NetWare allows servers to synchronize their time with each other. NetWare Services gets its time from NTP, and when the NetWare Server is run in reference mode, it can advertise this clock value to the other NetWare servers on the network.
Time synchronization is critical to the operation of NetWare Directory Services because it establishes the order of events.
Whenever an event occurs in the Directory, such as when a password is changed, or an object is renamed, NetWare Directory Services assigns a time stamp.
A time stamp is a unique code that includes the time and identifies the event. The NetWare Directory Services event is assigned a time stamp so that the order in which replicas are updated is correct.
When you install NetWare Services, time synchronization is created by default, or you can customize synchronization by specifying a server as one of four types: