Support boundary to configure the Windows Time service for high-accuracy environments

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Article ID: 939322 - View products that this article applies to.

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INTRODUCTION

This article describes the support boundary to configure the Windows Time (W32Time) service for high-accuracy environments. High-accuracy environments include exchange trading houses and high-precision manufacturing companies for whose success critically accurate time measurement is required.

More information

The W32Time service uses Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP). SNTP is a simplified version of NTP.

SNTP is used in non-domain-joined computers. (This includes Windows Server-based computers.)

Windows XP and later versions of the Windows operating system implement NTP.

We do not guarantee and we do not support the accuracy of the W32Time service between nodes on a network. The W32Time service is not a full-featured NTP solution that meets time-sensitive application needs. The W32Time service is primarily designed to do the following:

Make the Kerberos version 5 authentication protocol work.
Provide loose sync time for client computers.

The W32Time service cannot reliably maintain sync time to the range of one to two seconds. Such tolerances are outside the design specification of the W32Time service.

For more information about the W32Time service, go to the following Microsoft TechNet website:

Windows Time Service Tools and Settings

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773263(WS.10).aspx)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) maintains a list of third-party publishers of time and frequency software. To view this list, go to the following NIST website:

http://www.nist.gov/physlab/div847/grp40/softwarelist.cfm

(http://www.nist.gov/physlab/div847/grp40/softwarelist.cfm)

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.