Re: [PLUG] Re: ntp...how do I know it's working?

["Mark M. Hoffman" <mhoffman@lightlink.com>]

* Mike Chirico <mchirico@comcast.net> [2004-03-22 18:32:30 -0500]:

> Thank you.  There is a "reject" on my system using the "as" command, but
> I assume that's normal when authentication is disabled. Comparing your
> "frequency" and "stablility" with the values on my server leaves to
> wondering if something isn't working correctly.  It seems like I should
> have numbers here, but I'm still reading the documentation.
> 
> 
> ntpq> pe
>      remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset
> jitter
> ========================================================================
> ======
>  tock.usno.navy. 0.0.0.0         16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000
> 4000.00

You're right, it's not working.  A "*" in the first column means that the
client has decided to sync with that remote.  It will take some time to
get to that point... within 5 minutes or so.  E.g.

$ /usr/sbin/ntpq -pn

     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
*10.17.17.3      132.236.56.250   3 u  146  512  377    0.223    0.927   0.108

Also, the "reach" attribute (377) tells you that the remote has responded to
a client request successfully the last 8 times it tried. [1]  The zero in
your case indicates a problem, perhaps with network connectivity or maybe
your firewall.  Can you ping tock.usno.navy.mil (guessing the rest of the 
remote address from the chopped output above) ?  I can ping it from here.

If you specify multiple remotes, your client will still only sync on one of
them (at a time).  E.g.

$ /usr/sbin/ntpq -pn

     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
+128.4.40.12     128.4.40.10      2 u  433 1024  377   19.387   -2.408   1.430
+216.204.156.2   18.103.0.198     2 u  379 1024  377   51.334   -2.862   6.158
x128.59.59.177   128.59.39.48     2 u  374 1024  377  260.049  114.029  11.165
*132.236.56.250  192.5.41.209     2 u  230 1024  377   39.866   -2.086   1.155
x128.118.25.3    128.118.25.12    2 u  770 1024  377   52.560  149.626  10.798
-198.82.162.213  129.7.1.66       2 u  399 1024  377   26.832    0.381   0.113

In this case, the first two are "candidates", the 3rd and 5th are "false tickers",
and the 6th is an "outlyer".  Btw, all the remotes in the second example are real
public servers.  Try those as well.

Hope this helps; regards,

[1] Yeah, it's in octal.  Good choice, that.

-- 
Mark M. Hoffman
mhoffman@lightlink.com

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