OSF DCE Administration Guide--Core Components

Managing the DCE DST
designate all the other servers on the LAN as backup couriers. If you have configured
several servers as backup couriers and the courier becomes unavailable, the backup
courier with the lowest-ordered UUID becomes the effective courier.
To assign the courier role to a server, enter the following dcecp command:
dcecp> dts modify -change {courierrole courier}
To assign the backup courier role to a server, enter the following command:
dcecp> dts modify -change {courierrole backup}
25.6.2 Matching Server Epochs
At startup, a server’s epoch number must match those of the other servers with which it
synchronizes. When synchronizing, a server disregards clock values that are from
servers whose epoch numbers do not match its own.
When DTS servers are initially enabled, the epoch number for each server is 0, so you
need not change the epoch numbers at initial installation. Later, if you add a server to an
existing network, or change a clerk to a server, ensure that the new server and the
preexisting servers have matching epoch numbers. Enter the DCE control program’s dts
show command to find out the epoch number of the server. For example:
dcecp> dts show /.:/hosts/orion/dts-server
Examine the attributes list that the command returns for the server’s epoch attribute
value. If the epoch of the server that you just created matches those of the other servers,
the new server can synchronize immediately. If the epochs do not match, however, and
you do not change the epoch of the new server, the new server ignores the preexisting
servers. The following example shows how to change a server’s epoch number after you
enable the server:
dcecp> clock set -abruptly -epoch 0
Once you know that a server is starting up with the proper epoch number, do not change
the epoch unless serious system or network problems corrupt all of the server clock
values. In the unlikely event that the majority of the server clocks become faulty, use the
dts show and clock set command to isolate problem servers so that you can perform
troubleshooting and maintenance without affecting the rest of the DTS application.
25.6.3 Setting the checkinterval Attribute for Connection to a Time-
Provider
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