[ntp:questions] Default config on Ubuntu doesn't work as client

Steve Kostecke kostecke at ntp.org
Mon Mar 10 19:43:34 UTC 2008


On 2008-03-10, Michael B Allen <miallen at ioplex.com> wrote:

> Steve Kostecke <kostecke at ntp.org> wrote:
>
>> The output of 'ntpq -pcrv' is what we need to see.
>>
>> BTW: You should append 'iburst' to your server lines to speed up
>> initial sync from a bit over 5 minutes to a bit less than 20 seconds
>> (assuming no other issues exist).
>
> Output of ntpq:

[snip]

> refid=INIT, reftime=00000000.00000000  Thu, Feb  7 2036  1:28:16.000,
> poll=6, clock=cb7fdd9b.a61cc7fd  Mon, Mar 10 2008 12:17:31.648, state=1,

Your ntpd is stuck in its early start-up stages.

>  remote       refid      st t when poll reach delay  offset jitter
>===================================================================
>nano.foo.net 69.31.13.210  3 u   13   64    1  0.364 -420416  0.001

Although this was taken a bit prematurely (i.e. right after ntpd was
started) ...

We can see that the remote time server is answering your polls. So we
can probably rule out a network problem.

The offset is excessive. It may be because ntpd has not run long enough
to poll the remote time server and determine that a step is required.

You should either (a) start ntpd with -g to allow a large initial
time step, or (b) preset the clock with 'ntpq -gq' (or the deprecated
ntpdate) before starting the daemon instance of ntpd

> Mar 10 12:17:17 ls3 ntpd[5924]: frequency initialized 0.000 PPM \
>	from /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift

A driftfile containing 0.00 is not a good sign.

Please add the '-g' command-line argument to your ntp init script (if it
is not already there) then (a) stop ntpd, (b) delete the driftfile, and
(c) start ntpd.

Make sure ntpd is allowed to run undisturbed until a non-zero value is
written to the driftfile (this may take an hour). Your ntpd will spend
about 20 minutes testing the clock to determine the needed frequency
correction. This is the value which is written to the driftfile. Once
the test is complete ntpd will be able to synchronize its time sources.

ntpd will synchronize quickly to its time sources on subsequent
start-ups when your drift file contains a "good" frequency correction
value.

BTW: for interactive support please visit #ntp on irc.freenode.net

-- 
Steve Kostecke <kostecke at ntp.org>
NTP Public Services Project - http://support.ntp.org/




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