Provided by: ntp_4.2.8p15+dfsg-1ubuntu2_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 to monitor NTP operations and
performance, requesting information about current state and/or changes in that state. 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.
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) 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 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
assembled, 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
individual variables from the list, while the clearvars 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. 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. Variables 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 information displays.
If no is specified, numeric addresses are printed instead. The
default is yes, unless modified 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
algorithm used 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.
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 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. Without 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:
[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.
associations
Display a list of mobilized associations in the form:
ind assid status conf reach auth condition last_event cnt
Variable 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 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 supporting 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. Authentication is of course required.
config-from-file filename
Send each line of filename to the server as run-time configuration commands
in the same format as lines in the configuration 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 failures, 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 interval, 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 (associated 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 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 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 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
host or DNS name, numeric address, or address followed by
claimed DNS name which could not be verified 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:
[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 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 'kiss code: decode.html#kiss
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 multicast
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
timestamps 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. Authentication is
required.
saveconfig filename
Save the current configuration, including any runtime modifications made by
:config or config-from-file, to the NTP server host file filename. This
command will be rejected by the server unless saveconfigdir:
miscopt.html#saveconfigdir 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 precision, 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, authentication 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 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 readlist 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
refid reference id or kiss code: decode.html#kiss
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 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 readlist 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
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 Rate Management and the Kiss-o'-Death Packet: rate.html)
flash flash status word: decode.html#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 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
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 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 name resolution. This option must not appear in combination 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 combination 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 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) 1992-2020 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.