[ntp:questions] "ntpd -q" is slow compared to ntpdate

Richard B. Gilbert rgilbert88 at comcast.net
Sat Oct 18 14:47:51 UTC 2008


Unruh wrote:
> Harlan Stenn <stenn at ntp.org> writes:
> 
>>>>> In article <976d969e0810151552y27b51d97p7c44fef03714becf at mail.gmail.com>, extproxy at gmail.com (Mohit Aron) writes:
> 
>>>>> Thanks. It seems 'sntp -r <server>' is the appropriate replacement >
>>>> for ntpdate.
>>>>
>>>> I'm sure I'm about to soil my shoe in what may be an old and well-trodden
>>>> pile, but if sntp can set the time as well and as quickly as ntpdate, why
>>>> a new program rather than fixes/enhancements to the old one?
> 
>> I thought we answered this already.
> 
>> ntpdate is broken, and has been for a very long time.
> 
>> Folks have used ntpdate to initially set the time for ntpd.
> 
>> This is generally no longer needed.
> 
>> Please see:
> 
>> http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/StartingNTP
> 
>> and
> 
>> http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Dev/DeprecatingNtpdate
> 
>> for a discussion of the issues.
> 
> 
>> Mohit> Good question. I'd much rather just keep using ntpdate. The ntpd man
>> Mohit> page is obviously wrong when it suggests that 'ntpd -q' mimics the
>> Mohit> behavior of ntpdate - it doesn't - 'ntpd -q' is dog slow. Along comes
>> Mohit> 'sntp -r' to the rescue.
> 
>> Eventually the ntpd man page will be updated.  But for a certain class of
>> situation, yes ntpd -q does mimic ntpdate.
> 
>> Please remembere that I mentioned that ntpdate is broken and has been for a
>> long time.
> 
> It would probably help if you said exactly how ntpdate is broken. It is
> obviously not broken so badly that it does not run. So what subtle issues
> are there about ntpdate 
> 
> 

I do not use ntpdate very often but, when I do, it DOES SEEM TO WORK!

It does not, however, offer the defenses against diseased servers that 
ntpd does.  You had better believe that there are servers out there and 
responding to NTP queries that do not even know the correct YEAR!!!!!




More information about the questions mailing list