[ntp:questions] no drift-file on 2008 R2 vps and the time diff. is getting bigger and bigger?

Joe Gwinn joegwinn at comcast.net
Sat Sep 13 22:29:27 UTC 2014


In article <541459FF.8000300 at gmx.at>, gooly <gooly at gmx.at> wrote:

> Am 13.09.2014 16:09, schrieb Joe Gwinn:
> > In article <5414139E.60103 at gmx.at>, gooly <gooly at gmx.at> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> I just installed ntp (Meinberg, once on Win7, once on a vps 2008 R2).
> >> On my Win 7 I see in C:\Program Files (x86)\NTP\etc the drift file
> >> but on the vps there is no drift-file?
> >>
> >> And after starting (and several restarts) the time-difference getting
> >> bigger and bigger.
> >> What's going wrong?
> >>
> >> Ntp is running, I can see it in the Task-Manager.
> >> The conf file (without comments):
> >>
> >>> restrict default nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
> >>> restrict 127.0.0.1
> >>> restrict -6 ::1
> >>>
> >>> driftfile "C:\Program Files (x86)\NTP\etc\ntp.drift"
> >>>
> >>>   server 0.de.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>>   server 1.de.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>>   server 2.de.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>>   server 1.nl.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>>   server 2.uk.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>
> >>>
> >>> # Use specific NTP servers
> >>> server 'ts2.aco.net' iburst
> >>> server 'ts1.univie.ac.at' iburst
> >>> server '0.at.pool.ntp.org' iburst
> >>> server '1.at.pool.ntp.org' iburst
> >>> server ntp1.m-online.net iburst
> >>> server ptbtime1.ptb.de iburst
> >>> server 0.de.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>> server 1.de.pool.ntp.org iburst
> >>> server ntps1-0.eecsit.tu-berlin.de iburst
> >>>
> >>> server time.fu-berlin.de iburst
> >>> server ntp.probe-networks.de iburst
> >>> server zeit.fu-berlin.de iburst
> >>>
> >>> # End of generated ntp.conf --- Please edit this to suite your needs
> >
> > If the NTP daemon is running yet the local clock drifts ~linearly, a
> > common cause is that the daemon does not have sufficient privilege to
> > adjust the local clock, and so the clock-adjust requests are being
> > silently ignored by the operating system kernel.
> >
> > Joe Gwinn
> 
> ok, but
> 1) I have tried the Windows user SYSTEM with the same result: no 
> time-change,
> 2) the time-user is the ntp-default user ntp which (I guess) by default 
> requires all the privileges it needs.

Never mind the details of how startup was supposedly achieved, one can
simply ask the operating system to tell the priority and scheduling
class under which the daemon is running.  (I don't recall the specific
command, but someone will chime in.)  This is the quickest way to
narrow the possibilities.


> And this would not explain why ntp.drift is not created?

As others have pointed out, if NTP is not succeeding, it need not
generate a drift file.


Joe Gwinn



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