It was reported (in November 2022) that Meta plans to synchronize the time of all servers in its data centers with the Precision Time Protocol (PTP). This article will help you understand PTP in 3 minutes.
PTP in a nutshell.
PTP is a communication protocol that synchronizes the entire network with high precision in microseconds.
Incidentally, NTP (Network Time Protocol) is a protocol that synchronizes time in milliseconds, while PTP synchronizes time in much finer units and with greater accuracy.
Servers must keep accurate time or they may experience various problems. Therefore, it is necessary to synchronize the time of all computers in the network using communication protocols such as PTP and NTP.
History of PTP
PTP was defined in IEEE 1588-2002 in 2002, and a revised standard, IEEE 1588-2008, was released in 2008.
IEEE 1588-2008 has been extended to work with IPv6, and its accuracy and robustness have been improved.
This is the explanation of PTP (Precision Time Protocol) in 3 minutes.
