Support · 43 guides

Setup, configure, troubleshoot

Step-by-step guides, configuration reference and operations docs for every TimeBeat hardware product and the Timebeat software platform.

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Hardware

Pick your product

Hardware-specific guides — installation, antenna setup, first boot and troubleshooting for each TimeBeat product.

Open TimeCard

Open TimeCard

Modular PCIe grandmaster with DOCXO or Rubidium holdover

Open TimeCard Mini V3

Open TimeCard Mini V3

Compact all-in-one PCIe time sync solution

Open Time Appliance

Open Time Appliance

Grandmaster clock platform — up to 3 units per 1RU

Open Time Appliance Mini

Open Time Appliance Mini

Portable grandmaster — sync, test, validate anywhere

White Rabbit Mezzanine

White Rabbit Mezzanine

OEM timing module — sub-nanosecond sync for integrators

Software platform

Timebeat software

All TimeBeat hardware products run the same Timebeat agent. These bite-sized how-to guides cover every feature you can enable from timebeat.yml — clock sources, PTP profiles, GNSS configuration, oscillator disciplining, PTP² Mesh, TaaS, outputs, logging, CLI and operations.

Quick start5 min read

Install Timebeat

Download the agent and install it with your OS's native package manager, then start the service.

Quick start7 min read

Initial configuration

Licence file, peer-ID persistence, monitor-only mode, step limits and slew boundaries.

Configuring PTP sources

Add PTP sources, set profiles, tune intervals, set priorities, name and group sources, cap rates and enable advanced modes.

PTP boundary clock & distribution

Boundary clock mode, unicast subscriber caps, master tables and PTP over Layer 2 Ethernet.

NTP sources & serving

Add NTP servers as clock sources and serve NTP from Timebeat itself.

Configuring PPS sources

Wire up 1-pulse-per-second sources, set edge mode, cable delays, link to NMEA / Timecard, and flag atomic oscillators.

NMEA & PHC sources

Pull time from a serial GNSS receiver or from a hypervisor / NIC PHC clock, including RMC offset compensation.

GNSS receiver tuning

Pick GNSS signals, set the dynamic model, tighten input filters, and enable quantisation correction.

GNSS positioning & spoof detection

Survey-in mode, fixed-position deployment, and drift-alert thresholds for spoof detection.

Timecard5 min read

Open TimeCard basics

Add an Open TimeCard and enable OCXO aging compensation.

Timecard5 min read

Open TimeCard networking

Enable high-precision SFP timing, configure L2 split mode, and create VLAN trunks.

Timecard8 min read

Open TimeCard advanced disciplining

Discipline the oscillator from a remote group, set the watchdog, apply input offsets, drive DCO from a remote URL, and configure tau_steps warm-up.

Timecard7 min read

Other Timecard variants

Configuring Open TimeCard Mini variants (Essentials, Lite, PT), OCP Timecard and the Open Time Appliance variants.

Holdover & oscillator disciplining

Use the oscillator protocol to ride through GNSS jamming and upstream outages with hardware OCXO / Rubidium holdover.

PTP² Mesh4 min read

Enable PTP² Mesh

Turn on Timebeat's resilient self-healing PTP topology and configure mDNS discovery.

PTP² Mesh12 min read

PTP² Mesh across networks

DHT-based discovery, persistent identity, seat capacity, reservations, capabilities, intervals and the hop-cost model.

TaaS / VGMC8 min read

Timing as a Service (TaaS / VGMC)

Multi-tenant Virtual Grandmaster Clock — enable, add clients with routes, define reusable templates.

Security3 min read

Galileo OSNMA via Trust Bridge

Authenticate Galileo navigation messages through a trusted NTRIP proxy.

Steering8 min read

Steering algorithms & filters

Pick a steering algorithm, configure the outlier filter (including per-peer exemptions), enable algorithm logging and offset-arrival-driven servo, and override the clock quality.

Steering8 min read

PTP advanced tuning

Global sockets, auto-discover, multicast TTL, DSCP markings, randomised DELAY_REQ, TX synchronisation and PTP standard revision.

Steering3 min read

Interference monitor

Configure backoff when another tool steers the clock, and tune the RTC sync interval.

Linux & PHC12 min read

Linux PHC configuration

Hardware timestamping, PHC offset strategies, smoothing, outlier filters, samples, one-step PTP, TAI offsets and startup PPS output.

Outputs6 min read

Elasticsearch output & ILM

Configure Elasticsearch as the output, set authentication (API key or basic auth), use Cloud PKI mTLS, and enable Index Lifecycle Management.

Outputs4 min read

File output & rotation

Configure file output for air-gapped or offline-first deployments — path, rotation, codec, permissions.

Logging7 min read

Logging configuration

Set the log level, configure file rotation, send alerts to remote syslog, enable stdout logging, size the disconnect buffer and tune log pruning.

Operations6 min read

CLI & HTTP status access

Enable the SSH-based CLI, configure key-based access, harden the default password, and expose the HTTP status endpoint.

Operations6 min read

Identity, metadata & maintenance

Set the shipper name, attach custom fields, manage seccomp, load Kibana dashboards, enable X-Pack monitoring.

Operations3 min read

Windows operation

Windows-specific configuration — primarily the Timer Resolution control under `windows_specific`.

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