| Updated: April 19, 2023 |
Standard Simple Network Time Protocol client program
sntp [-flags] [-flag [value]] [--option-name[[=| ]value]] [ hostname-or-IP ...]
QNX Neutrino
DESCRIPTION
sntp can be used as an SNTP client to query a NTP or SNTP server and
either display the time or set the local system's time (given suitable
privilege). It can be run as an interactive command or from a cron
job. NTP (the Network Time Protocol) and SNTP (the Simple Network Time
Protocol) are defined and described by RFC 5905.
The default is to write the estimated correct local date and time (i.e.
not UTC) to the standard output in a format like: '1996-10-15
20:17:25.123 (+0800) +4.567 +/- 0.089 [host] IP sN' where the '(+0800)'
means that to get to UTC from the reported local time one must add 8
hours and 0 minutes, the '+4.567' indicates the local clock is 4.567
seconds behind the correct time (so 4.567 seconds must be added to the
local clock to get it to be correct). Note that the number of decimals
printed for this value will change based on the reported precision of
the server. '+/- 0.089' is the reported synchronization distance (in
seconds), which represents the maximum error due to all causes. If the
server does not report valid data needed to calculate the synchroniza-
tion distance, this will be reported as '+/- ?'. If the host is dif-
ferent from the IP, both will be displayed. Otherwise, only the IP is
displayed. Finally, the stratum of the host is reported and the leap
indicator is decoded and displayed.
This program uses the OpenSSL library for cryptography services.
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 the 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 the following host names on the command
line to the IPv6 namespace.
-a auth-keynumber, --authentication=auth-keynumber
Enable authentication with the key auth-keynumber. This option
takes an integer number as its argument.
Enable authentication using the key specified in this option's
argument. The argument of this option is the keyid, a number
specified in the keyfile as this key's identifier. See the key-
file option (-k) for more details.
-b broadcast-address, --broadcast=broadcast-address
Listen to the address specified for broadcast time sync. This
option may appear an unlimited number of times.
If specified sntp will listen to the specified address for NTP
broadcasts. The default maximum wait time can (and probably
should) be modified with -t.
-c host-name, --concurrent=host-name
Concurrently query all IPs returned for host-name. This option
may appear an unlimited number of times.
Requests from an NTP “client” to a “server” should never be sent
more rapidly than one every 2 seconds. By default, any IPs
returned as part of a DNS lookup are assumed to be for a single
instance of ntpd, and therefore sntp will send queries to these
IPs one after another, with a 2-second gap in between each
query.
The -c or --concurrent flag says that any IPs returned for the
DNS lookup of the supplied host-name are on different machines,
so we can send concurrent queries.
-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 unlim-
ited number of times. This option takes an integer number as
its argument.
-g milliseconds, --gap=milliseconds
The gap (in milliseconds) between time requests. This option
takes an integer number as its argument. The default millisec-
onds for this option is:
50
Since we're only going to use the first valid response we get
and there is benefit to specifying a good number of servers to
query, separate the queries we send out by the specified number
of milliseconds.
-K file-name, --kod=file-name
KoD history filename. The default file-name for this option is:
/var/db/ntp-kod
Specifies the filename to be used for the persistent history of
KoD responses received from servers. If the file does not
exist, a warning message will be displayed. The file will not
be created.
-k file-name, --keyfile=file-name
Look in this file for the key specified with -a.
This option specifies the keyfile. sntp will search for the key
specified with -a keyno in this file. See ntp.keys(5) for more
information.
-l file-name, --logfile=file-name
Log to specified logfile.
This option causes the client to write log messages to the spec-
ified logfile.
-M number, --steplimit=number
Adjustments less than steplimit msec will be slewed. This
option takes an integer number as its argument. The value of
number is constrained to being:
greater than or equal to 0
If the time adjustment is less than steplimit milliseconds, slew
the amount using adjtime(2). Otherwise, step the correction
using settimeofday(2). The default value is 0, which means all
adjustments will be stepped. This is a feature, as different
situations demand different values.
-o number, --ntpversion=number
Send int as our NTP protocol version. This option takes an
integer number as its argument. The value of number is con-
strained to being:
in the range 0 through 7
The default number for this option is:
4
When sending requests to a remote server, tell them we are run-
ning NTP protocol version ntpversion .
-r, --usereservedport
Use the NTP Reserved Port (port 123).
Use port 123, which is reserved for NTP, for our network commu-
nications.
-S, --step
OK to 'step' the time with settimeofday(2).
-s, --slew
OK to 'slew' the time with adjtime(2).
-t seconds, --timeout=seconds
The number of seconds to wait for responses. This option takes
an integer number as its argument. The default seconds for this
option is:
5
When waiting for a reply, sntp will wait the number of seconds
specified before giving up. The default should be more than
enough for a unicast response. If sntp is only waiting for a
broadcast response a longer timeout is likely needed.
--wait, - Fl -no-wait
Wait for pending replies (if not setting the time). The no-wait
form will disable the option. This option is enabled by
default.
If we are not setting the time, wait for all pending responses.
-?, --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 con-
figuration 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 load-
ing values from configuration (“RC” or “.INI”) file(s) and values from
environment variables named:
SNTP_<option-name> or SNTP
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.
USAGE
sntp ntpserver.somewhere
is the simplest use of this program and can be run as an unpriv-
ileged command to check the current time and error in the local
clock.
sntp -Ss -M 128 ntpserver.somewhere
With suitable privilege, run as a command or from a cron(8) job,
sntp -Ss -M 128 ntpserver.somewhere will request the time from
the server, and if that server reports that it is synchronized
then if the offset adjustment is less than 128 milliseconds the
correction will be slewed, and if the correction is more than
128 milliseconds the correction will be stepped.
sntp -S ntpserver.somewhere
With suitable privilege, run as a command or from a cron(8) job,
sntp -S ntpserver.somewhere will set (step) the local clock from
a synchronized specified server, like the (deprecated) ntp-
date(1), or rdate(8) commands.
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
Johannes Maximilian Kuehn
Harlan Stenn
Dave Hart
BUGS
Please send bug reports to: http://bugs.ntp.org, bugs@ntp.org