x SuSE Linux 13.1-RELEASE x
x SuSE Linux 13.1-RELEASEx
ntpq(1) User Commands 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 to monitor NTP
operations and performance, requesting information about current state
and/or changes in that state. The program may be run either in inter-
active 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 termi-
nal 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.
Note that in contexts where a host name is expected, a -4 qualifier
preceding the host name forces resolution to the IPv4 namespace, while
a -6 qualifier forces resolution to the IPv6 namespace. For examples
and usage, see the NTP Debugging Techniques page.
Specifying a command line option other than -i or -n will cause the
specified query (queries) to be sent to the indicated host(s) immedi-
ately. Otherwise, ntpq will attempt to read interactive format com-
mands 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 requests being sent to
a server. These are described following.
? [command]
help [command] A `?' by itself will print a list of all the commands
known to ntpq. A `?' followed by a command name will
print function and usage information about the command.
addvars name[=value][,...]
rmvars name[,...]
clearvars
showvars The arguments to this command consist of a list of items
of the form 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 messages can be assem-
bled, and displayed or set 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 indi-
vidual variables from the list, while the clearvars com-
mand 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. The command authenticate
causes ntpq to display whether or not it is currently
authenticating 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. Vari-
ables which ntpq could not decode completely are marked
with a trailing `?'.
debug [more|less|off]
With no argument, displays the current debug level.
Otherwise, the debugging level is changed as indicated.
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. Without any arguments,
displays the current delay.
drefid [hash|ipv4]
Display refids as IPv4 or hash. Without any arguments,
displays whether refids are shown as IPv4 addresses or
hashes.
exit Exit ntpq.
host [name] Set the host to which future queries will be sent. The
name may be either a host name or a numeric address.
Without any arguments, displays the current host.
hostnames [yes|no]
If yes is specified, host names are printed in informa-
tion displays. If no is specified, numeric addresses
are printed instead. The default is yes, unless modi-
fied using the command line -n switch. Without any
arguments, displays whether host names or numeric
addresses are shown.
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. Without
any arguments, displays the current keyid.
keytype [digest]
Specify the digest algorithm to use for authenticating
requests, with default MD5. If ntpq was built with
OpenSSL support, and OpenSSL is installed, digest can be
any message digest algorithm supported by OpenSSL. If
no argument is given, the current keytype digest algo-
rithm used is displayed.
ntpversion [1|2|3|4]
Sets the NTP version number which ntpq claims in pack-
ets. Defaults to 3, and note that mode 6 control mes-
sages (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 cur-
rent 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.
poll [n] [verbose]
Poll an NTP server in client mode n times. Poll not
implemented yet.
quit Exit ntpq.
raw Causes all output from query commands is printed as
received from the remote server. The only format-
ing/interpretation done on the data is to transform
nonascii data into a printable (but barely understand-
able) form.
timeout [milliseconds]
Specify a timeout period for responses to server
queries. The default is about 5000 milliseconds. With-
out any arguments, displays the current timeout period.
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 Display 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 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.
apeers Display a list of peers in the form: 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.
associations
Display a list of mobilized associations in the form:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
authinfo Display the authentication statistics counters: time since
reset, stored keys, free keys, key lookups, keys not found,
uncached keys, expired keys, encryptions, decryptions.
clocklist [associd]
cl [associd]
Display all clock variables in the variable list for those
associations supporting a reference clock.
clockvar [associd] [name[=value][] ,...]
cv [associd] [name[=value][] ,...]
Display a list of clock variables for those associations sup-
porting a reference clock.
:config configuration command line
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. Authen-
tication is of course required.
config-from-file filename
Send each line of filename to the server as run-time configu-
ration commands in the same format as lines in the configura-
tion file. This command is experimental until further notice
and clarification. Authentication is required.
ifstats Display status and statistics counters for each local network
interface address: interface number, interface name and
address or broadcast, drop, flag, ttl, mc, received, sent,
send failed, peers, uptime. Authentication is required.
iostats Display network and reference clock I/O statistics: time
since reset, receive buffers, free receive buffers, used
receive buffers, low water refills, dropped packets, ignored
packets, received packets, packets sent, packet send fail-
ures, input wakeups, useful input wakeups.
kerninfo Display kernel loop and PPS statistics: associd, status, pll
offset, pll frequency, maximum error, estimated error, kernel
status, pll time constant, precision, frequency tolerance,
pps frequency, pps stability, pps jitter, calibration inter-
val, calibration cycles, jitter exceeded, stability exceeded,
calibration errors. As with other ntpq output, times are in
milliseconds; very small values may be shown as exponentials.
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, including all
clients.
lopeers [-4|-6]
Display a list of all peers and clients showing dstadr (asso-
ciated with the given IP version).
lpassociations
Display the last obtained list of associations, including all
clients.
lpeers [-4|-6]
Display a list of all peers and clients (associated with the
given IP version).
monstats Display monitor facility status, statistics, and limits:
enabled, addresses, peak addresses, maximum addresses,
reclaim above count, reclaim older than, kilobytes, maximum
kilobytes.
mreadlist associdlo associdhi
mrl associdlo associdhi
Perform the same function as the readlist command for a range
of association ids.
mreadvar associdlo associdhi [name][,...]
This range may be determined from the list displayed by any
command showing associations.
mrv associdlo associdhi [name][,...]
Perform the same function as the readvar command for a range
of association ids. This range may be determined from the
list displayed by any command showing associations.
mrulist [limited | kod | mincount=count | laddr=localaddr |
sort=[-]sortorder | resany=hexmask | resall=hexmask]
Display traffic counts of the most recently seen source
addresses collected and maintained by the monitor facility.
