> In the meantime, can you explain how to use ntpdate? :)
Well you asked for it. :-)
-Rick
ntpdate - set the date and time via NTP
Homepage: http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/
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Synopsis
ntpdate [ -bBdoqsuv ] [ -a key ] [ -e authdelay ] [ -k keyfile ] [ -o
version ] [ -p samples ] [ -t timeout ] server [ ... ]
Description
ntpdate sets the local date and time by polling the Network Time Protocol
(NTP) server(s) given as the server arguments to determine the correct time.
It must be run as root on the local host. A number of samples are obtained
from each of the servers specified and a subset of the NTP clock filter and
selection algorithms are applied to select the best of these. Note that the
accuracy and reliability of ntpdate depends on the number of servers, the
number of polls each time it is run and the interval between runs.
ntpdate can be run manually as necessary to set the host clock, or it can be
run from the host startup script to set the clock at boot time. This is
useful in some cases to set the clock initially before starting the NTP
daemon ntpd. It is also possible to run ntpdate from a cron script. However,
it is important to note that ntpdate with contrived cron scripts is no
substitute for the NTP daemon, which uses sophisticated algorithms to
maximize accuracy and reliability while minimizing resource use. Finally,
since ntpdate does not discipline the host clock frequency as does ntpd, the
accuracy using ntpdate is limited.
Time adjustments are made by ntpdate in one of two ways. If ntpdate
determines the clock is in error more than 0.5 second it will simply step
the time by calling the system settimeofday() routine. If the error is less
than 0.5 seconds, it will slew the time by calling the system adjtime()
routine. The latter technique is less disruptive and more accurate when the
error is small, and works quite well when ntpdate is run by cron every hour
or two.
ntpdate will decline to set the date if an NTP server daemon (e.g., ntpd) is
running on the same host. When running ntpdate on a regular basis from cron
as an alternative to running a daemon, doing so once every hour or two will
result in precise enough timekeeping to avoid stepping the clock.
If NetInfo support is compiled into ntpdate, then the server argument is
optional if ntpdate can find a time server in the NetInfo configuration for
ntpd.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 25 2000 - 14:29:09 PST