NTPQ(1) BSD General Commands Manual NTPQ(1)

NAME

ntpq — standard NTP query program

SYNOPSIS

ntpq [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[

[
=| ]value ]] [ host ...]

DESCRIPTION

The ntpq utility program is used to query NTP servers which implement the standard NTP mode 6 control message formats defined in Appendix B of the NTPv3 specification RFC1305, requesting information about current state and/or changes in that state. The same formats are used in NTPv4, although some of the variables have changed and new ones added. The description on this page is for the NTPv4 variables. 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. 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.

Internal Commands
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 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 this incarnation of ntpq. A ’?’ followed by a command keyword will print function and usage information about the command. This command is probably a better source of information about ntpq than this manual page.

addvars variable_name
[=value] ...
rmvars variable_name ...
clearvars
showvars

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 utility 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 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 clearlist 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, and can occasionally melt the CPU in fuzzballs if you turn authentication on before doing a peer display. The command ’authenticate’ causes ntpq to display whether or not ntpq is currently autheinticating requests.

cooked

Causes 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 thinks should have a decodable value but didn’t are marked with a trailing ’?’.

debug [
more | less | off]

With no argument, displays the current debug level. Otherwise, the debug level is changed to the indicated level.

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.

exit

Exit ntpq.

host hostname

Set the host to which future queries will be sent. hostname may be either a host 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 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.

keytype
[
md5 | OpenSSLDigestType]

Specify the type of key to use for authenticating requests. md5 is alway supported. If ntpq was built with OpenSSL support, any digest type supported by OpenSSL can also be provided. If no argument is given, the current keytype 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.

passwd

This 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.

quit

Exit ntpq.

raw

Causes 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. 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.

version

Print the version of the ntpq program.

Control Message Commands
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.

associations

Display a list of mobilized associations in the form:

ind assid status conf reach auth condition last_event cnt

String 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)

authinfo

Display the authentication statistics.

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 a line in the configuration file. This command is experimental until further notice and clarification. Authentication is of course required.

config-from-file filename

Send the each line of filename to the server as run-time configuration commands in the same format as a line in the configuration file. This command is experimental until further notice and clarification. Authentication is required.

ifstats

Display statistics for each local network address. Authentication is required.

iostats

Display network and reference clock I/O statistics.

kerninfo

Display 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.

lassociations

Perform the same function as the associations command, except display mobilized and unmobilized associations.

lopeers
[
-4 | -6]

Obtain and print a list of all peers and clients showing dstadr (associated with any given IP version).

lpeers
[
-4 | -6]

Print a peer spreadsheet for the appropriate IP version(s). dstadr (associated with any given IP version).

monstats

Display monitor facility statistics.

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.

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.

Packet mode.

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.

opeers
[
-4 | -6]

Obtain and print the old-style list of all peers and clients showing dstadr (associated with any given IP version), rather than the refid.

passociations

Perform the same function as the associations command, except that it uses previously stored data rather than making a new query.

peers

Display 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: decode.html#peer

remote

host name (or IP number) of peer. The value displayed will be truncated to 15 characters unless the -w flag is given, in which case the full value will be displayed on the first line, and the remaining data is displayed on the next line.

refid

association ID or ’kiss code: decode.html#kiss

stratum

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 (log2 s)

reach

reach shift register (octal)

delay

roundtrip delay

offset

offset of server relative to this host

jitter

jitter

apeers

Display 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.

pstats assocID

Show the statistics for the peer with the given assocID.

readlist assocID
rl assocID

Read the system or peer variables included in the variable list.

readvar assocID name[
=value] [
, ...]
rv assocID name[
=value] [
, ...]

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.

reslist

Show the access control (restrict) list for ntpq.

saveconfig filename

Write 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:

miscopt.html#saveconfigdir

appears in the ntpd configuration file. filename can use strftime format specifies to substitute the current date and time, for example, q]saveconfig ntp-%Y%m%d-%H%M%S.confq]. The filename used is stored in system variable savedconfig. Authentication is required.

timerstats

Display interval timer counters.

writelist assocID

Write the system or peer variables included in the variable list.

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.

sysinfo

Display operational summary.

sysstats

Print statistics counters maintained in the protocol module.

Status Words and Kiss Codes
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 in the rv and as commands both in hexadecimal and in decoded short tip strings. The codes, tips and short explanations are documented on the Event Messages and Status Words: decode.html 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: decode.html#kiss. 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.

