[ntp:questions] Re: # sign on ntpq -np command

Steve Kostecke kostecke at ntp.isc.org
Wed Sep 14 16:48:15 UTC 2005


"Yasemin" said:

>"Steve Kostecke" said:
>
>> The meaning of '#' is documented in the "Tally Codes" section of
>> http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/html/ntpq.html
>
>I have seen the documentation but sorry, I could not decide if I could
>take it as a success. I have only one NTP server in my system and have
>to trust it for being safe. And, this same server, gives me the "*"
>sign after some time. .

# indicates that a time source has been SELECTED as a possible *

>From ntpq.html ...

| * sys.peer == The [time source] has been declared the system peer and
| lends its variables to the system variables.
|
| # selected == The [time source] is a survivor, but not among the first
| six peers sorted by synchronization distance. If the association is
| ephemeral, it may be demobilized to conserve resources.

>Reading the mails, I have seen that ntpq -c rv command gives some
>information about the NTP also. On that output, there is a field which have
>value sync_ntp when the sign is * or #, and sync_unspec for failure cases.
>As a result these made me think of taking the # also success.

There's also the 'state' and the 'stratum' ...

>My next issue is, NTP sometimes looses synch (long term of communication
>problem with server for example) and can not recover unless I restart it.

What is (most likely) happening here is that your poll interval has
reached the maximum (1024 seconds, or ~17 minutes) and it takes a number
of polls, after connectivity is restored, to re-acquire sync.

>And on each restart I have to wait 4x64=266 seconds for NTP to become synch.
>Is there a way to degrease this value as I use the "ntpdate ntpserver"
>command before starting the xntp daemon.

Append 'iburst' to all of your server lines (other than 127.x.x.x). That
will get your sync down below 30 seconds.

-- 
Steve Kostecke <kostecke at ntp.isc.org>
NTP Public Services Project http://ntp.isc.org/
Public Key at http://ntp.isc.org/Users/SteveKostecke



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