Maintaining the Time in a

To a client, one of the simplest services provided by a distributed system is a time service. A client simply requests the time from any set of servers, and uses any reply. The simplicity in this interaction, however, misrepresents the complexity of implementing such a service. An algorithm is needed that will keep a set of clocks synchronized, reasonably correct and accurate with rcspcct to a standard, and able to withstand errors such as communication failures and inaccurate clocks. This paper presents a partial solution to the problem by describing two algorithms which will keep clocks both correct and synchronized.