This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- The meaning of NTP stratum levels, where a lower number signifies a more authoritative time source.

- How to interpret the output of `show ntp status` to identify a router's stratum and synchronization peer.

- The critical difference between the `ntp server` command (client mode) and the `ntp master` command (local authoritative source).

- Why a stratum level of 16 indicates that a device is unsynchronized and cannot provide valid time.

- How to configure basic NTP authentication to ensure time updates are from a trusted source.

For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep