KB44866 - NTP Best practices & recommendations

This article describes the best practices/recommendations along with some useful details about NTP related to PCS/PPS.

NTP is a protocol designed to synchronize the clocks of computers over a network.

Any misconfiguration of NTP could result in Authentication failures, Cluster Instability, Missing/Partial graphs, Licensing & other related issues,

Please follow the steps below and configure/rectify NTP settings accordingly.

1.    From PCS/PPS 9.1R8 version, NTPd is implemented.
2.    PCS/PPS uses NTPv4 client which is qualified/compatible with NTPv4/v3/v2 server versions.
3.    We recommend configuring NTP server as opposed to “Set time manually”.
4.    We strongly recommend 4 reliable NTP server entries (FQDN or IP Address) to be configured for best results.

• Note: Only one IP Address is used even if FQDN resolves to multiple IP Addresses.

5.    If PCS/PPS instances are hosted on On-Prem Virtual Appliances such as ESX/Hyper-V etc., ensure that only one source of time is configured (PCS/PPS appliance or hypervisor, but never both).
6.    If PCS/PPS instances are hosted on Cloud Solutions such as Azure, AWS, etc., then 4 reliable NTP Server entries on PCS/PPS is a must. 
7.    NTP server should be reachable via External/Internal or management ports (This can be verified/configured under system -> Configuration -> Advanced Networking).