Precision Time Protocol on Linux
~ Introduction to linuxptp
Ken ICHIKAWA
FUJITSU LIMITED.
LinuxCon Japan 2014
Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
Agenda
Background
Overview of Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
About PTP on Linux
Tips
For easy trial or development
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Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
Background
Event ordering is very important
for incident analysis, performance analysis and so on
Event ordering is based on timestamps
Timestamps are collected from multiple servers
⇒Clock synchronization is important
If precision and accuracy of clock
synchronization are bad, event ordering can
reverse against actual time
Event 2
Event 1
Event 3
Server A
Server B
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Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
NTP is not enough
NTP provides millisecond level synchronization
Maybe enough for remote machines, but not enough for
locally cooperating machines
Many events occur in a millisecond in multiple servers
⇒Event ordering will frequently reverse
Need another protocol
Higher precision and accuracy
Not need to synchronize large area, but local servers
and devices
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Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
Example of wrong event ordering
Actual Time
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Server A
diff:-1
1
Server B
diff:+3
5
2
3
4
5
6
7
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
6
7
8
9
10
11
time
Event Ordering based on Actual Time
Event Ordering based on Timestamp
Time
Event
Time
Event
3
5
7
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
2
6
8
Event 1
Event 3
Event 2
reverse!
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Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
Example of correct event ordering
based on better clock synchronization
Actual Time
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Server A
diff:-0.001
1.999
Server B
diff:+0.003
2.003
2.999 3.999
4.999
5.999
6.999
7.999
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
3.003 4.003
5.003
6.003
7.003
8.003
time
Event Ordering based on Actual Time
Event Ordering based on Timestamp
Time
Event
3
5
7
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
Time
2.999
5.003
6.999
Event
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
correct!
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Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
Agenda
Background
Overview of Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
What’s PTP
Term explanation
About packet timestamp
About PTP on Linux
Tips
For easy trial or development
8
Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED
Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
Standardized protocol, IEEE1588
Synchronize the clocks in local computing systems
and devices
Microsecond to sub-microsecond accuracy and
precision
Administration free
Capability to autonomously decide time server(master)
• called Best Master Clock Algorithm (BMCA)
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Copyright 2014 FUJITSU LIMITED