FreeBSD Man Pages

ntpq(8)

NAME

     ntpq -- standard NTP query program

SYNOPSIS

     ntpq [-inp] [-c command] [host ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The ntpq utility is used to query NTP servers which implement the recom-
     mended NTP mode 6 control message format about current state and to
     request changes in that state.  The program may be run either in interac-
     tive mode or controlled using command line arguments.  Requests to read
     and write arbitrary variables can be assembled, with raw and pretty-
     printed output options being available.  The ntpq utility can also obtain
     and print a list of peers in a common format by sending multiple queries
     to the server.

     If one or more request options is included on the command line when ntpq
     is executed, each of the requests will be sent to the NTP servers running
     on each of the hosts given as command line arguments, or on localhost by
     default.  If no request options are given, ntpq will attempt to read com-
     mands from the standard input and execute these on the NTP server running
     on the first host given on the command line, again defaulting to local-
     host when no other host is specified.  The ntpq utility will prompt for
     commands if the standard input is a terminal device.

     The ntpq utility uses NTP mode 6 packets to communicate with the NTP
     server, and hence can be used to query any compatible server on the net-
     work which permits it.  Note that since NTP is a UDP protocol this commu-
     nication will be somewhat unreliable, especially over large distances in
     terms of network topology.  The ntpq utility makes one attempt to
     retransmit requests, and will time requests out if the remote host is not
     heard from within a suitable timeout time.

     For examples and usage, see the "NTP Debugging Techniques" page (avail-
     able as part of the HTML documentation provided in /usr/share/doc/ntp).

     The following options are available:

     -c      The following argument is interpreted as an interactive format
	     command and is added to the list of commands to be executed on
	     the specified host(s).  Multiple -c options may be given.

     -i      Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode.  Prompts will be writ-
	     ten to the standard output and commands read from the standard
	     input.

     -n      Output all host addresses in dotted-quad numeric format rather
	     than converting to the canonical host names.

     -p      Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a sum-
	     mary of their state.  This is equivalent to the peers interactive
	     command.

     Specifying a command line option other than -i or -n will cause the spec-
     ified query (queries) to be sent to the indicated host(s) immediately.
     Otherwise, ntpq will attempt to read interactive format commands from the
     standard input.
     entirely within the ntpq utility itself and do not result in NTP mode 6
     requests being sent to a server.  These are described following.

     ? [command_keyword]

     help [command_keyword]
	     A `?' by itself will print a list of all the command keywords
	     known to this incarnation of ntpq.  A `?' followed by a command
	     keyword will print function and usage information about the com-
	     mand.  This command is probably a better source of information
	     about ntpq than this manual page.

     addvars variable_name[=value ...]

     rmvars variable_name ...

     clearvars
	     The data carried by NTP mode 6 messages consists of a list of
	     items of the form `variable_name=value', where the `=value' is
	     ignored, and can be omitted, in requests to the server to read
	     variables.  The ntpq utility maintains an internal list in which
	     data to be included in control messages can be assembled, and
	     sent using the readlist and writelist commands described below.
	     The addvars command allows variables and their optional values to
	     be added to the list.  If more than one variable is to be added,
	     the list should be comma-separated and not contain white space.
	     The rmvars command can be used to remove individual variables
	     from the list, while the clearlist command removes all variables
	     from the list.

     authenticate yes | no
	     Normally ntpq does not authenticate requests unless they are
	     write requests.  The command `authenticate yes' causes ntpq to
	     send authentication with all requests it makes.  Authenticated
	     requests causes some servers to handle requests slightly differ-
	     ently, and can occasionally melt the CPU in fuzzballs if you turn
	     authentication on before doing a peer display.

     cooked  Causes output from query commands to be "cooked", so that vari-
	     ables which are recognized by ntpq will have their values refor-
	     matted for human consumption.  Variables which ntpq thinks should
	     have a decodable value but didn't are marked with a trailing `?'.

     debug more | less | off
	     Turns internal query program debugging on and off.

     delay milliseconds
	     Specify a time interval to be added to timestamps included in
	     requests which require authentication.  This is used to enable
	     (unreliable) server reconfiguration over long delay network paths
	     or between machines whose clocks are unsynchronized.  Actually
	     the server does not now require timestamps in authenticated
	     requests, so this command may be obsolete.

     host hostname
	     Set the host to which future queries will be sent.  Hostname may
	     be either a host name or a numeric address.

	     to authenticate configuration requests.  This must correspond to
	     a key number the server has been configured to use for this pur-
	     pose.

     ntpversion 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
	     Sets the NTP version number which ntpq claims in packets.
	     Defaults to 3, Note that mode 6 control messages (and modes, for
	     that matter) didn't exist in NTP version 1.  There appear to be
	     no servers left which demand version 1.

     quit    Exit ntpq.

     passwd  This command prompts you to type in a password (which will not be
	     echoed) which will be used to authenticate configuration
	     requests.	The password must correspond to the key configured for
	     use by the NTP server for this purpose if such requests are to be
	     successful.

     raw     Causes all output from query commands is printed as received from
	     the remote server.  The only formating/interpretation done on the
	     data is to transform nonascii data into a printable (but barely
	     understandable) form.

     timeout milliseconds
	     Specify a timeout period for responses to server queries.	The
	     default is about 5000 milliseconds.  Note that since ntpq retries
	     each query once after a timeout, the total waiting time for a
	     timeout will be twice the timeout value set.

   Control Message Commands
     Each peer known to an NTP server has a 16 bit integer association identi-
     fier assigned to it.  NTP control messages which carry peer variables
     must identify the peer the values correspond to by including its associa-
     tion ID.  An association ID of 0 is special, and indicates the variables
     are system variables, whose names are drawn from a separate name space.

     Control message commands result in one or more NTP mode 6 messages being
     sent to the server, and cause the data returned to be printed in some
     format.  Most commands currently implemented send a single message and
     expect a single response.	The current exceptions are the peers command,
     which will send a preprogrammed series of messages to obtain the data it
     needs, and the mreadlist and mreadvar commands, which will iterate over a
     range of associations.

     associations
	     Obtains and prints a list of association identifiers and peer
	     statuses for in-spec peers of the server being queried.  The list
	     is printed in columns.  The first of these is an index numbering
	     the associations from 1 for internal use, the second the actual
	     association identifier returned by the server and the third the
	     status word for the peer.	This is followed by a number of col-
	     umns containing data decoded from the status word.  See the peers
	     command for a decode of the `condition' field.  Note that the
	     data returned by the associations command is cached internally in
	     ntpq.  The index is then of use when dealing with stupid servers
	     which use association identifiers which are hard for humans to
	     type, in that for any subsequent commands which require an asso-
	     ciation identifier as an argument, the form of index may be used
	     fier is omitted or zero the request is for the variables of the
	     `system clock' and will generally get a positive response from
	     all servers with a clock.	If the server treats clocks as pseudo-
	     peers, and hence can possibly have more than one clock connected
	     at once, referencing the appropriate peer association ID will
	     show the variables of a particular clock.	Omitting the variable
	     list will cause the server to return a default variable display.

     lassociations
	     Obtains and prints a list of association identifiers and peer
	     statuses for all associations for which the server is maintaining
	     state.  This command differs from the associations command only
	     for servers which retain state for out-of-spec client associa-
	     tions (i.e., fuzzballs).  Such associations are normally omitted
	     from the display when the associations command is used, but are
	     included in the output of lassociations.

     lpassociations
	     Print data for all associations, including out-of-spec client
	     associations, from the internally cached list of associations.
	     This command differs from passociations only when dealing with
	     fuzzballs.

     lpeers  Like R peers, except a summary of all associations for which the
	     server is maintaining state is printed.  This can produce a much
	     longer list of peers from fuzzball servers.

