NTPQ(8)                       Programmer's Manual                      NTPQ(8)



NAME
       ntpq - standard NTP query program

SYNOPSIS
       ntpq [-flag [value]]... [--opt-name [[=| ]value]]...
               [ host ...]

DESCRIPTION
       This  manual  page  documents, briefly, the ntpq command.  The [= prog-
       name =] 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  cur-
       rent  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  [=  prog-name =] 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  [=
       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  exe-
       cute  these  on  the  NTP server running on the first host given on the
       command line, again defaulting to localhost when no other host is spec-
       ified.   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 or will cause the specified
       query  (queries) to be sent to the indicated host(s) immediately.  Oth-
       erwise, [= prog-name =] will attempt to read  interactive  format  com-
       mands  from the standard input.  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 [= 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

       rmvars variable_name ...

       clearvars The data carried by NTP mode 6 messages consists of a list of
       items of the form where the 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 and commands described below.  The
       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 command can  be  used
       to remove individual variables from the list, while the command removes
       all variables from the list.

       authenticate [ yes | no ] Normally [= prog-name =] does  not  authenti-
       cate  requests  unless  they are write requests.  The command 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 display.  The command causes [= prog-
       name =] to display whether or not [= prog-name =] is currently authein-
       ticating requests.

       cooked  Causes output from query commands to be "cooked", so that vari-
       ables 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  ] With no argument, displays the current debug level.  Other-
       wise, 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.  Host-
       name may be either a host name or a numeric address.

       hostnames Cm yes | Cm no If is specified, host  names  are  printed  in
       information  displays.   If is specified, numeric addresses are printed
       instead.  The default is unless modified using the command line 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 [ ] 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 understand-
       able) form.

       timeout Ar 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.


OPTIONS
       -4, --ipv4
              Force  IPv4 DNS name resolution.  This option is a member of the
              ipv4 class of options.

              Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command line
              to the IPv4 namespace.

       -6, --ipv6
              Force  IPv6 DNS name resolution.  This option is a member of the
              ipv4 class of options.

              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 output debug message level.  This option may appear  an
              unlimited number of times.

              Increase the debugging message output level.

       -D string, --set-debug-level=string
              Set  the  output debug message level.  This option may appear an
              unlimited number of times.

              Set the output debugging level.  Can be supplied multiple times,
              but each overrides the previous value(s).

       -p, --peers
              Print  a list of the peers.  This option must not appear in com-
              bination with any of the following options: interactive.

              Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a  sum-
              mary  of their state. This is equivalent to the 'peers' interac-
              tive command.

       -i, --interactive
              Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode.  This option must not
              appear  in  combination  with any of the following options: com-
              mand, peers.

              Force ntpq to operate in  interactive  mode.   Prompts  will  be
              written  to the standard output and commands read from the stan-
              dard input.

       -n, --numeric
              numeric host addresses.

              Output all host addresses in dotted-quad numeric  format  rather
              than converting to the canonical host names.

       -?, --help
              Display usage information and exit.

       -!, --more-help
              Extended usage information passed thru pager.

       -> [rcfile], --save-opts[=rcfile]
              Save  the  option state to rcfile.  The default is the last con-
              figuration file listed in the OPTION PRESETS section, below.

       -< rcfile, --load-opts=rcfile, --no-load-opts
              Load options from rcfile.  The no-load-opts  form  will  disable
              the  loading of earlier RC/INI files.  --no-load-opts is handled
              early, out of order.

       -v [{v|c|n}], --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 load-
       ing  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.

AUTHOR
       David L. Mills and/or others
       Please send bug reports to:  http://bugs.ntp.isc.org, bugs@ntp.org


       see /usr/share/doc/html/ntp/copyright.html

       This manual page was AutoGen-erated from the ntpq option definitions.



( 4.2.4p6)                        2009-01-08                           NTPQ(8)
