ntp.drift(4)						     Kernel Interfaces Manual						      ntp.drift(4)

NAME

       ntp.drift - Network Time Protocol (NTP) drift file

DESCRIPTION

       When  the  NTP daemon (xntpd) is first started, it computes the error in the intrinsic frequency of the clock on the computer it is running
       on.  This process usually takes about a day or two after the daemon is started to compute a good estimate of this  (and	it  needs  a  good
       estimate to synchronize closely to its server).	Once the initial value is computed, it will change only by relatively small amounts during
       the course of continued operation.

       The driftfile declaration should always be included in the ntp.conf file.  This provides xntpd with complete path name to a file  in  which
       it can store the current value of the frequency error.  That way, if the daemon is stopped and restarted, it can reinitialize itself to the
       previous estimate without spending time recomputing the frequency estimate.

       The ntp.drift file contains one line with the following format: freq_offset flag Specifies the nominal frequency  offset.   DO  NOT  modify
       this  field.  Specifies the method used to improve system clock accuracy.  Specifies that xntpd runs a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) algorithm to
       keep synchronized with other hosts.  This is the default.  Specifies the use of the  PLL  algorithm  in	the  kernel.   This  requires  the
       NTP_TIME kernel option.	After the option is configured in the kernel, edit the ntp.drift file and change the flag value to 1.

	      See System Administration for information on the NTP_TIME kernel option.

FILES

       Conventional name of the drift file

RELATED INFORMATION

       Commands: ntpdate(8), ntpq(8), xntpd(8), xntpdc(8)

       Files: ntp.conf(4)

       Network Administration, System Administration delim off

																      ntp.drift(4)