SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

3726826 - Server Time Synchronization in SAP SuccessFactors

Symptom

Customers want to understand how time synchronization works for SAP SuccessFactors and which Network Time Protocol (NTP) services are used to ensure consistent system time. 

Environment

SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite

Resolution

Time Synchronization Check

The Time Synchronization Check ensures that SAP SuccessFactors synchronizes with a standard time service so that timestamps across enterprise systems remain aligned. Accurate time synchronization is essential for correlating events, logs, and activities across different systems within a network.

In distributed environments, synchronized time allows organizations to:

  • Correlate log entries across multiple systems

  • Troubleshoot incidents and integration issues

  • Track security events and network usage

  • Maintain consistent file modification timestamps

  • Ensure accurate billing and monitoring processes

Without synchronized time between customer systems and the cloud service provider, it becomes difficult to reconcile events occurring in different systems.

Network Time Protocol (NTP)

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize computer clocks over a network. It is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite and enables systems to maintain accurate and consistent time across infrastructure.

NTP follows a hierarchical model known as stratum levels, which represent the distance from a reference clock:

  • Stratum 0: Reference clock sources that provide UTC time (for example atomic clocks or GPS clocks).

  • Higher Stratum Levels: Systems that receive time from a lower stratum device and distribute it across networks.

NTP Services Used for SAP SuccessFactors

The NTP source used for time synchronization depends on the hosting environment of the SAP SuccessFactors instance.

SAP Converged Cloud NTP Service

SAP Converged Cloud retrieves time from regional ntp.org pools.

Examples:

RegionNTP Source
ap-au-10–3.au.pool.ntp.org
eu-de-10–3.de.pool.ntp.org

Hyperscaler NTP Services

If the SAP SuccessFactors environment is hosted on a hyperscaler platform, customers can synchronize their local systems with the following NTP services:

HyperscalerNTP Service
Microsoft Azuretime.microsoft.akadns.net
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)metadata.google.internal

See Also

Keywords

SAP SuccessFactors Time Synchronization, Time Synchronization Check, NTP, Network Time Protocol, Time Alignment, System Clock Synchronization, Timestamp mismatch, Log correlation, Event tracking, UTC time, Stratum level, Reference clock, SAP Converged Cloud NTP, Hyperscaler NTP service, Microsoft Azure NTP, time.microsoft.akadns.net, Google Cloud Platform NTP, metadata.google.internal, ntp.org pool, ap-au-1 region, eu-de-1 region, system time mismatch, log timestamp issue, cloud time synchronization, SuccessFactors infrastructure time. , KBA , LOD-SF-PLT , Platform Foundational Capabilities , How To

Product

SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite 2511