[ntp:questions] Time steping regardless of "-x" slew only option

Tom Smith smith at cag.zko.hp.com
Sat Jun 23 15:28:16 UTC 2007


vwvr6vw wrote:
> I am using the xntpd daemon with the AIX OS.  From what I have read,
> the use of the "-x" option should cause steps steps less than 3
> seconds to be slew'ed instead of step'ed.  However, I am seeing steps
> that are less than 3 seconds and show no pattern(anywhere from 0.1
> seconds to 1.7 seconds).  The only thing I can figure is that since
> ntp is selecting a different server to sync to, it does not follow the
> slew only logic that should be applied by the use of the "-x" option?
> i.e. if I only had one server defined in my config file and it
> stepped, I would not have a problem, but if I have two servers that
> are out of sync, then I could see a steps on my processor as it ping
> pongs back and forth between the two.
> 

Some versions of (x)ntpd, and I don't remember which or if it's still
true, reported a step in the log even though the step was actually
carried out as a slew because of an overriding "-x". The message
is (was) issued at the point where the step threshold was detected
and the decision to perform a slew instead was subsequent to that.
That may or may not be true of the version you are running.

-Tom




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