Cisco IOS Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Using NTP to Send Periodic Broadcast Time Updates

Problem

You want to set up your router to use the NTP broadcast mode so that devices do not need to query periodically for the time.

Solution

Use the NTP broadcast interface configuration command to enable server-side NTP broadcasts:

Router1#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
Router1(config)#clock timezone EST -5
Router1(config)#clock summer-time EDT recurring
Router1(config)#ntp server 172.25.1.1
Router1(config)#ntp server 172.25.1.2
Router1(config)#interface FastEthernet0/0
Router1(config-if)#ntp broadcast
Router1(config-if)#end
Router1#

To enable a NTP broadcast client on the router, enter the following:

Router2#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
Router2(config)#clock timezone EST -5
Router2(config)#clock summer-time EDT recurring
Router2(config)#ntp broadcastdelay 4
Router2(config)#interface Ethernet0
Router2(config-if)#ntp broadcast client
Router2(config-if)#end
Router2#

Discussion

Usually NTP associations are configured in a master/slave relationship, but the server (router) can also send periodic time updates using broadcast messages. This is useful on LAN segments that contain a large number of devices requiring NTP synchronization. Instead of responding to a large number of unicast NTP packets through a single interface, the router can simply send a single broadcast packet at a regular interval.

NTP devices configured to accept NTP broadcast ...