Which measure is used by an NTP server to indicate its closeness to the authoritative time source?

Question

Exhibit

Options

• Atime zone
• Bhop count
• Cstratum
• Dlatency

• B
  9% (2)
• C
  86% (19)
• D
  5% (1)

Explanation

Stratum is the metric NTP uses to indicate how many levels away a server is from the authoritative time source (stratum 0), such as an atomic clock or GPS device. A stratum 1 server is directly connected to the authoritative source, stratum 2 syncs from stratum 1, and so on - the lower the stratum number, the more accurate and "close" the server is to the true time source.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• Time zone (A) is a geographic/regional offset from UTC and has nothing to do with time accuracy or source proximity.
• Hop count (B) is a networking term used in routing protocols (like TTL) to measure network distance, not NTP hierarchy.
• Latency (D) measures network delay and while NTP does account for it in calculations, it is not the metric used to represent closeness to the authoritative source.

Memory tip: Think of "stratum" like floors in a building - the authoritative clock is in the basement (stratum 0), and each floor up (stratum 1, 2, 3...) gets you further away from the source. Stratum = Steps from the source.

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