System Variables
The following system variables appear in the rv billboard. Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.

Variable

Description

status

system status word: decode.html#sys

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 (log2 s)

rootdelay

total roundtrip delay to the primary reference clock

rootdisp

total dispersion to the primary reference clock

peer

system peer association ID

time constant and poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)

mintc

minimum time constant (log2 s) (3-10)

clock

date and time of day

refid

reference ID or kiss code: decode.html#kiss

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

Peer Variables
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: decode.html#peer

srcadr

source (remote) IP address

srcport

source (remote) port

dstadr

destination (local) IP address

dstport

destination (local) port

leap

leap indicator (0-3)

stratum

stratum (0-15)

precision

precision (log2 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: decode.html#kiss

reftime

reference time

reach

reach register (octal)

unreach

unreach counter

hmode

host mode (1-6)

pmode

peer mode (1-5)

hpoll

host poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)

ppoll

peer poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)

headway

headway (see Rate Management and the Kiss-o’-Death Packet: rate.html)

flash

flash status word: decode.html#flash

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: xleave.html)

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:

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

Clock Variables
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: decode.html#clock

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

OPTIONS
-4, --ipv4

Force IPv4 DNS name resolution. This option must not appear in combination with any of the following options: ipv6.

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

-6, --ipv6

Force IPv6 DNS name resolution. This option must not appear in combination with any of the following options: ipv4.

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

-c cmd, --command=cmd

run a command and exit. This option may appear an unlimited number of times.

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).

-d, --debug-level

Increase debug verbosity level. This option may appear an unlimited number of times.

-D number, --set-debug-level=number

Set the debug verbosity level. This option may appear an unlimited number of times. This option takes an integer number as its argument.

-i, --interactive

Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode. This option must not appear in combination with any of the following options: command, peers.

Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode. Prompts will be written to the standard output and commands read from the standard input.

-n, --numeric

numeric host addresses.

Output all host addresses in dotted-quad numeric format rather than converting to the canonical host names.

--old-rv

Always output status line with readvar.

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.

-p, --peers

Print a list of the peers. This option must not appear in combination with any of the following options: interactive.

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.

-r keyword, --refid=keyword

Set default display type for S2+ refids. This option takes a keyword as its argument. The argument sets an enumeration value that can be tested by comparing them against the option value macro. The available keywords are:

hash ipv4
or their numeric equivalent.

The default keyword for this option is:
ipv4

Set the default display format for S2+ refids.

-w, --wide

Display the full ’remote’ value.

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.

-?, --help

Display usage information and exit.

-!, --more-help

Pass the extended usage information through a pager.

-> [
cfgfile], --save-opts [
=cfgfile]

Save the option state to cfgfile. The default is the last configuration file listed in the OPTION PRESETS section, below. The command will exit after updating the config file.

-< cfgfile, --load-opts=cfgfile, --no-load-opts

Load options from cfgfile. The no-load-opts form will disable the loading of earlier config/rc/ini files. --no-load-opts is handled early, out of order.

--version [{v|c|n}]

Output version of program and exit. The default mode is ’v’, a simple version. The ’c’ mode will print copyright information and ’n’ will print the full copyright notice.

OPTION PRESETS

Any option that is not marked as not presettable may be preset by loading values from configuration ("RC" or ".INI") file(s) and values from environment variables named:
NTPQ_<option-name> or NTPQ
The environmental presets take precedence (are processed later than) the configuration files. The homerc files are "$HOME", and ".". If any of these are directories, then the file .ntprc is searched for within those directories.

ENVIRONMENT

See OPTION PRESETS for configuration environment variables.

FILES

See OPTION PRESETS for configuration files.

EXIT STATUS

One of the following exit values will be returned:

0 (EXIT_SUCCESS)

Successful program execution.

1 (EXIT_FAILURE)

The operation failed or the command syntax was not valid.

66 (EX_NOINPUT)

A specified configuration file could not be loaded.

70 (EX_SOFTWARE)

libopts had an internal operational error. Please report it to autogen-users@lists.sourceforge.net. Thank you.

AUTHORS

The University of Delaware and Network Time Foundation

COPYRIGHT

BUGS

Please send bug reports to: http://bugs.ntp.org, bugs@ntp.org

NOTES

This manual page was AutoGen-erated from the ntpq option definitions.

BSD March 21 2017 BSD