If one or more request options is included on the command line when [= prog-name =] 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, [= prog-name =] 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 [= prog-name =] utility will prompt for commands if the standard input is a terminal device.
The [= prog-name =] utility 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 [= prog-name =] 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, [= prog-name =] will attempt to read interactive format commands from the standard input.
A
number of interactive format commands are executed entirely within
the
[= prog-name =]
utility itself and do not result in NTP mode 6
requests being sent to a server.
These are described following.
? [command_keyword]
A
`?'
by itself will print a list of all the command
keywords known to this incarnation of
[= prog-name =] .
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
[= prog-name =]
than this manual
page.
addvars
variable_name [=value] ...
rmvars variable_name ...
clearvars
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
[= prog-name =]
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.
authenticate [ yes | no ]
Normally
[= prog-name =]
does not authenticate requests unless
they are write requests.
The command
`authenticate yes'
causes
[= prog-name =]
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
[= prog-name =]
to display whether or not
[= prog-name =]
is currently autheinticating requests.
cooked
Causes output from query commands to be "cooked", so that
variables which are recognized by
[= prog-name =]
will have their
values reformatted for human consumption.
Variables which
[= prog-name =]
thinks should have a decodable value but didn't are
marked with a trailing
`?'.
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.
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 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 a key number the server has been configured to use for this
purpose.
ntpversion [
1 |
2 |
3 |
4
]
Sets the NTP version number which
[= prog-name =]
claims in
packets.
Defaults to 3, 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.
quit
Exit
[= prog-name =] .
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.
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 timeout milliseconds
Specify a timeout period for responses to server queries.
The
default is about 5000 milliseconds.
Note that since
[= prog-name =]
retries each query once after a timeout, the total waiting time for
a timeout will be twice the timeout value set.
NNTTPPQQ__<The environmental presets take precedence (are processed later than) the configuration files. The _h_o_m_e_r_c files are "_$_H_O_M_E", and "_.". If any of these are directories, then the file _._n_t_p_r_c is searched for within those directories.> or NNTTPPQQ
see /usr/share/doc/html/ntp/copyright.html
This manual page was _A_u_t_o_G_e_n-erated from the nnttppqq option definitions.