Leapsecond 2015: Recommended Updates for LANTIME Products

Meinberg carries out leapsecond tests on a regular basis and found out recently that the handling of leapsecond events by NTP is incorrect in some cases. On systems that are configured to use a leapsecond file and on which the leapsecond file is expired, an update is mandatory to ensure the proper handling of the upcoming leapsecond at the end of this month.

Meinberg strongly recommends to update the leapsecond file on all LANTIME systems running a V6 firmware version before 6.17.006 (for 6.17.x machines) or before 6.16.008 (for all other LANTIME systems running V6.x).

An expired/outdated leapsecond file can also become a problem on non-Meinberg systems running an NTP version older than 4.2.8. It can happen that a system does not apply the leapsecond insertion correctly or takes it back after a short period of time. Meinberg therefore recommends to investigate if existing systems running ntp before 4.2.8 are configured to use a leapsecond file and, if this is the case, review that file to ensure that it contains the upcoming leapsecond event. If not, it should be updated. The leapsecond update file for LANTIME V6 systems can be downloaded from this webpage: Leapsecond Information 2015

For all other NTP installations, an updated version of the leapsecond file can be downloaded from one of these websites:

• Meinberg NTP Leapsecond File
• IETF NTP Leapsecond File

Please contact the vendor of your system/operating system if you have questions regarding the update process or if you need further information about this topic.