[ntp:questions] Solairs 8 xntpd client oscillates

Joachim Schrod jschrod at acm.org
Mon May 8 12:50:56 UTC 2006


Hello,

I have a Solaris 8 system with Sun's xntpd (version 3). It is a SunBlade.

I try to run that system as a xntpd client against our Linux timeserver. That 
timeserver is running ntpd 4.1.1 (that's a SUSE 9.0 system) and is running 
stable, time doesn't wander or anything. The systems are in one LAN, no firewall 
in between.

Now, the Solaris client regularly drifts off from the timeserver until it 
reaches an offset of ca. 1500 and then resets itself, starting the whole game 
anew. From the ntp log:

  8 May 14:12:15 xntpd[1167]: synchronized to 192.168.129.1, stratum=2
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: time reset (step) 1.446707 s
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: synchronisation lost
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: system event 'event_clock_reset' (0x05) status 
'sync_alarm, sync_unspec, 8 events, event_peer/strat_chg' (0xc084)
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: system event 'event_sync_chg' (0x03) status 
'sync_alarm, sync_unspec, 9 events, event_clock_reset' (0xc095)
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: system event 'event_peer/strat_chg' (0x04) status 
'sync_alarm, sync_unspec, 10 events, event_sync_chg' (0xc0a3)
  8 May 14:29:19 xntpd[1167]: peer LOCAL(0) event 'event_reach' (0x84) status 
'unreach, conf, 2 events, event_reach' (0x8024)
  8 May 14:29:20 xntpd[1167]: peer 192.168.129.1 event 'event_reach' (0x84) 
status 'reach, conf, 2 events, event_reach' (0x9024)
  8 May 14:33:35 xntpd[1167]: synchronized to LOCAL(0), stratum=10
  8 May 14:33:35 xntpd[1167]: system event 'event_sync_chg' (0x03) status 
'leap_none, sync_local_proto, 12 events, event_peer/strat_chg' (0x5c4)
  8 May 14:33:35 xntpd[1167]: system event 'event_peer/strat_chg' (0x04) status 
'leap_none, sync_local_proto, 13 events, event_sync_chg' (0x5d3)
  8 May 14:33:36 xntpd[1167]: synchronized to 192.168.129.1, stratum=2
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: time reset (step) 1.446707 s
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: synchronisation lost
  8 May 14:28:16 xntpd[1167]: system event 'event_clock_reset' (0x05) status 
'sync_alarm, sync_unspec, 8 events, event_peer/strat_chg' (0xc084)

and so on. This happens roughly every 20 minutes and I cannot discover the 
reason or any method to avoid that problem.

My ntp.conf has as content (plus logging, no restrict clauses):

server 127.127.1.0              # local clock (LCL)
fudge  127.127.1.0 stratum 10   # LCL is unsynchronized
server 192.168.129.1            # IP address of server
driftfile /etc/ntp.drift # path for drift file

I also added a "disable pll" clause, as per recommendation of a Sun Blueprint 
that I found via the FAQ. With that clause, xntpd does not synchronize the time 
either; the behaviour is the same. With both configurations I let it ran for 
more than one day, so there should have been enough time for synchronization.

Some ntpq output:

ntpq> peer
      remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset    disp
==============================================================================
  LOCAL(0)        LOCAL(0)        10 l   14   64  377     0.00    0.000   10.01
*lion.npc.de     ptbtime2.ptb.de  2 u   13   64  377     0.47  985.966  146.59

ntpq> readvar
status=06f4 leap_none, sync_ntp, 15 events, event_peer/strat_chg
system="SunOS", leap=00, stratum=3, rootdelay=52.40,
rootdispersion=1161.74, peer=46165, refid=lion.npc.de,
reftime=c809bb20.7437a000  Mon, May  8 2006 14:42:08.453, poll=6,
clock=c809bb2e.f4511000  Mon, May  8 2006 14:42:22.954, phase=0.000,
freq=0.00, error=146.59

ntpq> readvar 46165
status=9624 reach, conf, sel_sys.peer, 2 events, event_reach
srcadr=lion.npc.de, srcport=123, dstadr=192.168.129.2, dstport=123,
keyid=0, stratum=2, precision=-17, rootdelay=51.93,
rootdispersion=29.19, refid=ptbtime2.ptb.de,
reftime=c809b94e.0f1fbc5d  Mon, May  8 2006 14:34:22.059,
delay=    0.47, offset=  985.97, dispersion=146.59, reach=377, valid=8,
hmode=3, pmode=4, hpoll=6, ppoll=6, leap=00, flash=0x0<OK>,
org=c809bb21.70902de0  Mon, May  8 2006 14:42:09.439,
rec=c809bb20.7437a000  Mon, May  8 2006 14:42:08.453,
xmt=c809bb20.74154000  Mon, May  8 2006 14:42:08.453,
filtdelay=    0.47    0.46    0.46    0.44    0.46    0.49    0.44    0.40,
filtoffset= 985.96  910.00  834.03  758.07  682.13  606.16  530.20  454.22,
filterror=    0.02    0.99    1.97    2.94    3.92    4.90    5.87    6.85

ntpq> version
ntpq 3-5.93e Mon Sep 20 15:45:42 PDT 1999 (1)

I traced the network traffic between the Sun and the timeserver. Both requests 
and answers are looking good and show no problem. (The server answers with 
version 3 packets, so I assumed that it's not a v3 vs. v4 problem. Or may it be?)

I have installed the Sun patch 109667-07, which is the latest patch for xntpd, 
AFAIK.

Can anybody help me here? I don't know any more where I should look or what I 
should change to make the SunBlade synchronize its time.
Thanks in advance for any answer,

	Joachim

-- 
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Joachim Schrod				Email: jschrod at acm.org
Roedermark, Germany




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