Raspberry Pi NTP Server

Build a Stratum 1 NTP Server Link to heading

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is critical, but often completely ignored because it is typically preconfigured and “just works” on every device you setup. However, creating an extremely accurate clock is much less difficult than I expected and can be done for less than $100 total.

A little background on NTP in general is helpful. The NTP Pool Project has a lot of information on a virtual cluster of free and easy to use NTP services. There are also time servers available from Google, Microsoft, NIST, and many other public websites. These are typically the clock sources used by devices that require time synchronization. And for 99.9% of applications at home, this is perfectly acceptable. However, I found an amazing guide for setting up your own NTP server using a Raspberry Pi over at Austin’s website and then configured my OPNsense Router to use this as its primary NTP source. Then I am able to advertise this NTP server on every interface of my home network, and configure device to use their default gateway as their NTP source.