Printable View
Hi there
I'm trying to build an application which has the ability to connect to a public NTP or SNTP server to get the correct time.
I've been reading the RFC's but quite honestly they're over complicated for my needs.
Leep-Seconds? Pico-Seconds? For the purposes of what I'm doing I would be happy to get a time-stamp which is accurate to within 1 minute.
Does anyone have a simple example of how to query a public server for time without worrying about latency?
Cheers :)
you could always use your system time and just make sure that's kept in check... you could probably even leave the syncrhonization to twice a month if all you need is +/-60 second's accuracy...
That's true.. I should explain what I'm trying to do..
I'm making a de-centralised network..
Each node needs to grab the time from a public NTP server
Every 5 minutes every node in the network needs to make a switch.. if they go more than 5 minutes apart they will lose the entire network.
So there are many different solutions to the problem,
1. Regularly update the system clock using an existing NTP client
2. Regularly update the system clock using the application to connect to an NTP server
3. Regularly update the application time from an NTP server
The major problem is that the network is decentralised and needs to use publicly avaliable NTP servers.
The second problem is that distributing an existing NTP client with the application isn't really an option..
Basically what I want the application to do is:
Open UDP port 123
Send a request to the public NTP server for the current time
I know how to do UDP in C++..
I don't know how to request the time from the NTP server
:confused:
well, did you look into NIST's time servers and standards specifications?
NIST servers
timesetting protocols
I'm not sure how much that will help you, as I've never done something like this myself, but hopefully it'll at least be of some use to you.
Thanks Major_Small,
Looks like NIST run on NTP servers..
I've been talking with a lot of people about this and there are some other options.
Run SNTP instead which is suppose to be a simpler protocol which can access NTP servers.
Use either the TIME (RFC 838) or DAYTIME protocols however it would be very hard to find a public server running this software these days.
Use an existing NTP/SNTP client (unfortunately this isn't really a solution I can use.. although much simpler!)
-------------
I've worked out that all I need to do is send an NTP Packet to an NTP server via UDP and I will get one back containing the server time.
The first 32 bits of the NTP time stamp format are the unix epoch + 0x83aa7e80 <-- this is the magic 32 bits I'm trying to get my hands on!
-------------
Anyways I'm still working on this, if anyone has any more suggestions I'm all ears :D
So which OS/Compiler are you using?
I imagine there are plenty of NTP clients out there.
If your not too worried about precision, maybe consider doing a HEAD HTTP request to some server of your choice, and parsing the time from the Date: header.
I know its not NTP, but it may work for your purposes......
C++ Compiler.. I've looked into that as an idea, I have found one class which will probably work...Quote:
Originally Posted by Salem
I think you just found me an easy alternative! Can you give me a bit more information about that?Quote:
Originally Posted by NogginTheNog
Do all http headers contain the server date?..
Cheers :D
If you need a simple NTP client without the need of going through hell of RFC, I suggest you use a sniffer to copy the traffic of some ready NTP client!
genious! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Devil Panther
always remember, Ethereal is your friend! :D