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Lets say you have a server that stores records, and the time stamp that goes into the mysql/postgres/text-file/whatever is vital to be accurate (lets pretend it's a physics experiment, or bank transaction auditing system).

My server's always end up out of time bit by bit each day (this may be due to existinging inside a VM?). I can run ntpdate every day, manually, which is a total pain, but I dont want to do that, and have a feeling it may not be a good solution at all for high precision time tracking.

What should I do to ensure my computer is never off by more than 0.05 seconds? I want to be able to walk away from it for 5 years and have it running accurate time when I come back.

Note: This is ubuntu-server, CLI commands only, there is no GUI.

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  • 0.05 seconds is 50 milliseconds, which is a lot different than microseconds. Which did you really mean?
    – psusi
    Apr 19, 2011 at 19:26
  • I'm generally seeking precision better than a second, I imagine a microsecond may be difficult to track on a standard CPU without some sort of external higher-precision /dev connected.
    – Incognito
    Apr 19, 2011 at 19:46
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    Indeed, you are going to need an atomic clock for microseconds. NTP serves quite well for +/- 50 milliseconds.
    – psusi
    Apr 20, 2011 at 0:46

2 Answers 2

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Please install ntp (not ntpdate) and add some time servers to your configuration.

See https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/C/NTP.html and the linked page to ntp here: http://www.ntp.org/ntpfaq/NTP-a-faq.htm

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http://longspine.com/how-to/real-time-kernel-on-ubuntu-10-10-maverick-meerkat/

I'm not sure if this will be of any assistance, but I think you would need a real-time-kernel to do time sensitive, bank, automation etc.

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