The ntpq utility program is used to
monitor the operational status
and determine the performance of
ntpd, the NTP daemon.
This document applies to version 4.2.8p17 of ntpq.
The ntpq utility program is used to monitor NTP daemon ntpd operations and determine performance.
It uses the standard NTP mode 6 control message formats defined in
Appendix B of the NTPv3 specification RFC1305.
The same formats are used in NTPv4, although some of the variable names have changed and new ones added.
The description on this page is for the NTPv4 variables.
The program can be run either in interactive 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 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 commands from the standard input and execute these on the NTP server running on the first host given on the command line, again defaulting to localhost when no other host is specified. ntpq will prompt for commands if the standard input is a terminal device.
ntpq uses NTP mode 6 packets to communicate with the NTP server, and hence can be used to query any compatible server on the network which permits it. Note that since NTP is a UDP protocol this communication will be somewhat unreliable, especially over large distances in terms of network topology. ntpq makes one attempt to retransmit requests, and will time requests out if the remote host is not heard from within a suitable timeout time.
Note that in contexts where a host name is expected, a -4 qualifier preceding the host name forces DNS resolution to the IPv4 namespace, while a -6 qualifier forces DNS resolution to the IPv6 namespace.
For examples and usage, see the NTP Debugging Techniques page.
The
ntpq
utility program is used to query NTP servers to monitor NTP operations
and performance, requesting
information about current state and/or changes in that state.
The program may be run either in interactive 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 commands from the
standard input and execute these on the NTP server running on the
first host given on the command line, again defaulting to localhost
when no other host is specified.
The
ntpq
utility will prompt for
commands if the standard input is a terminal device.
ntpq
uses NTP mode 6 packets to communicate with the
NTP server, and hence can be used to query any compatible server on
the network which permits it.
Note that since NTP is a UDP protocol
this communication 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.
Note that in contexts where a host name is expected, a
-4
qualifier preceding the host name forces resolution to the IPv4
namespace, while a
-6
qualifier forces resolution to the IPv6 namespace.
For examples and usage, see the
“NTP Debugging Techniques”
page.
Specifying a
command line option other than
-i
or
-n
will
cause the specified query (queries) to be sent to the indicated
host(s) immediately.
Otherwise,
ntpq
will attempt to read
interactive format commands from the standard input.
Interactive format commands consist of a keyword followed by zero to four arguments. Only enough characters of the full keyword to uniquely identify the command need be typed.
A
number of interactive format commands are executed entirely within
the
ntpq
utility itself and do not result in NTP
requests being sent to a server.
These are described following.
? [command]help [command]A
‘?’
by itself will print a list of all the commands
known to
ntpq
A
‘?’
followed by a command name will print function and usage
information about the command.
addvars name[=value][,...]rmvars name[,...]clearvarsshowvarsThe arguments to this command consist of a list of
items of the form
name[=value],
where the
.No = Ns Ar 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
messages can be assembled, and displayed or set 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
clearvars
command removes all variables from the
list.
The
showvars
command displays the current list of optional variables.
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 differently.
The command
authenticate
causes
ntpq
to display whether or not
it is currently authenticating requests.
cookedCauses output from query commands to be "cooked", so that
variables which are recognized by
ntpq
will have their
values reformatted for human consumption.
Variables which
ntpq
could not decode completely are
marked with a trailing
‘?’.
debug [more|less|off]With no argument, displays the current debug level. Otherwise, the debugging level is changed as indicated.
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. Without any arguments, displays the current delay.
drefid [hash|ipv4]Display refids as IPv4 or hash. Without any arguments, displays whether refids are shown as IPv4 addresses or hashes.
exitExit
ntpq
host [name]Set the host to which future queries will be sent. The name may be either a host name or a numeric address. Without any arguments, displays the current host.
hostnames [yes|no]If
yes
is specified, host names are printed in
information displays.
If
no
is specified, numeric
addresses are printed instead.
The default is
yes,
unless
modified using the command line
-n
switch.
Without any arguments, displays whether host names or numeric addresses
are shown.
keyid [keyid]This command allows the specification of a key number to be
used to authenticate configuration requests.
This must correspond
to the
controlkey
key number the server has been configured to use for this
purpose.
Without any arguments, displays the current
keyid.
keytype [digest]Specify the digest algorithm to use for authenticating requests, with default
MD5.
If
ntpq
was built with OpenSSL support, and OpenSSL is installed,
digest
can be any message digest algorithm supported by OpenSSL.
If no argument is given, the current
keytype digest
algorithm used is displayed.
ntpversion [1|2|3|4]Sets the NTP version number which
ntpq
claims in
packets.
Defaults to 3, and 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.
With no argument, displays the current NTP version that will be used
when communicating with servers.
passwdThis 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.
poll [n] [verbose]Poll an NTP server in client mode n times. Poll not implemented yet.
quitExit
ntpq
rawCauses 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.
Without any arguments, displays the current timeout period.
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.
versionDisplay the version of the
ntpq
program.
Association ids are used to identify system, peer and clock variables.
System variables are assigned an association id of zero and system name
space, while each association is assigned a nonzero association id and
peer namespace.
Most control commands send a single message to the server and expect a
single response message.
The exceptions are the
peers
command, which sends a series of messages,
and the
mreadlist
and
mreadvar
commands, which iterate over a range of associations.
apeersDisplay a list of peers in the form:
[tally]remote refid assid st t when pool reach delay offset jitter
where the output is just like the
peers
command except that the
refid
is displayed in hex format and the association number is also displayed.
associationsDisplay a list of mobilized associations in the form:
ind assid status conf reach auth condition last_event cnt
ind Ta index on this listassid Ta association idstatus Ta peer status wordconf Ta yes: No persistent, no: No ephemeralreach Ta yes: No reachable, no: No unreachableauth Ta ok, yes, bad No and nonecondition Ta selection status (see the select No field of the peer status word)last_event Ta event report (see the event No field of the peer status word)cnt Ta event count (see the count No field of the peer status word)authinfoDisplay the authentication statistics counters: time since reset, stored keys, free keys, key lookups, keys not found, uncached keys, expired keys, encryptions, decryptions.
clocklist [associd]cl [associd]Display all clock variables in the variable list for those associations supporting a reference clock.
clockvar [associd] [name[=value]][,...]cv [associd] [name[=value]][,...]Display a list of clock variables for those associations supporting a reference clock.
:config configuration command lineSend the remainder of the command line, including whitespace, to the server as a run-time configuration command in the same format as a line in the configuration file. This command is experimental until further notice and clarification. Authentication is of course required.
config-from-file filenameSend each line of filename to the server as run-time configuration commands in the same format as lines in the configuration file. This command is experimental until further notice and clarification. Authentication is required.
ifstatsDisplay status and statistics counters for each local network interface address: interface number, interface name and address or broadcast, drop, flag, ttl, mc, received, sent, send failed, peers, uptime. Authentication is required.
iostatsDisplay network and reference clock I/O statistics: time since reset, receive buffers, free receive buffers, used receive buffers, low water refills, dropped packets, ignored packets, received packets, packets sent, packet send failures, input wakeups, useful input wakeups.
kerninfoDisplay kernel loop and PPS statistics: associd, status, pll offset, pll frequency, maximum error, estimated error, kernel status, pll time constant, precision, frequency tolerance, pps frequency, pps stability, pps jitter, calibration interval, calibration cycles, jitter exceeded, stability exceeded, calibration errors. As with other ntpq output, times are in milliseconds; very small values may be shown as exponentials. The precision value displayed is in milliseconds as well, unlike the precision system variable.
lassociationsPerform the same function as the associations command, except display mobilized and unmobilized associations, including all clients.
lopeers [-4|-6]Display a list of all peers and clients showing
dstadr
(associated with the given IP version).
lpassociationsDisplay the last obtained list of associations, including all clients.
lpeers [-4|-6]Display a list of all peers and clients (associated with the given IP version).
monstatsDisplay monitor facility status, statistics, and limits: enabled, addresses, peak addresses, maximum addresses, reclaim above count, reclaim older than, kilobytes, maximum kilobytes.
mreadlist associdlo associdhimrl associdlo associdhiPerform the same function as the
readlist
command for a range of association ids.
mreadvar associdlo associdhi [name][,...]This range may be determined from the list displayed by any command showing associations.
mrv associdlo associdhi [name][,...]Perform the same function as the
readvar
command for a range of association ids.
This range may be determined from the list displayed by any
command showing associations.
mrulist [limited | kod | mincount=count | laddr=localaddr | sort=[-]sortorder | resany=hexmask | resall=hexmask]Display traffic counts of the most recently seen source addresses
collected and maintained by the monitor facility.
With the exception of
sort=[-]sortorder,
the options filter the list returned by
ntpd(8).
The
limited
and
kod
options return only entries representing client addresses from which the
last packet received triggered either discarding or a KoD response.
The
mincount=count
option filters entries representing less than
count
packets.
The
laddr=localaddr
option filters entries for packets received on any local address other than
localaddr.
resany=hexmask
and
resall=hexmask
filter entries containing none or less than all, respectively, of the bits in
hexmask,
which must begin with
0x.
The
sortorder
defaults to
lstint
and may be
addr,
avgint,
count,
lstint,
or any of those preceded by
‘-’
to reverse the sort order.
The output columns are:
Description
lstintInterval in seconds between the receipt of the most recent packet from
this address and the completion of the retrieval of the MRU list by
ntpq
avgintAverage interval in s between packets from this address.
rstrRestriction flags associated with this address.
Most are copied unchanged from the matching
restrict
command, however 0x400 (kod) and 0x20 (limited) flags are cleared unless
the last packet from this address triggered a rate control response.
rRate control indicator, either
a period,
L
or
K
for no rate control response,
rate limiting by discarding, or rate limiting with a KoD response, respectively.
mPacket mode.
vPacket version number.
countPackets received from this address.
rportSource port of last packet from this address.
remote addresshost or DNS name, numeric address, or address followed by claimed DNS name which could not be verified in parentheses.
opeers [-4 | -6]Obtain and print the old-style list of all peers and clients showing
dstadr
(associated with the given IP version),
rather than the
refid.
passociationsPerform the same function as the
associations
command,
except that it uses previously stored data rather than making a new query.
peersDisplay a list of peers in the form:
[tally]remote refid st t when pool reach delay offset jitter
Description
[tally]single-character code indicating current value of the
select
field of the
.Lk decode.html#peer "peer status word"
remotehost name (or IP number) of peer.
The value displayed will be truncated to 15 characters unless the
ntpq
-w
option is given, in which case the full value will be displayed
on the first line, and if too long,
the remaining data will be displayed on the next line.
refidsource IP address or .Lk decode.html#kiss "’kiss code"
ststratum: 0 for local reference clocks, 1 for servers with local reference clocks, ..., 16 for unsynchronized server clocks
tu:
unicast or manycast client,
b:
broadcast or multicast client,
p:
pool source,
l:
local (reference clock),
s:
symmetric (peer),
A:
manycast server,
B:
broadcast server,
M:
multicast server
whentime in seconds, minutes, hours, or days since the last packet was received, or ‘-’ if a packet has never been received
pollpoll interval (s)
reachreach shift register (octal)
delayroundtrip delay
offsetoffset of server relative to this host
jitteroffset RMS error estimate.
pstats associdDisplay the statistics for the peer with the given associd: associd, status, remote host, local address, time last received, time until next send, reachability change, packets sent, packets received, bad authentication, bogus origin, duplicate, bad dispersion, bad reference time, candidate order.
readlist [associd]rl [associd]Display all system or peer variables. If the associd is omitted, it is assumed to be zero.
readvar [associd name[=value] [, ...]]rv [associd name[=value] [, ...]]Display the specified system or peer variables. If associd is zero, the variables are from the System Variables name space, otherwise they are from the Peer Variables name space. The associd is required, as the same name can occur in both spaces. If no name is included, all operative variables in the name space are displayed. In this case only, if the associd is omitted, it is assumed to be zero. Multiple names are specified with comma separators and without whitespace. Note that time values are represented in milliseconds and frequency values in parts-per-million (PPM). Some NTP timestamps are represented in the format YYYYMM DD TTTT, where YYYY is the year, MM the month of year, DD the day of month and TTTT the time of day.
reslistDisplay the access control (restrict) list for
ntpq
Authentication is required.
saveconfig filenameSave the current configuration,
including any runtime modifications made by
:config
or
config-from-file,
to the NTP server host file
filename.
This command will be rejected by the server unless
.Lk miscopt.html#saveconfigdir "saveconfigdir"
appears in the
ntpd(8)
configuration file.
filename
can use
date(1)
format specifiers to substitute the current date and time, for
example,
saveconfig ntp-%Y%m%d-%H%M%S.conf.
The filename used is stored in system variable
savedconfig.
Authentication is required.
sysinfoDisplay system operational summary: associd, status, system peer, system peer mode, leap indicator, stratum, log2 precision, root delay, root dispersion, reference id, reference time, system jitter, clock jitter, clock wander, broadcast delay, symm. auth. delay.
sysstatsDisplay system uptime and packet counts maintained in the protocol module: uptime, sysstats reset, packets received, current version, older version, bad length or format, authentication failed, declined, restricted, rate limited, KoD responses, processed for time.
timerstatsDisplay interval timer counters: time since reset, timer overruns, calls to transmit.
writelist associdSet all system or peer variables included in the variable list.
writevar associd name=value [, ...]Set the specified variables in the variable list. If the associd is zero, the variables are from the System Variables name space, otherwise they are from the Peer Variables name space. The associd is required, as the same name can occur in both spaces. Authentication is required.
The current state of the operating program is shown
in a set of status words
maintained by the system.
Status information is also available on a per-association basis.
These words are displayed by the
readlist
and
associations
commands both in hexadecimal and in decoded short tip strings.
The codes, tips and short explanations are documented on the
.Lk decode.html "Event Messages and Status Words"
page.
The page also includes a list of system and peer messages,
the code for the latest of which is included in the status word.
Information resulting from protocol machine state transitions is displayed using an informal set of ASCII strings called .Lk decode.html#kiss "kiss codes" . The original purpose was for kiss-o’-death (KoD) packets sent by the server to advise the client of an unusual condition. They are now displayed, when appropriate, in the reference identifier field in various billboards.
The following system variables appear in the
readlist
billboard.
Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
Description
status.Lk decode.html#sys "system status word"
versionNTP software version and build time
processorhardware platform and version
systemoperating system and version
leapleap warning indicator (0-3)
stratumstratum (1-15)
precisionprecision (log2 s)
rootdelaytotal roundtrip delay to the primary reference clock
rootdisptotal dispersion to the primary reference clock
refidreference id or .Lk decode.html#kiss "kiss code"
reftimereference time
clockdate and time of day
peersystem peer association id
tctime constant and poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)
mintcminimum time constant (log2 s) (3-10)
offsetcombined offset of server relative to this host
frequencyfrequency drift (PPM) relative to hardware clock
sys_jittercombined system jitter
clk_wanderclock frequency wander (PPM)
clk_jitterclock jitter
taiTAI-UTC offset (s)
leapsecNTP seconds when the next leap second is/was inserted
expireNTP seconds when the NIST leapseconds file expires
The jitter and wander statistics are exponentially-weighted RMS averages. The system jitter is defined in the NTPv4 specification; the clock jitter statistic is computed by the clock discipline module.
When the NTPv4 daemon is compiled with the OpenSSL software library, additional system variables are displayed, including some or all of the following, depending on the particular Autokey dance:
Description
hostAutokey host name for this host
identAutokey group name for this host
flagshost flags (see Autokey specification)
digestOpenSSL message digest algorithm
signatureOpenSSL digest/signature scheme
updateNTP seconds at last signature update
certcertificate subject, issuer and certificate flags
untilNTP seconds when the certificate expires
The following peer variables appear in the
readlist
billboard for each association.
Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
Description
associdassociation id
status.Lk decode.html#peer "peer status word"
srcadrsource (remote) IP address
srcportsource (remote) port
dstadrdestination (local) IP address
dstportdestination (local) port
leapleap indicator (0-3)
stratumstratum (0-15)
precisionprecision (log2 s)
rootdelaytotal roundtrip delay to the primary reference clock
rootdisptotal root dispersion to the primary reference clock
refidreference id or .Lk decode.html#kiss "kiss code"
reftimereference time
reclast packet received time
reachreach register (octal)
unreachunreach counter
hmodehost mode (1-6)
pmodepeer mode (1-5)
hpollhost poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)
ppollpeer poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)
headwayheadway (see .Lk rate.html "Rate Management and the Kiss-o’-Death Packet" )
flash.Lk decode.html#flash "flash status word"
keyidsymmetric key id
offsetfilter offset
delayfilter delay
dispersionfilter dispersion
jitterfilter jitter
biasunicast/broadcast bias
xleaveinterleave delay (see .Lk xleave.html "NTP Interleaved Modes" )
The
bias
variable is calculated when the first broadcast packet is received
after the calibration volley.
It represents the offset of the broadcast subgraph relative to the
unicast subgraph.
The
xleave
variable appears only for the interleaved symmetric and interleaved modes.
It represents the internal queuing, buffering and transmission delays
for the preceding packet.
When the NTPv4 daemon is compiled with the OpenSSL software library, additional peer variables are displayed, including the following:
Description
flagspeer flags (see Autokey specification)
hostAutokey server name
flagspeer flags (see Autokey specification)
signatureOpenSSL digest/signature scheme
initsequenceinitial key id
initkeyinitial key index
timestampAutokey signature timestamp
identAutokey group name for this association
The following clock variables appear in the
clocklist
billboard for each association with a reference clock.
Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
Description
associdassociation id
status.Lk decode.html#clock "clock status word"
devicedevice description
timecodeASCII time code string (specific to device)
pollpoll messages sent
noreplyno reply
badformatbad format
baddatabad date or time
fudgetime1fudge time 1
fudgetime2fudge time 2
stratumdriver stratum
refiddriver reference id
flagsdriver flags
This section was generated by AutoGen,
using the agtexi-cmd template and the option descriptions for the ntpq program.
This software is released under the NTP license, <http://ntp.org/license>.
This is the automatically generated usage text for ntpq.
The text printed is the same whether selected with the help option
(--help) or the more-help option (--more-help). more-help will print
the usage text by passing it through a pager program.
more-help is disabled on platforms without a working
fork(2) function. The PAGER environment variable is
used to select the program, defaulting to more. Both will exit
with a status code of 0.
ntpq - standard NTP query program - Ver. 4.2.8p17
Usage: ntpq [ -<flag> [<val>] | --<name>[{=| }<val>] ]... [ host ...]
Flg Arg Option-Name Description
-4 no ipv4 Force IPv4 name resolution
- prohibits the option 'ipv6'
-6 no ipv6 Force IPv6 name resolution
- prohibits the option 'ipv4'
-c Str command run a command and exit
- may appear multiple times
-d no debug-level Increase debug verbosity level
- may appear multiple times
-D Num set-debug-level Set the debug verbosity level
- may appear multiple times
-i no interactive Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode
- prohibits these options:
command
peers
-n no numeric numeric host addresses
no old-rv Always output status line with readvar
-p no peers Print a list of the peers
- prohibits the option 'interactive'
-r KWd refid Set default display type for S2+ refids
-u no unconnected Use unconnected UDP to communicate with ntpd (default on Windows)
-w no wide Display the full 'remote' value
opt version output version information and exit
-? no help display extended usage information and exit
-! no more-help extended usage information passed thru pager
-> opt save-opts save the option state to a config file
-< Str load-opts load options from a config file
- disabled as '--no-load-opts'
- may appear multiple times
Options are specified by doubled hyphens and their name or by a single
hyphen and the flag character.
The following option preset mechanisms are supported:
- reading file $HOME/.ntprc
- reading file ./.ntprc
- examining environment variables named NTPQ_*
The valid "refid" option keywords are:
hash ipv4
or an integer from 0 through 1
Please send bug reports to: <https://bugs.ntp.org, bugs@ntp.org>
This is the “force ipv4 name resolution” option.
This option has some usage constraints. It:
Force resolution of following host names on the command line to the IPv4 namespace.
This is the “force ipv6 name resolution” option.
This option has some usage constraints. It:
Force resolution of following host names on the command line to the IPv6 namespace.
This is the “run a command and exit” option. This option takes a string argument cmd.
This option has some usage constraints. It:
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).
This is the “force ntpq to operate in interactive mode” option.
This option has some usage constraints. It:
Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode.
Prompts will be written to the standard output and
commands read from the standard input.
This is the “numeric host addresses” option. Output all host addresses in dotted-quad numeric format rather than converting to the canonical host names.
This is the “always output status line with readvar” option.
By default, ntpq now suppresses the associd=...
line that precedes the output of readvar
(alias rv) when a single variable is requested, such as
ntpq -c "rv 0 offset".
This option causes ntpq to include both lines of output
for a single-variable readvar.
Using an environment variable to
preset this option in a script will enable both older and
newer ntpq to behave identically in this regard.
This is the “print a list of the peers” option.
This option has some usage constraints. It:
Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a summary of their state. This is equivalent to the ’peers’ interactive command.
This is the “set default display type for s2+ refids” option. This option takes a keyword argument.
This option has some usage constraints. It:
hash ipv4
or their numeric equivalent.
Set the default display format for S2+ refids.
This is the “use unconnected udp to communicate with ntpd (default on windows)” option. Open an unconnected UDP association to ntpd (the default on Windows).
This is the “display the full ’remote’ value” option. Display the full value of the ’remote’ value. If this requires more than 15 characters, display the full value, emit a newline, and continue the data display properly indented on the next line.
Any option that is not marked as not presettable may be preset by
loading values from configuration ("rc" or "ini") files, and values from environment variables named NTPQ and NTPQ_<OPTION_NAME>. <OPTION_NAME> must be one of
the options listed above in upper case and segmented with underscores.
The NTPQ variable will be tokenized and parsed like
the command line. The remaining variables are tested for existence and their
values are treated like option arguments.
libopts will search in 2 places for configuration files:
The environment variables HOME, and PWD
are expanded and replaced when ntpq runs.
For any of these that are plain files, they are simply processed.
For any that are directories, then a file named .ntprc is searched for
within that directory and processed.
Configuration files may be in a wide variety of formats. The basic format is an option name followed by a value (argument) on the same line. Values may be separated from the option name with a colon, equal sign or simply white space. Values may be continued across multiple lines by escaping the newline with a backslash.
Multiple programs may also share the same initialization file. Common options are collected at the top, followed by program specific segments. The segments are separated by lines like:
[NTPQ]
or by
<?program ntpq>
Do not mix these styles within one configuration file.
Compound values and carefully constructed string values may also be specified using XML syntax:
<option-name> <sub-opt>...<...>...</sub-opt> </option-name>
yielding an option-name.sub-opt string value of
"...<...>..."
AutoOpts does not track suboptions. You simply note that it is a
hierarchicly valued option. AutoOpts does provide a means for searching
the associated name/value pair list (see: optionFindValue).
The command line options relating to configuration and/or usage help are:
Print the program version to standard out, optionally with licensing information, then exit 0. The optional argument specifies how much licensing detail to provide. The default is to print just the version. The licensing information may be selected with an option argument. Only the first letter of the argument is examined:
Only print the version. This is the default.
Name the copyright usage licensing terms.
Print the full copyright usage licensing terms.
One of the following exit values will be returned:
Successful program execution.
The operation failed or the command syntax was not valid.
A specified configuration file could not be loaded.
libopts had an internal operational error. Please report it to autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net. Thank you.
| What | Default | Flag | Option |
|---|---|---|---|
| configuration file | /etc/ntp.conf | -c | conffile |
| frequency file | none | -f | driftfile |
| leapseconds file | none | leapfile | |
| process ID file | none | -p | pidfile |
| log file | system log | -l | logfile |
| include file | none | none | includefile |
| statistics path | /var/NTP | -s | statsdir |
| keys path | /usr/local/etc | -k | keysdir |
Interactive format commands consist of a keyword followed by zero to four arguments. Only enough characters of the full keyword to uniquely identify the command need be typed. The output of a command is normally sent to the standard output, but optionally the output of individual commands may be sent to a file by appending a >, followed by a file name, to the command line. A number of interactive format commands are executed entirely within the ntpq program 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 ntpq. A ? followed by a command keyword will print function and usage information about the command.
>addvars name [ = value] [...]rmvars name [...]clearvars</dt>The arguments to these commands consist of a list of items of the form
name = value, where the = value is ignored,
and can be omitted in read requests.
ntpq 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 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.
cookedDisplay server messages in prettyprint format.
debug more | less | offTurns internal query program debugging on and off.
delay millisecondsSpecify 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 nameSet the host to which future queries will be sent. The name may be either a DNS name or a numeric address.
hostnames [yes | no]If yes is specified, host names are printed in information displays.
If no is specified, numeric addresses are printed instead.
The default is yes,
unless modified using the command line -n switch.
keyid keyidThis command specifies the key number to be used
to authenticate configuration requests.
This must correspond to a key ID configured in ntp.conf for this purpose.
keytypeSpecify the digest algorithm to use for authenticated requests,
with default MD5.
If the OpenSSL library is installed,
digest can be be any message digest algorithm supported by the library.
The current selections are: AES128CMAC, MD2, MD4, MD5, MDC2, RIPEMD160, SHA and SHA1.
ntpversion 1 | 2 | 3 | 4Sets the NTP version number which ntpq claims in packets.
Defaults to 2.
Note that mode-6 control messages (and modes, for that matter)
didn’t exist in NTP version 1.
passwdThis command prompts for a password to authenticate requests.
The password must correspond to the key ID configured in ntp.conf for this purpose.
quitExit ntpq.
rawDisplay server messages as received and without reformatting.
timeout millisecondsSpecify 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.
Association IDs are used to identify system, peer and clock variables.
System variables are assigned an association ID of zero and system name space,
while each association is assigned a nonzero association ID and peer namespace.
Most control commands send a single mode-6 message to the server
and expect a single response message.
The exceptions are the peers command,
which sends a series of messages,
and the mreadlist and mreadvar commands,
which iterate over a range of associations.
associationsDisplay a list of mobilized associations in the form:
ind assid status conf reach auth condition last_event cnt
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
ind | index on this list |
assid | association ID |
status | peer status word |
conf | yes: persistent, no: ephemeral |
reach | yes: reachable, no: unreachable |
auth | ok, yes, bad and none |
condition | selection status (see the select field of the peer status word) |
last_event | event report (see the event field of the peer status word) |
cnt
event count (see the count field of the peer status word) |
clockvar assocID [name [ = value [...]] [...]]cv assocID [name [ = value [...] ][...]]Display a list of ‘clock variables’ for those associations supporting a reference clock.
