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RFC 1059: Network Time Protocol (version 1) specification and implementation

This RFC has been replaced. Do not implement against it for new work — it was formally obsoleted by RFC 1119, RFC 1305.

Current document in this lineage: RFC 5905 — Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification

In plain English — editorial summary, not part of the RFC

This memo describes the Network Time Protocol (NTP), specifies its formal structure and summarizes information useful for its implementation. NTP provides the mechanisms to synchronize time and coordinate time distribution in a large, diverse internet operating at rates from mundane to lightwave. It uses a returnable-time design in which a distributed subnet of time servers operating in a self- organizing, hierarchical master-slave configuration synchronizes logical clocks within the subnet and to national time standards via wire or radio. The servers can also redistribute reference time via local routing algorithms and time daemons. The NTP architectures, algorithms and protocols which have evolved over several years of implementation and refinement are described in this document. The prototype system, which has been in regular operation in the Internet for the last two years, is described in an Appendix along with performance data which shows that timekeeping accuracy throughout most portions of the Internet can be ordinarily maintained to within a few tens of milliseconds, even the cases of failure or disruption of clocks, time servers or nets. This is a Draft Standard for an Elective protocol.

Document record

Document ID
RFC1059
Published
July 1988
Authors
D.L. Mills
Status
UNKNOWN
Stream
Legacy
Area
—
Pages
58
Also known as
—
Obsoletes:
RFC 958
Obsoleted by:
RFC 1119, RFC 1305

Topics

Standards lineage

This document is one revision in a chain of 9 RFCs, each formally replacing the one before it.

  1. RFC 958 (1985)
  2. RFC 1059 (1988)
  3. RFC 1119 (1989)
  4. RFC 1305 (1992)
  5. RFC 1361 (1992)
  6. RFC 1769 (1995)
  7. RFC 2030 (1996)
  8. RFC 4330 (2006)
  9. RFC 5905 (2010) ✓

Read the full history of Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification →

Referenced by

2 later RFCs formally update or obsolete part of this document.

Related documents

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The document record above — title, authors, date, status, stream, area, relationships, DOI and errata — is imported verbatim from the public RFC Editor index. The “in plain English” section is editorial: written by The metasystema editorial team, not part of the RFC. Where the two differ, the RFC text governs.

Last checked against the RFC Editor index on . RFCs are never revised after publication; changes are issued as new documents.

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canonical URL: /rfc/1059-network-time-protocol-version-1-specification-and-implementation