Add the below URL(s) to your clock settings.
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• What is an NTP Time Server?
An NTP time server is a server that provides accurate time to devices connected over a network to it. NTP, which is short for Netrork Time Protocol is a protocol specifically designed for this purpose and is one of the oldest Internet protocols in existence that is still developed further. Millions or billions devices like TVs, smartphones, tablets, routers, etc use NTP to sync their clocks to an accurate, high-precision time server like this one.This server is also the very first Secure (NTS) server available to the general public of Belgium. It was launched at the end of May, 2024.
• Who is the target audience for this NTP?
This server is open to anyone but primarily targets European clients. As NTP is latency sensitive, it's better to use a geographically close NTP server to reduce large RTT trips or other network delays. Most traffic this server receives is from Belgium with a minority from The Netherlands, Germany, France and even the USA. Please do not use this server for professional, commercial or other large-scale services without contacting me! This server is meant to be used for private uses or in small networks!• How accurate is this server?
Currently, the server provides anywhere between 5ms and 20ms accuracy to clients (ms = milliseconds = a thousandths of a second) by using an attached U-Blox GPS module with PPS support which syncs the local clock to a few microseconds accuracy with the reference GPS clock (microsecond = millionth of a second). As backup, there are 4 Strantum 1 servers connected to it over the Internet.• How to use this NTP?
If you're on Windows, it's easy. Go to your clock settings' Internet Time and use ntp.teambelgium.net.If you're on a UNIX-like system (Linux, Solaris, BSD, etc) both the chrony and ntpd clients/servers share the same syntax. To add the first URL in /etc/chrony.conf or /etc/ntp.conf, you'd use:
server ntp.teambelgium.net iburst
After restart of chrony/ntpd, you can then check in a terminal the values by using chronyc sources or ntpq -p
To use the Secure NTS server, you need a client that understands NTS like Chrony and NTPsec. Both share the same syntax so to add this secure NTS, you'd use in their config files:
server nts.teambelgium.net iburst nts (note the nts option at the end to activate!)
What other Time Servers can I use?
When possible, you should use at least 4 time servers for accuracy and redundancy. More than 8 is overkill and not useful! You can get servers from here. Stratum 2 servers are preferred so as to not put too much load on the primary Stratum 1 servers!That's all, folks! See you in time! 🕒
