Hi everyone,
I’m reviewing how NTP works and I’m still not fully clear on how stratum levels should be interpreted beyond the basic hierarchy.
The theory makes sense (stratum 1 from a reference clock, stratum 2 syncing from stratum 1, etc.), but I’m unsure how important the actual stratum value remains once you’re a few layers down.
What I’m trying to understand is whether devices genuinely prioritise servers based on stratum alone, or if in real deployments the practical difference becomes negligible as long as sources are stable.
For those who have deployed NTP at scale or worked with multiple sources, how much weight do you actually give to stratum when choosing or validating time sources?
I’ve read the following, Cisco NTP doc and NTP concept.
I’m reviewing how NTP works and I’m still not fully clear on how stratum levels should be interpreted beyond the basic hierarchy.
The theory makes sense (stratum 1 from a reference clock, stratum 2 syncing from stratum 1, etc.), but I’m unsure how important the actual stratum value remains once you’re a few layers down.
What I’m trying to understand is whether devices genuinely prioritise servers based on stratum alone, or if in real deployments the practical difference becomes negligible as long as sources are stable.
For those who have deployed NTP at scale or worked with multiple sources, how much weight do you actually give to stratum when choosing or validating time sources?
I’ve read the following, Cisco NTP doc and NTP concept.