With the exception of sort=[-]sortorder, the options filter
the list returned by ntpd(8). 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 repre-
senting 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 fil-
ter entries containing none or less than all, respectively,
of the bits in hexmask, which must begin with 0x. The sor-
torder defaults to lstint and may be addr, avgint, count,
lstint, or any of those preceded by `-' to reverse the sort
order. The output columns are:
Column Description
lstint Interval in seconds 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.
r Rate control indicator, either a period, L or K for
no rate control response, rate limiting by discard-
ing, or rate limiting with a KoD response, respec-
tively.
m Packet mode.
v Packet version number.
count Packets received from this address.
rport Source port of last packet from this address.
remote address
host or DNS name, numeric address, or address fol-
lowed by claimed DNS name which could not be veri-
fied in parentheses.
opeers [-4 | -6]
Obtain and print the old-style list of all peers and clients
showing dstadr (associated with the 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:
Variable Description
[tally] single-character code indicating current value of
the select field of the
remote host name (or IP number) of peer. The value dis-
played will be truncated to 15 characters unless
the ntpq -w option is given, in which case the full
value will be displayed on the first line, and if
too long, the remaining data will be displayed on
the next line.
refid source IP address or
st stratum: 0 for local reference clocks, 1 for
servers with local reference clocks, ..., 16 for
unsynchronized server clocks
t u: unicast or manycast client, b: broadcast or mul-
ticast client, p: pool source, l: local (reference
clock), s: symmetric (peer), A: manycast server, B:
broadcast server, M: multicast server
when time in seconds, minutes, hours, or days since the
last packet was received, or `-' if a packet has
never been received
poll poll interval (s)
reach reach shift register (octal)
delay roundtrip delay
offset offset of server relative to this host
jitter offset RMS error estimate.
pstats associd
Display the statistics for the peer with the given associd:
associd, status, remote host, local address, time last
received, time until next send, reachability change, packets
sent, packets received, bad authentication, bogus origin,
duplicate, bad dispersion, bad reference time, candidate
order.
readlist [associd]
rl [associd]
Display all system or peer variables. If the associd is
omitted, it is assumed to be zero.
readvar [associd name[=value] [, ...]]
rv [associd name[=value] [, ...]]
Display the specified system or peer 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 to be 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 time-
stamps are represented in the format YYYYMM DD TTTT, where
YYYY is the year, MM the month of year, DD the day of month
and TTTT the time of day.
reslist Display the access control (restrict) list for ntpq. Authen-
tication is required.
saveconfig filename
Save the current configuration, including any runtime modifi-
cations made by :config or config-from-file, to the NTP
server host file filename. This command will be rejected by
the server unless appears in the ntpd(8) configuration file.
filename can use date(1) format specifiers to substitute the
current date and time, for example,
saveconfig ntp-%Y%m%d-%H%M%S.conf.
The filename used is stored in system variable savedconfig.
Authentication is required.
sysinfo Display system operational summary: associd, status, system
peer, system peer mode, leap indicator, stratum, log2 preci-
sion, root delay, root dispersion, reference id, reference
time, system jitter, clock jitter, clock wander, broadcast
delay, symm. auth. delay.
sysstats Display system uptime and packet counts maintained in the
protocol module: uptime, sysstats reset, packets received,
current version, older version, bad length or format, authen-
tication failed, declined, restricted, rate limited, KoD
responses, processed for time.
timerstats
Display interval timer counters: time since reset, timer
overruns, calls to transmit.
writelist associd
Set all system or peer variables included in the variable
list.
writevar associd name=value [, ...]
Set the specified variables in the variable list. 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. Authentication is required.
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 by the readlist
and associations commands both in hexadecimal and in decoded short tip
strings. The codes, tips and short explanations are documented on the
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 dis-
played using an informal set of ASCII strings called The original pur-
pose 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 readlist billboard. Not
all variables are displayed in some configurations.
Variable Description
status
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
refid reference id or
reftime reference time
clock date and time of day
peer system peer association id
tc time constant and poll exponent (log2 s) (3-17)
mintc minimum time constant (log2 s) (3-10)
offset combined offset of server relative to this host
frequency frequency drift (PPM) relative to hardware clock
sys_jitter
combined system jitter
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 aver-
ages. 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 readlist billboard for each
association. Not all variables are displayed in some configurations.
Variable Description
associd association id
status
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
reftime reference time
rec last packet received 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
flash
keyid symmetric key id
offset filter offset
delay filter delay
dispersion
filter dispersion
jitter filter jitter
bias unicast/broadcast bias
xleave interleave delay (see
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 vari-
able 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
ident Autokey group name for this association
Clock Variables
The following clock variables appear in the clocklist billboard for
each association with a reference clock. Not all variables are dis-
played in some configurations.
Variable Description
associd association id
status
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 name resolution. This option must not appear in com-
bination with any of the following options: ipv6.
Force resolution of following host names on the command line to
the IPv4 namespace.
-6, --ipv6
Force IPv6 name resolution. This option must not appear in com-
bination with any of the following options: ipv4.
Force 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 unlim-
ited 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: com-
mand, peers.
Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode. Prompts will be
written to the standard output and commands read from the stan-
dard 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 pre-
cedes 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 read-
var. Using an environment variable to preset this option in a
script will enable both older and newer ntpq to behave identi-
cally in this regard.
-p, --peers
Print a list of the peers. This option must not appear in com-
bination with any of the following options: interactive.
Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a sum-
mary of their state. This is equivalent to the 'peers' interac-
tive 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 con-
figuration 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 load-
ing 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
Copyright (C) 1992-2020 The University of Delaware and Network Time
Foundation all rights reserved. This program is released under the
terms of the NTP license, <http://ntp.org/license>.
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.
4.2.8p15 23 Jun 2020 ntpq(1)
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