[NTLUG:Discuss] NTP

[Mark Bainter]

Greg Edwards [greg at nas-inet.com] wrote:
> Maybe it is working but your just impatient?  I've notice, and (IIRC) I
> read in the docs somewhere that the ntpd (NTP v4) client will not adjust
> the clock all at once.  Over a period of time and several syncs it will
> get the clock closer and closer so that eventually it will be the same. 
> I've seen my clocks take nearly 24 hours to sync up to my server once
> I've made a 5 minute adjustment to the server clock.  IIRC, ntpdate
> makes a full adjustment to your clocks when run from the command line.
> 
> As I mentioned I don't use an external source to sync my internal
> server.  I do however use ntp to sync all of my systems to my internal
> server.  The only reason I don't use an external source is that I don't
> feel the need to be hitting the net that often when my internal server
> keeps reasonable time.  It loses maybe 20 seconds in a month.
> 

Well, the problem is I don't sync at all.  After 4 or 5 hours of runtime my
ntpq -c peers looks like:

     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 ntp.tacc.utexas 0.0.0.0         16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
 navobs1.wustl.e 0.0.0.0         16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
 fnbhs.com       0.0.0.0         16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00

I had other hosts I was trying before, but since them have discovered 2 of 
them were non-operational.  The two I replaced it with were provided by a 
list member who has a working setup.  I'm not so much concerned with the
clock, it was way off so I set it with ntpdate instead of waiting for it
to sync up that way.  I should be seeing +'s and *'s there, but I don't.