Network Time Protocol (NTP)

In my organizations, it's very important each system has the same time. Having to set the time on hundreds or thousands of systems in a network can be a challenging task. The NTP, defined by RFC 958, 1305, and 5905, is used to synchronize the computer time clocks. NTP uses a server-client model where the NTP Server, which operates on port 123, handles the association of NTP Clients. To explain simply, the time is set on the NTP Server, the NTP Clients then associates to the server, and the clients check whether their local clocks are the same as the NTP Server's; if not, they simply adjust their clock to match the time on the NTP Server's clock. Synchronization of time is very important in many organizations; one the benefits is proper timestamps on log messages, which may be generated from network appliances: