

Ask HN : How does time synchronization works? - theone

When network latency is unknown, how does time synchronization works in networked computers.
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RiderOfGiraffes
I remember seeing a proof that when there is an systematic asymmetry in the
network latency it is impossible to guarantee synchronisation.

It practice, however, it is reasonable to assume that latencies are randomly
distributed and are largely the same in each direction. Under those
assumptions it's fairly simple to come up with strategies that mostly work.

The real difficulty is finding an optimal or near-optimal strategy.

However, to answer your original question, it is provably impossible when the
conditions are unknown and are allowed to be pessimal.

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Tangurena
I think you ought to check out NTP.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol>

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yan
Check out: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzullo%27s_algorithm>

