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

NAME

       ntpq - Network Time Protocol (NTP) monitor program for xntpd

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/bin/ntpq [-inp] [-c command] [host1 host2...]

OPTIONS

       Forces  ntpq to operate in interactive mode.  Prompts are written to the standard output and commands read from the standard input. This is
       the default.  Outputs all host addresses in dotted-decimal notation rather than converting to the canonical host names.	Prints 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.  Interprets com-
       mand as an interactive format command and adds it to the list of commands to be executed on the specified host(s).  Multiple -c options may
       be given.

       Specifying  the -c or -p options sends the specified query (queries) to the indicated  host(s) immediately; localhost is the default.  Oth-
       erwise, ntpq attempts to read interactive format commands from the standard input.

DESCRIPTION

       The ntpq program is used to monitor NTP hosts running xntpd. The program may be run either in interactive mode or controlled using  command
       line  arguments.   Requests to read arbitrary variables can be assembled, with raw and formatted output options available. The ntpq program
       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  xntpd  dae-
       mons  running  on  each	of  the  hosts given as command line arguments, or on localhost by default.  If no request options are given, ntpq
       attempts to read commands from the standard input and execute these on the first host given on the command line,  defaulting  to  localhost
       when no other host is specified. The ntpq program will prompt for commands if the standard input is a terminal device.

       The ntpq program uses NTP mode 6 packets to communicate with the xntpd daemons, and therefore can be used to query any compatible daemon on
       the network that permits it.  Note: Since NTP uses the UDP protocol, this communication will be somewhat unreliable, especially over  large
       network	topologies.  The  ntpq	program  makes	one attempt to retransmit requests, and will time out if the remote host is not heard from
       within a suitable time.

COMMANDS

   Interactive Commands
       Interactive format commands consist of a keyword followed by zero or more 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 > (redirect metacharacter), 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 daemon.  These commands are as follows: A ?  by itself prints a list of all the command keywords known to this version of ntpq. A
       ?  followed by a command keyword prints function and usage information about the command.  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 program maintains an internal
	      list in which data to be included in control messages can be assembled, and sent using the  readlist  and  writelist  commands.  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 separated by commas 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.  Normally ntpq does not authenticate requests unless they
	      are write requests.  The authenticate yes command causes ntpq to send authentication with  all  requests	it  makes.   Authenticated
	      requests	cause  some  servers  to  handle requests slightly differently. To prevent any mishap, do a peer display before turning on
	      authentication.  Reformats variables that are recognized by the server. Variables that ntpq does not recognize  are  marked  with  a
	      trailing	?.   Adjusts level of ntpq debugging. The default is off.  Specifies a time interval to be added to timestamps included in
	      requests that 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 time stamps in authenticated requests,
	      so this command may be obsolete.	Same as ?.  Sets the host to which future queries will be sent; hostname may be either a host name
	      or  a  Internet address. If hostname is not specified, the current host is used.	If yes is specified, prints host names in informa-
	      tion displays.  If no is specified, prints Internet addresses instead.  The default is yes unless modified using the command line -n
	      option.	Specifies a key number to be used to authenticate configuration requests.  This must correspond to a key number the server
	      has been configured to use for this purpose.  Setsthe authentication key to either md5 or des.  Only md5 is supported in this imple-
	      mentation.   Sets  the  NTP  version number that ntpq claims in packets.	Default is 3. Mode 6 control messages (and modes, for that
	      matter) did not exist in NTP version 1.  Prompts you to type in a password (which will not be echoed) that is 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.  Polls the current server in client mode.	The first argument is the number of times to poll (default
	      is  1)  while the second argument may be given to obtain a more detailed output of the results.  Exits ntpq.  Prints all output from
	      query commands as received from the remote server.  The only data formatting performed is to translate nonascii data into  a  print-
	      able  form.  Specifies a timeout period for responses to server queries.	The default is about 5000 milliseconds. Since ntpq retries
	      each query once after a timeout, the total waiting time for a timeout will be twice the timeout value.

