Provided by: ntp_4.2.8p10+dfsg-5ubuntu7.3_amd64 
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.
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 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
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 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
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 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
Copyright (C) 1992-2017 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.
Debian March 21 2017 NTPQ(1)