NTP - Installation Guide - BlueCat Integrity - 26.1.0

Network time protocol (NTP) service is essential to some of the more complex DNS/DHCP Server and Address Manager functions, such as xHA and DHCP failover, and differential deployment. Address Manager v26.1.0 introduces support for the Network Time Security (NTS) extension for NTP. NTS extends NTP with cryptographic authentication, ensuring time synchronization is trusted, accurate, and tamper-proof.

A specific external time reference is also essential to some organizations for reports and compliance tracking. The NTP services on DNS/DHCP Server act as both a source of NTP synchronization for clients and as clients themselves to another NTP service that synchronizes the clock reference they provide.

Example

#cloud-config
bluecat_service_config:
  payload: |
   {
      "version": "1.4.0",
      "services": {
        "ntp": {
          "configurations": [
            {
              "ntpConfiguration": {
                "enable": true,
                "ntsEnabled": true,
                "certificateChain": "<PEM certificate chain>",
                "privateKey": "<PEM private key>",
                "servers": [
                  {
                    "address": "time.example.com",
                    "stratum": "default",
                    "ntsEnabled": true,
                    "caCertificate": "<PEM CA certificate>"
                  },
                  {
                    "address": "127.127.0.10",
                    "stratum": "1"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
   }      

Parameters

• enable—set to true to enable the NTP service; set to false to disable the NTP service.
• ntsEnabled—set to true to enable NTS for the NTP service; set to false to disable NTS.
• certificateChain—enter the certificate chain used by the NTP service.
• privateKey—enter the private key used by the NTP service.
• servers—enter the NTP server information.
  • address—enter the fully-qualified domain name or IP address for a remote NTP server from which DNS/DHCP Server will reference the time.
  • stratum—enter a stratum value for the NTP server being added. This value will be associated to an individual NTP server. Enter default to use the stratum value set on the remote NTP server.
  • ntsEnabled—set to true to enable NTS for the remote NTP server; set to false to disable NTS.
  • caCertificate—enter the CA certificate used to validate the remote NTP server.