:config [...]Send the remainder of the command line, including whitespace, to the server as a run-time configuration command in the same format as the configuration file. This command is experimental until further notice and clarification. Authentication is of course required.
config-from-file filenameSend the each line of filename to the server as run-time configuration commands in the same format as the configuration file. This command is experimental until further notice and clarification. Authentication is required.
ifstatsDisplay statistics for each local network address. Authentication is required.
iostatsDisplay network and reference clock I/O statistics.
kerninfoDisplay kernel loop and PPS statistics. As with other ntpq output, times are in milliseconds. The precision value displayed is in milliseconds as well, unlike the precision system variable.
lassociationsPerform the same function as the associations command, except display mobilized and unmobilized associations.
monstatsDisplay monitor facility statistics.
mrulist [limited | kod | mincount=count | laddr=localaddr | sort=sortorder | resany=hexmask | resall=hexmask]Obtain and print traffic counts collected and maintained by
the monitor facility.
With the exception of sort=sortorder,
the options filter the list returned by ntpd.
The limited and kod options return only entries
representing client addresses from which the last packet received
triggered either discarding or a KoD response.
The mincount=count option filters entries representing
less than count packets.
The laddr=localaddr option filters entries for packets
received on any local address other than localaddr.
resany=hexmask and resall=hexmask
filter entries containing none or less than all, respectively,
of the bits in hexmask, which must begin with 0x.
The sortorder defaults to lstint and may be any of
addr, count, avgint, lstint, or
any of those preceded by a minus sign (hyphen) to reverse the sort order.
The output columns are:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
lstint | Interval in s between the receipt of the most recent packet from this
address and the completion of the retrieval of the MRU list by ntpq |
avgint | Average interval in s between packets from this address. |
rstr | Restriction flags associated with this address.
Most are copied unchanged from the matching restrict command,
however 0x400 (kod) and 0x20 (limited) flags are cleared unless
the last packet from this address triggered a rate control response. |
r | Rate control indicator, either a period, L or K for
no rate control response, rate limiting by discarding, or
rate limiting with a KoD response, respectively. |
m | Packet mode. |
v | Packet version number. |
count | Packets received from this address. |
rport | Source port of last packet from this address. |
remote address | DNS name, numeric address, or address followed by claimed DNS name which could not be verified in parentheses. |
mreadvar assocID assocID [ variable_name [ = value[ ... ]mrv assocID assocID [ variable_name [ = value[ ... ]Perform the same function as the readvar command,
except for a range of association IDs.
This range is determined from the association list cached by
the most recent associations command.
passociationsPerform the same function as the associations command, except that
it uses previously stored data rather than making a new query.
peersDisplay a list of peers in the form:
[tally]remote refid st t when pool reach delay offset jitter
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
[tally] | single-character code indicating current value of the select field
of the peer status word. |
remote | host name (or IP number) of peer |
refid | association ID or kiss code. |
st | stratum |
t | u: unicast or manycast client,
b: broadcast or multicast client,
l: local (reference clock),
s: symmetric (peer),
A: manycast server,
B: broadcast server,
M: multicast server. |
when | sec/min/hr since last received packet |
poll | poll interval (log(2) s) |
reach | reach shift register (octal) |
delay | roundtrip delay |
offset | offset of server relative to this host |
jitter | jitter |
readvar assocID name [ = value ] [,...]rv assocID [ name ] [,...]Display the specified variables.
If assocID is zero,
the variables are from the ‘system variables’ name space,
otherwise they are from the ‘peer variables’ name space.
The assocID is required, as the same name can occur in both spaces.
If no name is included,
all operative variables in the name space are displayed.
In this case only, if the assocID is omitted, it is assumed zero.
Multiple names are specified with comma separators and without whitespace.
Note that time values are represented in milliseconds and
frequency values in parts-per-million (PPM).
Some NTP timestamps are represented in the format YYYYMMDDTTTT,
where YYYY is the year, MM the month of year, DD the day of month and
TTTT the time of day.
saveconfig filenameWrite the current configuration, including any runtime modifications
given with :config or config-from-file,
to the ntpd host’s file filename.
This command will be rejected by the server unless
saveconfigdir
appears in the ntpd configuration file.
filename can use strftime() format specifiers
to substitute the current date and time, for example,
saveconfig ntp-%Y%m%d-%H%M%S.conf.
The filename used is stored in system variable savedconfig.
Authentication is required.
writevar assocID name = value [,...]Write the specified variables.
If the assocID is zero, the variables are from the
‘system variables’ name space, otherwise they are from the
‘peer variables’ name space.
The assocID is required,
as the same name can occur in both spaces.
sysinfoDisplay operational summary.
sysstatsPrint statistics counters maintained in the protocol module.
The current state of the operating program is shown
in a set of status words maintained by the system
and each association separately.
These words are displayed in the rv and as commands
both in hexadecimal and decoded short tip strings.
The codes, tips and short explanations are on the
Event Messages and Status Words page.
The page also includes a list of system and peer messages,
the code for the latest of which is included in the status word.
Information resulting from protocol machine state transitions is displayed using an informal set of ASCII strings called kiss codes. The original purpose was for kiss-o’-death (KoD) packets sent by the server to advise the client of an unusual condition. They are now displayed, when appropriate, in the reference identifier field in various billboards.
The following system variables appear in the rv billboard.
Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
status | system status word |
version | NTP software version and build time |
processor | hardware platform and version |
system | operating system and version |
leap | leap warning indicator (0-3) |
stratum | stratum (1-15) |
precision | precision (log(2) s) |
rootdelay | total roundtrip delay to the primary reference clock |
rootdisp | total dispersion to the primary reference clock |
peer | system peer association ID |
tc
time constant and poll exponent (log(2) s) (3-17) | |
mintc
minimum time constant (log(2) s) (3-10) | |
clock | date and time of day |
refid
reference ID or kiss code | |
reftime | reference time |
offset | combined offset of server relative to this host |
sys_jitter | combined system jitter |
frequency | frequency offset (PPM) relative to hardware clock |
clk_wander | clock frequency wander (PPM) |
clk_jitter | clock jitter |
tai | TAI-UTC offset (s) |
leapsec | NTP seconds when the next leap second is/was inserted |
expire | NTP seconds when the NIST leapseconds file expires |
The jitter and wander statistics are exponentially-weighted RMS averages. The system jitter is defined in the NTPv4 specification; the clock jitter statistic is computed by the clock discipline module.
When the NTPv4 daemon is compiled with the OpenSSL software library, additional system variables are displayed, including some or all of the following, depending on the particular Autokey dance:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
host | Autokey host name for this host |
ident | Autokey group name for this host |
flags | host flags (see Autokey specification) |
digest | OpenSSL message digest algorithm |
signature | OpenSSL digest/signature scheme |
update | NTP seconds at last signature update |
cert | certificate subject, issuer and certificate flags |
until | NTP seconds when the certificate expires |
The following peer variables appear in the rv billboard
for each association.
Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
associd | association ID |
status | peer status word |
srcadr | source (remote) IP address and port |
dstadr | destination (local) IP address and port |
leap | leap indicator (0-3) |
stratum | stratum (0-15) |
precision | precision (log(2) s) |
rootdelay | total roundtrip delay to the primary reference clock |
rootdisp | total root dispersion to the primary reference clock |
refid | reference ID or kiss code |
reftime | reference time |
reach | reach register (octal) |
unreach | unreach counter |
hmode | host mode (1-6) |
pmode | peer mode (1-5) |
hpoll | host poll exponent (log(2) s) (3-17) |
ppoll | peer poll exponent (log(2) s) (3-17) |
headway | headway (see Rate Management and the Kiss-o’-Death Packet) |
flash | flash status word |
offset | filter offset |
delay | filter delay |
dispersion | filter dispersion |
jitter | filter jitter |
ident | Autokey group name for this association |
bias | unicast/broadcast bias |
xleave | interleave delay (see NTP Interleaved Modes) |
The bias variable is calculated when the first broadcast packet is received after the calibration volley. It represents the offset of the broadcast subgraph relative to the unicast subgraph. The xleave variable appears only the interleaved symmetric and interleaved modes. It represents the internal queuing, buffering and transmission delays for the preceding packet.
When the NTPv4 daemon is compiled with the OpenSSL software library, additional peer variables are displayed, including the following:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
flags | peer flags (see Autokey specification) |
host | Autokey server name |
flags | peer flags (see Autokey specification) |
signature | OpenSSL digest/signature scheme |
initsequence | initial key ID |
initkey | initial key index |
timestamp | Autokey signature timestamp |
The following clock variables appear in the cv billboard for each association with a reference clock. Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
associd | association ID |
status | clock status word |
device | device description |
timecode | ASCII time code string (specific to device) |
poll | poll messages sent |
noreply | no reply |
badformat | bad format |
baddata | bad date or time |
fudgetime1 | fudge time 1 |
fudgetime2 | fudge time 2 |
stratum | driver stratum |
refid | driver reference ID |
flags | driver flags |