Server Time Protocol NTP Client support

The announcement of Server Time Protocol (STP) last year had the following statement of direction :

Network Time Protocol (NTP) client support: IBM intends to enhance the STP design to provide Network Time Protocol (NTP) client capability, so that Coordinated Server Time may be initialized and maintained to time provided by an NTP server. The purpose of this function is to allow the same time across an enterprise comprised of heterogeneous platforms.

As of today, this NTP client support is available on System z9 servers that are at Driver 67L and have the STP Feature 1021 installed.

The STP design has been enhanced to include code for a Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) client on the Support Element (SE) of the IBM System z9 Enterprise Class (z9 EC) and IBM System z9 Business Class (z9 BC) servers. This support will allow customers to initialize the time of an STP-only Coordinated Timing Network to the time provided by a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, and maintain time accuracy. This allows an enterprise comprised of heterogeneous platforms to track to the same time source.

You can find additional information about the NTP client on the IBM STP page. There's a Redpaper available describing this new functionality : 'Server Time Protocol NTP Client support'. The redbook 'Server Time Protocol Implementation Guide' will be updated soon.