The minpoll and maxpoll in Network Time Protocol (NTP)

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) can be installed via:

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sudo apt install ntp

sudo apt install ntp

The configuration for the NTP server (time synchronization) is located at: /etc/ntp.conf.

In Network Time Protocol (NTP), the minpoll and maxpoll settings control the minimum and maximum intervals between polling requests to an NTP server for time synchronization.

• minpoll 5: This sets the minimum polling interval to 2^5 seconds, which equals 32 seconds. The NTP client will not poll the server more frequently than every 32 seconds.
• maxpoll 7: This sets the maximum polling interval to 2^7 seconds, which equals 128 seconds. The NTP client will not poll the server less frequently than every 128 seconds.

Purpose of minpoll and maxpoll

NTP dynamically adjusts the polling interval between minpoll and maxpoll based on network conditions and time accuracy.

• A shorter polling interval (closer to minpoll) is used when the time synchronization is less stable or needs more frequent adjustments.
• A longer polling interval (closer to maxpoll) is used when the time synchronization is stable, reducing network traffic and load on the NTP server.

So, with minpoll 5 and maxpoll 7, the polling interval will adjust dynamically between 32 and 128 seconds, balancing accuracy and efficiency.

Once you update the /etc/ntp.conf, you can issue the following two commands to enable the NTP server:

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sudo systemctl enable ntp
sudo systemctl restart ntp

sudo systemctl enable ntp
sudo systemctl restart ntp

–EOF (The Ultimate Computing & Technology Blog) —