SNTP v/s NTP

SNTPv4 is a protocol which is a subset of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) used to synchronize
computer clocks in the Internet NTP provides accuracies of !"#$ ms% dependin& on the
characteristics of the synchronization source and network paths The access paradigm of
this protocol uses the UDP/TIME Protocol.
To an NTP or SNTP server, NTP and SNTP clients are indistinguishale 'nlike most
NTP clients% SNTP clients normall! operate "ith onl! a single server at a time SNTPv4
can operate with either unicast (point to point)% broadcast (point to multipoint)% or manycast
(multipoint to point) addressin& modes
SNTP provides the same features as NTP, ut uses a simpler algorithm to calculate
the difference in time et"een the t"o net"or#ed computers The simpler al&orithm
makes SNTP less accurate than NTP% but it also uses fewer system resources
NTP uses (arzullo)s al&orithm to estimate the time difference between the sendin& computer
and the receivin& computer% as latency between networked computers often varies over time
NTP protocol pac#ets transferred et"een a NTP server and client are identical to
SNTP pac#ets *ach field in a NTP packet of information has a correspondin& field in a SNTP
packet NTP protocol packets are entirely interchan&eable with SNTP protocol packets In fact
a NTP server has no way of tellin& if a time re+uest ori&inated from a NTP or SNTP client
The difference et"een the NTP and SNTP protocols is contained "ithin the
sophisticated routines used to implement the protocols. NTP has sophisticated routines
desi&ned to monitor multiple time references and decide which the optimal reference is NTP
constantly monitors multiple time references for ,itter and offset and decides which the best
one to synchronize is NTP corrects time by slewin& the system clock The host)s system clock
is accelerated or decelerated to slowly brin& it into line with an accurate e-ternal time
reference .ar&e stepped time ad,ustments are avoided NTP has comple- synchronization
al&orithms that calibrate the system clock to match the fre+uency of an accurate reference
clock
SNTP is a simplified su$set of the algorithms used ! the NTP protocol. SNTP steps
the host computers system time rather than slowly slewin& it towards the correct time
/d,ustin& the system time in steps can cause time critical applications problems SNTP also
lacks the functionality to monitor multiple NTP server reference clocks and decide on the
optimal source of time Instead it utilizes a list of references and in the event of failure of a
reference it moves on to the ne-t
The SNTP protocol is est suited to s!nchroni%ing computers at the e&tremities of a
computer net"or#. It is ideally suited to less powerful processors% such as micro"controllers
and embedded systems% which do not re+uire the accuracy of NTP The comple- al&orithms of
NTP may not be practically implemented on small computers NTP is ideal for use in dedicated
NTP server systems and synchronizin& lar&e networks of computers 0ere% accurate time may
be of the utmost importance and the sophisticated routines employed by NTP will help
maintain synchronization
NTP and SNTP use port '() on time servers.