[ntp:questions] NTP not syncing

mike cook michael.cook at sfr.fr
Thu Dec 5 14:24:02 UTC 2013


> 
> 
> The problem for ntp is that ntp takes a long time to recover from a bad
> drift value. 
> 

This seems to have been an issue since I started using ntp, more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that it is not fixed.

A simple test on linux with a modern version of ntp:   Here is the normal state of this R-PI

Thu Dec  5 09:34:13 CET 2013
mike at raspberrypi ~ $ sudo cat /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-36.772
mike at raspberrypi ~ $ ls -l /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 Dec  5 08:51 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
mike at raspberrypi ~ $ ntpq  -pn |grep \*
mintc=3, offset=-0.169517, frequency=-37.191, sys_jitter=0.333279,

 offset with this server is  fairly stable at 1-300  microseconds, sometimes better.

So now stop ntpd , stick a silly value in the drift file and restart.

root at raspberrypi:/home/mike# echo "-256.666" > /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
root at raspberrypi:/home/mike# cat /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666
root at raspberrypi:/home/mike# /etc/init.d/ntp start
Starting NTP server: ntpd.
root at raspberrypi:/home/mike# ntpq -c rv
associd=0 status=0615 leap_none, sync_ntp, 1 event, clock_sync,
version="ntpd 4.2.7p319 at 1.2483 Tue May 28 11:26:22 UTC 2013 (2)",
processor="armv6l", system="Linux/3.2.27-pps", leap=00, stratum=2,
precision=-19, rootdelay=14.258, rootdisp=202.121, refid=145.238.203.14,
reftime=d64aba43.dfdbb690  Thu, Dec  5 2013  9:39:31.874,
clock=d64aba54.494fd9c7  Thu, Dec  5 2013  9:39:48.286, peer=2675, tc=6,
mintc=3, offset=3.357234, frequency=-256.666, sys_jitter=1.622350,
clk_jitter=2.342, clk_wander=0.000

So we have picked up the drift and are using it as is, no verification.

root at raspberrypi:/home/mike# ntpq -pn
...
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   44   64    1   14.258    3.357   1.622
...
So iburst got us a reasonable start point. Now lets see how it evolves:

oot at raspberrypi:/home/mike# while true; do date; ntpq -pn |grep \*;ntpq -c rv |grep frequency; ls -l /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift;cat /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift; sleep 60; done
Thu Dec  5 09:46:00 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   62   64   77   14.258    3.357  11.413
mintc=3, offset=16.974005, frequency=-256.666, sys_jitter=11.412631,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Dec  5 09:38 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666

three samples later , 

Thu Dec  5 09:49:01 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   39   64  377   14.270   13.392  25.459               the offset multiplies by three
mintc=3, offset=16.974005, frequency=-256.666, sys_jitter=25.458613,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Dec  5 09:38 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666
Thu Dec  5 09:50:02 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   32   64  377   14.272   64.913  38.415               then more than 20 times
mintc=3, offset=64.912586, frequency=-224.970, sys_jitter=38.415064,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Dec  5 09:38 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666
Thu Dec  5 09:51:02 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   25   64  377   14.272   64.913  34.083
mintc=3, offset=64.912586, frequency=-224.970, sys_jitter=34.083058,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Dec  5 09:38 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666
Thu Dec  5 09:52:02 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   19   64  377   14.242   78.513  37.945               and it gets worse  - note that we still think this is a good source
mintc=3, offset=78.512782, frequency=-214.937, sys_jitter=37.944744,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Dec  5 09:38 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666
Thu Dec  5 09:53:03 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   10   64  377   14.242   78.513  30.074
mintc=3, offset=78.512782, frequency=-214.937, sys_jitter=30.073729,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9 Dec  5 09:38 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-256.666

Our worst state is at 10:03, 30 minutes after the start up.  The real time frequency value is decreasing but not reflected to the file. This is an issue as an admin blindly restarting ntp after noticing crappy offsets will hit the same wall again.

The file gets updated after 1Hr, at 

Thu Dec  5 10:39:21 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   25   64  377   12.834   37.836   8.350
mintc=3, offset=37.835862, frequency=-88.963, sys_jitter=8.349705,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 Dec  5 10:39 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-88.963

The rate of convergence is getting quicker but we don't get back to a good state until nearly 3Hrs:

Thu Dec  5 12:20:02 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   28   64  377   12.979    0.287   0.693
mintc=3, offset=0.287015, frequency=-38.180, sys_jitter=0.693195,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 Dec  5 11:39 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-41.923

And the "normal" drift is reached around 4hrs after the restart.

Thu Dec  5 13:30:30 CET 2013
*145.238.203.14  .TS-3.           1 u   60   64  377   12.882    0.134   0.058
mintc=3, offset=0.134499, frequency=-37.307, sys_jitter=0.057602,
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 Dec  5 12:39 /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
-37.928

I am sure that a much faster convergence could be achieved with a little thought, even if it meant a little ringing.




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