W32Time synchronizes clocks within a forest using a time hierarchy that begins with the PDC Emulator in the forest root domain, which is considered the stratum 2 time source for the forest. This domain controller can have its own clock controlled several ways:
By synching to a reliable time server on the Internet. By synching to an locally-connected hardware time source such as an atomic clock. By relying on its own internal CMOS clock for reliable time.In the first two examples above, the Internet time server or atomic clock is considered a stratum 1 time source. Other domain controllers in the forest root domain and PDC Emulators in child domains use W32Time to poll the PDC Emulator in the forest root domain periodically to ensure their clocks remain synchronized. Workstations and member servers then poll domain controllers in their domains to synchronize their own clocks, with the result being that all computers in the forest synchronize their clocks, either directly or indirectly, with the PDC Emulator in the forest root domain (and hence the external time server or atomic clock, if present). The following table summarizes how the W32Time hierarchy works, starting from the external source.
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by: NJComputerNetworksPosted on 2006-05-22 at 10:12:41ID: 16736000
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