipline algorithm and synchronization
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protocol, such as the Lockclock algorithm used with NIST Automated
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Computer Time Service (ACTS) modem synchronized time.</p>
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<p>When external clocks are used in conjunction with NTP service,
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some way needs to be provided for the external clock driver and NTP
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daemon <tt>ntpd</tt> to communicate and determine which discipline
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is in control. This is necessary in order to provide backup, for
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instance if the external clock or protocol were to fail and
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synchronization service fall back to other means, such as a local
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reference clock or another NTP server. In addition, when the
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external clock and driver are in control, some means needs to be
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provided for the clock driver to pass on status information and
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error statistics to the NTP daemon.</p>
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<p>Control and monitoring functions for the external clock and
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driver are implemented using the <a href="driver1.htm">Local Clock
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(type 1) driver</a> and the <tt>ntp_adjtime()</tt> system call.
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This system call is implemented by special kernel provisions
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included in the kernel of several operating systems, including
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Solaris, Tru64, FreeBSD and Linux, and possibly others. When the
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external clock is disabled or not implemented, the system call is
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used to pass time and frequency information, as well as error
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statistics, to the kernel. Besides disciplining the system time,
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the same interface can be used by other applications to determine
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the operating parameters of the discipline.</p>
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<p>When the external clock is enabled, <tt>ntpd</tt> does not
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discipline the system clock, nor does it maintain the error
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statistics. In this case, the external clock and driver do this
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using mechanisms unknown to <tt>ntpd</tt>; however, in this case
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the kernel state variables are retrieved at 64-s intervals by the
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Local Clock driver and used by the clock selection and mitigation
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algorithms to determine the system variables presented to other NTP
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clients and peers. In this way, downstream clients and servers in
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the NTP subnet can make an intelligent choice when more than one
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server is available.</p>
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<p>In order to implement a reliable mitigation between ordinary NTP
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sources and the external clock source, a protocol is necessary
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between the local clock driver and the external clock driver. This
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is implemented using Boolean variables and certain bits in the
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kernel clock status word. The Boolean variables include the
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following:</p>
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<p>ntp__enable. set/reset by enable command. enables ntp clock
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discipline</p>
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<p>ntp_control. set during initial configuration if kernel support
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is available kern_enable Set/reset by enable commandexit If this
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switch is set, the daemon computes the offset, frequency, maximum
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error, estimated error, time constand and status bits, then
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provides them to the kernel via ntp_adjtime(). If this switch is
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set, these values are not passed to the kernel; however, the daemon
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retrieves their present values and uses them in place of the values
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computed by the daemon. pps_update set in the protocol routine if
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the prefer peer has survived and has offset less than 128 ms;
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otherwise set to zero. pps_control Updated to the current time by
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kernel support if the PPS signal is enabled and working correctly.
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Set to zero in the adjust routine if the interval since the last
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update exceeds 120 s.</p>
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<p>The ntp_enable and kern_enable are set by the configuration
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module. Normally, both switches default on, so the daemon can
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control the time and the kernel discipline can be used, if
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available. The pps_update switch is set by the protocol module when
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it believes the PPS provider source is legitimate and operating
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within nominals. The ntp_control switch is set during configuration
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by interrogating the kernel. If both the kern_enable and
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ntp_control siwitches are set, the daemon disciplines the clock via
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the kernel and the internal daemon discipline is disabled.</p>
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<p>The external clock driver controls the system time and clock
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selection in the following way. Normally, the driver adjusts the
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kernel time using the ntp_adjtime() system call in the same way as
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the daemon. In the case where the kernel discipline is to be used
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intact, the clock offset is provided in this call and the loop
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operates as specified. In the case where the driver steers only the
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frequency, the offset is specified as zero.</p>
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<hr>
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<a href="index.htm"><img align="left" src="pic/home.gif" alt=
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"gif"></a>
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<address><a href="mailto:mills@udel.edu">David L. Mills
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<mills@udel.edu></a></address>
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</body>
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</html>
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1999-12-09 13:01:21 +00:00
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