ntpdate(8)						      System Manager's Manual							ntpdate(8)

NAME

       ntpdate - set the date and time via NTP

       Disclaimer:  The  functionality	of this program is now available in the ntpd program. See the -q command line option in the ntpd - Network
       Time Protocol (NTP) daemon page. After a suitable period of mourning, the ntpdate program is to be retired from this distribution

SYNOPSIS

       ntpdate [ -46bBdqsuv ] [ -a key ] [ -e authdelay ] [ -k keyfile ] [ -o version ] [ -p samples ] [ -t timeout ] [ -U user_name  ]  server  [
       ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       ntpdate	sets  the  local date and time by polling the Network Time Protocol (NTP) server(s) given as the server arguments to determine the
       correct time. It must be run as root on the local host. A number of samples are obtained from each of the servers specified and a subset of
       the  NTP  clock	filter and selection algorithms are applied to select the best of these. Note that the accuracy and reliability of ntpdate
       depends on the number of servers, the number of polls each time it is run and the interval between runs.

       ntpdate can be run manually as necessary to set the host clock, or it can be run from the host startup script to  set  the  clock  at  boot
       time.  This is useful in some cases to set the clock initially before starting the NTP daemon ntpd. It is also possible to run ntpdate from
       a cron script. However, it is important to note that ntpdate with contrived cron scripts is no substitute for the NTP  daemon,  which  uses
       sophisticated algorithms to maximize accuracy and reliability while minimizing resource use. Finally, since ntpdate does not discipline the
       host clock frequency as does ntpd, the accuracy using ntpdate is limited.

       Time adjustments are made by ntpdate in one of two ways. If ntpdate determines the clock is in error more than 0.5 second  it  will  simply
       step  the  time	by  calling the system settimeofday() routine. If the error is less than 0.5 seconds, it will slew the time by calling the
       system adjtime() routine. The latter technique is less disruptive and more accurate when the error is small, and works quite well when ntp-
       date is run by cron every hour or two.

       ntpdate	will  decline  to set the date if an NTP server daemon (e.g., ntpd) is running on the same host. When running ntpdate on a regular
       basis from cron as an alternative to running a daemon, doing so once every hour or two will result in precise enough timekeeping  to  avoid
       stepping the clock.

       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.

       If NetInfo support is compiled into ntpdate, then the server argument is optional if ntpdate can find a time server in the NetInfo configu-
       ration for ntpd.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

       -4      Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command line to the IPv4 namespace.

       -6      Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command line to the IPv6 namespace.

       -a key  Enable  the  authentication function and specify the key identifier to be used for authentication as the argument key. The keys and
	       key identifiers must match in both the client and server key files. The default is to disable the authentication function.

       -B      Force the time to always be slewed using the adjtime() system call, even if the measured offset	is  greater  than  +-500  ms.  The
	       default	is  to step the time using settimeofday() if the offset is greater than +-500 ms. Note that, if the offset is much greater
	       than +-500 ms in this case, that it can take a long time (hours) to slew the clock to the correct value. During this time. the host
	       should not be used to synchronize clients.

       -b      Force  the  time  to be stepped using the settimeofday() system call, rather than slewed (default) using the adjtime() system call.
	       This option should be used when called from a startup file at boot time.

       -d      Enable the debugging mode, in which ntpdate will go through all the steps, but not adjust the local clock. Information  useful  for
	       general debugging will also be printed.

       -e authdelay
	       Specify	the  processing  delay to perform an authentication function as the value authdelay, in seconds and fraction (see ntpd for
	       details). This number is usually small enough to be negligible for most purposes, though specifying a value may improve timekeeping
	       on very slow CPU's.

       -k keyfile
	       Specify	the  path  for the authentication key file as the string keyfile. The default is /etc/ntp/keys. This file should be in the
	       format described in ntpd.

       -o version
	       Specify the NTP version for outgoing packets as the integer version, which can be 1 or 2. The default is 4. This allows ntpdate	to
	       be used with older NTP versions.

       -p samples
	       Specify	the  number  of  samples  to  be  acquired from each server as the integer samples, with values from 1 to 8 inclusive. The
	       default is 4.

       -q      Query only - don't set the clock.

       -s      Divert logging output from the standard output (default) to the system syslog facility. This is designed primarily for  convenience
	       of cron scripts.

       -t timeout
	       Specify	the maximum time waiting for a server response as the value timeout, in seconds and fraction. The value is is rounded to a
	       multiple of 0.2 seconds. The default is 1 second, a value suitable for polling across a LAN.

       -u      Direct ntpdate to use an unprivileged port for outgoing packets. This is most useful when behind a firewall  that  blocks  incoming
	       traffic	to  privileged	ports,	and  you  want	to synchronize with hosts beyond the firewall. Note that the -d option always uses
	       unprivileged ports.

       -v      Be verbose. This option will cause ntpdate's version identification string to be logged.

       -U user_name
	       ntpdate process drops root privileges and changes user ID to user_name and group ID to the primary group of server_user.

DIAGNOSTICS

       ntpdate's exit status is zero if it finds a server and updates the clock, and nonzero otherwise.

FILES

       /etc/ntp/keys - encryption keys used by ntpdate.

BUGS

       The slew adjustment is actually 50% larger than the measured offset, since this (it is argued) will tend to keep  a  badly  drifting  clock
       more accurate. This is probably not a good idea and may cause a troubling hunt for some values of the kernel variables tick and tickadj.

SEE ALSO

       ntpd(8)

       The official HTML documentation.

       This file was automatically generated from HTML source.

																	ntpdate(8)