diff --git a/Configuring-the-client.md b/Configuring-the-client.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a054066 --- /dev/null +++ b/Configuring-the-client.md @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +**Server address** + +NTP servers are managed by several organizations. The pool.ntp.org +project and Network Time Foundation are probably the two most famous. +The pool.ntp.org project organize servers into pools whereas Network +Time Foundation maintains a list of valid NTP servers. The servers are +divided into two categories: Stratum 1 and Stratum 2. + +The NTP pool servers are divided into zones. If you want to use a server +in Europe you can use set the server address to europe.pool.ntp.org. +For North America the server address is north-america.pool.ntp.org. +Zones also exists for countries. To use a server in for example Germany +the server address should be set to de.pool.ntp.org. For Switzerland +the address should be ch.pool.ntp.org. + +Network Time Foundation has a website on http://support.ntp.org/ +The pool.ntp.org project website is located at https://www.ntppool.org/ + +Pool server addresses will automatically be prefixed with 0, 1, 2 or 3 +in order to lower the risk of choosing a none-responsive server. + +**Server port** + +NTP servers use port 123 as default. Only under special circumstances +is the NTP server port different from 123. + +**Interval between requests** + +The Amiga hardware clock will slowly drift away from true time. The +drift is determined by several factors and is small, but the drift is not +insignificant. Request are repeatedly sent to the NTP server in order to +keep the Amiga hardware clock as close to true time as possible. + +The requests are sent in certain intervals defined by the interval +parameter. The interval should be specified using milliseconds. One +thousand (1.000) milliseconds are equal to one second. + +**Adjustment threshold** + +Due to the accuracy of NTP servers and the nature of Amiga CPUs it does +not make sense to adjust the Amiga clock on every response from the NTP +server. Processing the response could take longer time than anticipated. +The amount of accepted inaccuracy is set using the threshold parameter. +The threshold should be specified using microsecond. One million +microseconds (1.000.000) are equal to one second. + +**Read only** + +It is possible to send request to the NTP server without setting the +Amiga hardware clock. This option can be handy when debugging time zone +setup and other time related parameters. + +**Expert mode** + +Advanced settings are hidden from the settings window when expert mode +is not enabled. The advanced settings are server port, interval between +requests, adjustment threshold, connection timeout, verbosity level and +commodity priority. + +**Connection timeout** + +In some cases, a connection to the NTP server cannot be established or +the NTP server simply does respond. To avoid an infinitive wait for a +response the connection will instead make a time out. The timeout +interval should be specified using milliseconds. One thousand (1.000) +milliseconds are equal to one second. + +**Logging** + +It is possible view log messages using the supplied tool TimeLogger. + +**Caveats** + +TimeKeeper does not start as a background process. When started in the +startup-sequence it will by default block execution. Use the run command +to avoid this behaviour: + > RUN >NIL: TimeKeeper \ No newline at end of file