Amazon Time Sync Service now supports Nanosecond Hardware Packet Timestamps

The Amazon Time Sync Service now supports nanosecond-precision hardware packet timestamping on supported Amazon EC2 instances.

Built on Amazon's proven network infrastructure and the AWS Nitro System, customers can enable the Amazon Time Sync Service's hardware packet timestamping to add a 64 bit nanosecond-precision timestamp to every inbound network packet. By timestamping at the hardware level, before the kernel, socket, or application layer, customers can now more directly leverage the reference clock running in the AWS Nitro System and bypass any delays added by timestamping in software. Customers can then use these timestamps to determine the order and resolve fairness of incoming packets to their ec2 instances, measure 1-way network latency, and further increase distributed system transaction speed with higher precision and accuracy than most on-premises solutions. Customers already using the Amazon Time Sync Service’s PTP Hardware Clocks (PHC) can install the latest ENA Linux driver and enable hardware packet timestamping, accessible through standard Linux socket API, for all incoming network packets without needing any updates to their VPC configurations.

Hardware packet timestamping is available starting today in all regions and EC2 instance types where the Amazon Time Sync Service’s PHC is supported. Hardware packet timestamping can be used on virtualized or bare metal instances. There is no additional charge for using this feature.

Configuration instructions, and more information on the Amazon Time Sync Service, are available in the EC2 User Guide.