   Control Message Commands
       Each peer known to an NTP server has a 16-bit integer association identifier assigned to it.  NTP control messages that	carry  peer  vari-
       ables  must  identify  the peer the values correspond to by including its association 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.  Obtains and prints a list of association identifiers and peer status 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  is the actual association identifier returned by the server and the third the status word for the peer.  This is followed by a
       number of columns containing data decoded from the status word.	Note: The data returned by the associations command is	cached	internally
       in  ntpq.  The  index is then used when dealing with servers that use association identifiers. For any subsequent commands which require an
       association identifier as an argument, the form &index may be used as an alternative.  An easy-to-type short form of the clocklist command.
       Reads the clock variables included in the variable list.  Requests that the server send a list of the clock variables.  Servers that have a
       radio clock or other external synchronization will respond positively to this.  If the association  identifier  is  omitted  or	zero,  the
       request	is  for the system clock variables and will generally get a positive response from all servers with a clock.  If the server treats
       clocks as pseudo-peers, and can possibly have more than one clock connected at once, referencing the appropriate peer association  ID  will
       show  the  variables of a particular clock.  If you omit the variable list, the server returns a default variable display.  An easy-to-type
       short form of the clockvar command.  Obtains and prints a list of association identifiers and peer status 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 associations.  Such associations are normally omitted from the display when the associations command is used, but  are  included	in
       the output of lassociations.  Obtains and prints a list of all peers and clients having the destination address.  Prints data for all asso-
       ciations, including out-of-spec client associations, from the internally cached list of associations.  Like 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.  Like the readlist com-
       mand 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.  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.  An easy-to-type short form of the
       mreadlist command.  An easy-to-type short form of the mreadvar command.	An old form of the peers command with the reference ID replaced by
       the local interface address.  Prints association data concerning in-spec peers from the internally cached list of associations.	This  com-
       mand performs identically to the associations except that it displays the internally stored data rather than making a new query.  Obtains a
       list of in-spec 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 the refID is unknown), the stratum of the remote peer, the polling interval, in seconds, the reachabil-
       ity register, in octal, and the current estimated delay, offset and dispersion of the peer, all in milliseconds.

	      The character in the left margin indicates the fate of this peer in the clock selection process. The codes are as follows: Indicates
	      the  peer  was discarded due to high stratum or failed sanity checks, or both.  Indicates the peer was designated falseticker by the
	      intersection algorithm.  Indicates that this peer was culled from the end of the candidate list.	Indicates that the peer  was  dis-
	      carded  by  the  clustering  algorithm.	Indicates  that  the peer was included in the final selection set.  Indicates the peer was
	      selected for synchronization, but distance exceeds the maximum.  Indicates the peer was selected for synchronization.  Indicates the
	      peer was selected for synchronization; pps signal in use.

	      Since the peers command depends on the ability to parse the values in the responses it gets, it might fail to work with servers that
	      poorly control the data formats.

	      The contents of the host field may be one of four forms: a host name, an IP address, a reference clock implementation name with  its
	      parameter,  or  REFCLK(implementation number, parameter). On hostnames no only, IP-addresses will be displayed.  Sends a read status
	      request to the server for the given association.	The names and values of the peer variables returned will be  printed.	Note:  The
	      status  word  from  the  header  is displayed preceding the variables, both in hexadecimal and in English.  Requests that the server
	      return the values of the variables in the internal variable list. 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; the remote server should return a default display.  Requests that  the  values  of  the  specified  variables	be
	      returned by the server by sending a read variables request.  If the association ID is omitted or is given as zero, the variables are
	      system variables; otherwise, they are peer variables, and the values returned are those of the corresponding peer.  If the  variable
	      list is empty, a request is sent without data; the remote server should return a default display.  An easy-to-type short form of the
	      readlist command.  An easy-to-type short form for the readvar command.  Prints the variables on the variable list.  Prints the  ntpq
	      version  number.	 Like  the  readlist  request,	except	the internal list variables are written instead of read.  Like the readvar
	      request, except the specified variables are written instead of read.

ERRORS

       ***Can't find host hostname

   Explanation:
       The hostname is not in the local /etc/host file.

       hostname: timed out, nothing received ***Request timed out

   Explanation:
       Check that xntpd is running on the remote host being queried.

NOTES

       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 time outs since it assumes sort of a worst case.

FILES

       Specifies the command path

SEE ALSO

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

       Files: ntp.conf(4)

																	   ntpq(8)