     mreadlist assocID assocID

     mrl assocID assocID
	     Like the readlist command, except the query is done for each of a
	     range of (nonzero) association IDs.  This range is determined
	     from the association list cached by the most recent associations
	     command.

     mreadvar assocID assocID [variable_name[=value ...]]

     mrv assocID assocID [variable_name[=value ...]]
	     Like the readvar command, except the query is done for each of a
	     range of (nonzero) association IDs.  This range is determined
	     from the association list cached by the most recent associations
	     command.

     opeers  An old form of the peers command with the reference ID replaced
	     by the local interface address.

     passociations
	     Displays association data concerning in-spec peers from the
	     internally cached list of associations.  This command performs
	     identically to the associations except that it displays the
	     internally stored data rather than making a new query.

     peers   Obtains a current list peers of the server, along with a summary
	     of each peer's state.  Summary information includes the address
	     of the remote peer, the reference ID (0.0.0.0 if this is
	     unknown), the stratum of the remote peer, the type of the peer
	     (local, unicast, multicast or broadcast), when the last packet
	     was received, the polling interval, in seconds, the reachability
		     nized to this server (synch loop) or outrageous synchro-
		     nization distance.

	     x	     (falsetick) The peer is discarded by the intersection
		     algorithm as a falseticker.

	     .	     (excess) The peer is discarded as not among the first ten
		     peers sorted by synchronization distance and so is proba-
		     bly a poor candidate for further consideration.

	     -	     (outlyer) The peer is discarded by the clustering algo-
		     rithm as an outlyer.

	     +	     (candidate) The peer is a survivor and a candidate for
		     the combining algorithm.

	     #	     (selected) The peer 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.

	     *	     (peer) The peer has been declared the system peer and
		     lends its variables to the system variables.

	     o	     ((pps.peer)) The peer has been declared the system peer
		     and lends its variables to the system variables.  How-
		     ever, the actual system synchronization is derived from a
		     pulse-per-second (PPS) signal, either indirectly via the
		     PPS reference clock driver or directly via kernel inter-
		     face.

     The flash variable is a valuable debugging aid.  It displays the results
     of the original sanity checks defined in the NTP specification RFC-1305
     and additional ones added in NTP Version 4.  There are eleven tests
     called TEST1 through TEST11.  The tests are performed in a certain order
     designed to gain maximum diagnostic information while protecting against
     accidental or malicious errors.  The flash variable is first initialized
     to zero.  If after each set of tests one or more bits are set, the packet
     is discarded.

     Tests TEST4 and TEST5 check the access permissions and cryptographic mes-
     sage digest.  If any bits are set after that, the packet is discarded.
     Tests TEST10 and TEST11 check the authentication state using Autokey pub-
     lic-key cryptography, as described in the Authentication Options section
     of ntp.conf(5).  If any bits are set and the association has previously
     been marked reachable, the packet is discarded; otherwise, the originate
     and receive timestamps are saved, as required by the NTP protocol, and
     processing continues.

     Tests TEST1 through TEST3 check the packet timestamps from which the off-
     set and delay are calculated.  If any bits are set, the packet is dis-
     carded; otherwise, the packet header variables are saved.	Tests TEST6
     through TEST8 check the health of the server.  If any bits are set, the
     packet is discarded; otherwise, the offset and delay relative to the
     server are calculated and saved.  Test TEST9 checks the health of the
     association itself.  If any bits are set, the packet is discarded; other-
     wise, the saved variables are passed to the clock filter and mitigation
     algorithms.
	     sent.  This can happen when the NTP daemon is restarted and
	     before somebody else notices.

     TEST3   Unsynchronized.  One or more timestamp fields are invalid.  This
	     normally happens when the first packet from a peer is received.

     TEST4   Access is denied.	See the "Access Control" page.

