NTPQ(1) BSD General Commands Manual NTPQ(1)NAMEntpq — standard NTP query program
SYNOPSISntpq [-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 argu‐
ments. 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 com‐
patible 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. Speci‐
fying a command line option other than -i or -n will cause the specified
query (queries) to be sent to the indicated host(s) immediately. Other‐
wise, 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 iden‐
tify 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 follow‐
ing.
? [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 con‐
sists 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 util‐
ity 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 vari‐
ables from the list. The showvars command
displays the current list of optional vari‐
ables.
authenticate [yes | no]
Normally ntpq does not authenticate requests
unless they are write requests. The command
‘authenticate yes’ causes ntpq to send authen‐
tication with all requests it makes. Authen‐
ticated requests causes some servers to handle
requests slightly differently, and can occa‐
sionally melt the CPU in fuzzballs if you turn
authentication on before doing a peer display.
The command ‘authenticate’ causes ntpq to dis‐
play whether or not ntpq is currently authein‐
ticating requests.
cooked Causes output from query commands to be
"cooked", so that variables which are recog‐
nized by ntpq will have their values reformat‐
ted 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 time‐
stamps included in requests which require
authentication. This is used to enable (unre‐
liable) 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 com‐
mand line -n switch.
keyid keyid This command allows the specification of a key
number to be used to authenticate configura‐
tion requests. This must correspond to the
controlkey key number the server has been con‐
figured to use for this purpose.
keytype [md5 | OpenSSLDigestType]
Specify the type of key to use for authenti‐
cating 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 cur‐
rent 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 mat‐
ter) didn't exist in NTP version 1. There
appear to be no servers left which demand ver‐
sion 1. With no argument, displays the cur‐
rent NTP version that will be used when commu‐
nicating 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 white‐
space, 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 ver‐
sion(s). dstadr (associated with any given IP version).
monstats Display monitor facility statistics.
mrulist [limited | kod | mincount=count | laddr=localaddr |
sort=sortorder | resany=hexmask | resall=hexmask]
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.
r 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.
m Packet mode.
v 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 deter‐
mined 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 cur‐
rent 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
st stratum
t 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 asso‐
ciation 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 vari‐
able 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 repre‐
sented in milliseconds and frequency values in
parts-per-million (PPM). Some NTP timestamps are repre‐
sented 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 vari‐
able 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 com‐
mands 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 dis‐
played using an informal set of ASCII strings called kiss codes:
decode.html#kiss. The original purpose was for kiss-o'-death (KoD) pack‐
ets 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 vari‐
ables 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
tc 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 associa‐
tion. 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 associ‐
ation 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 for‐
mat command and is added to the list of commands to be exe‐
cuted 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 num‐
ber 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 vari‐
able is requested, such as ntpq-c "rv 0 offset". This
option causes ntpq to include both lines of output for a sin‐
gle-variable readvar. Using an environment variable to pre‐
set 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 dis‐
able 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 informa‐
tion 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 envi‐
ronment 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) 1992-2017 The University of Delaware and Network Time Foun‐
dation 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.
BSD March 21 2017 BSD