     TEST5   Cryptographic authentication fails.  See the Authentication
	     Options section of ntp.conf(5).

     TEST6   The server is unsynchronized.  Wind up its clock first.

     TEST7   The server stratum is at the maximum than 15.  It is probably
	     unsynchronized and its clock needs to be wound up.

     TEST8   Either the root delay or dispersion is greater than one second,
	     which is highly unlikely unless the peer is synchronized to Mars.

     TEST9   Either the peer delay or dispersion is greater than one second,
	     which is highly unlikely unless the peer is on Mars.

     TEST10  The autokey protocol has detected an authentication failure.  See
	     the Authentication Options section of ntp.conf(5).

     TEST11  The autokey protocol has not verified the server or peer is
	     authentic and has valid public key credentials.  See the
	     Authentication Options section of ntp.conf(5).

     Additional system variables used by the NTP Version 4 Autokey support
     include the following:

     certificate filestamp
	     Shows the NTP seconds when the certificate file was created.

     hostname host
	     Shows the name of the host as returned by the Unix gethostname(3)
	     library function.

     flags hex
	     Shows the current flag bits, where the hex bits are interpreted
	     as follows:

	     0x01    autokey enabled

	     0x02    RSA public/private key files present

	     0x04    PKI certificate file present

	     0x08    Diffie-Hellman parameters file present

	     0x10    NIST leapseconds table file present

     leapseconds filestamp
	     Shows the NTP seconds when the NIST leapseconds table file was
	     created.

     params filestamp
	     Shows the NTP seconds when the public cryptographic values were
	     refreshed and signed.

     tai offset
	     Shows the TAI-UTC offset in seconds obtained from the NIST
	     leapseconds table.

     Additional peer variables used by the NTP Version 4 Autokey support
     include the following:

     certificate filestamp
	     Shows the NTP seconds when the certificate file was created.

     flags hex
	     Shows the current flag bits, where the hex bits are interpreted
	     as in the system variable of the same name.  The bits are set in
	     the first autokey message received from the server and then reset
	     as the associated data are obtained from the server and stored.

     hcookie hex
	     Shows the host cookie used in the key agreement algorithm.

     initkey key
	     Shows the initial key used by the key list generator in the
	     autokey protocol.

     initsequence index
	     Shows the initial index used by the key list generator in the
	     autokey protocol.

     pcookie hex
	     Specifies the peer cookie used in the key agreement algorithm.

     timestamp time
	     Shows the NTP seconds when the last autokey key list was gener-
	     ated and signed.

     pstatus assocID
	     Sends a read status request to the server for the given associa-
	     tion.  The names and values of the peer variables returned will
	     be printed.  Note that the status word from the header is dis-
	     played preceding the variables, both in hexadecimal and in pid-
	     geon English.

     readlist assocID

     rl assocID
	     Requests that the values of the variables in the internal vari-
	     able list be returned by the server.  If the association ID is
	     omitted or is 0 the variables are assumed to be system variables.
	     Otherwise they are treated as peer variables.  If the internal
	     variable list is empty a request is sent without data, which
	     should induce the remote server to return a default display.

     readvar assocID variable_name[=value] ...

     rv assocID variable_name[=value] ...
	     Requests that the values of the specified variables be returned
	     Like the readvar request, except the specified variables are
	     written instead of read.

     writelist [assocID]
	     Like the readlist request, except the internal list variables are
	     written instead of read.

SEE ALSO

     ntp.conf(5), ntpd(8), ntpdc(8)

BUGS

     The peers command is non-atomic and may occasionally result in spurious
     error messages about invalid associations occurring and terminating the
     command.  The timeout time is a fixed constant, which means you wait a
     long time for timeouts since it assumes sort of a worst case.  The pro-
     gram should improve the timeout estimate as it sends queries to a partic-
     ular host, but doesn't.

FreeBSD 5.4			January 7, 2000 		   FreeBSD 5.4

SPONSORED LINKS