HP-UX Reference (11i v2 03/08) - 1M System Administration Commands N-Z (vol 4)

x
xntpd(1M) xntpd(1M)
NAME
xntpd - Network Time Protocol daemon
SYNOPSIS
xntpd [ -abdm ][-c conffile ][
-e authdelay ][-f driftfile ]
[
-k keyfile ][-l
logfile ][-p pidfile ][-r broadcastdelay ]
[
-s statsdir ][-t key ][
-v variable ][-V variable ][-x ]
DESCRIPTION
xntpd is an operating system daemon which sets and maintains the system time-of-day in synchronism
with Internet standard time servers. xntpd is a complete implementation of the Network Time Protocol
(NTP) version 3, as defined by RFC-1305, but also retains compatibility with version 1 and 2 servers as
defined by RFC-1059 and RFC-1119, respectively.
xntpd does all computations in 64-bit fixed point arithmetic and requires no floating point support.
While the ultimate precision of this design, about 232 picoseconds, is not achievable with ordinary works-
tations and networks of today, it may be required with future nanosecond CPU clocks and gigabit LANs.
The daemon can operate in any of several modes, including symmetric active/passive, client/server and
broadcast/multicast, as described in RFC-1305. A broadcast/multicast client can discover remote servers,
compute server-client propagation delay correction factors and configure itself automatically. This makes
it possible to deploy a group of workstations without specifying configuration details specific to the local
environment.
Ordinarily,
xntpd reads the /etc/ntp.conf
configuration file at startup time in order to determine
the synchronization sources and operating modes. It is also possible to specify a working, although lim-
ited, configuration entirely on the command line, obviating the need for a configuration file. This may be
particularly appropriate when the local host is to be configured as a broadcast or multicast client, with all
peers being determined by listening to broadcasts at run time. Various internal
xntpd variables can be
displayed and configuration options altered while the daemon is running using the
ntpq and xntpdc
utility programs.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
-a Enable authentication mode. The default is disable.
-b Synchronize using NTP broadcast messages.
-c conffile Specify the name and path of the configuration file.
-d Specify debugging mode. This flag may occur multiple times, with each occurrence
indicating greater detail of display.
-e authdelay Specify the time (in seconds) it takes to compute the NTP encryption field on this com-
puter.
-f driftfile Specify the name and path of the drift file.
-k keyfile Specify the name and path of the file containing the NTP authentication keys.
-l logfile Specify the name and path of the log file. The default is the system log facility.
-p pidfile Specify the name and path to record the daemon’s process ID.
-r broadcastdelay
Specify the default propagation delay from the broadcast/multicast server and this
computer. This is used only if the delay cannot be computed automatically by the pro-
tocol.
-s statsdir Specify the directory path for files created by the statistics facility.
-t key Add a key number to the trusted key list.
-v variable Add a system variable.
-V variable Add a system variable listed by default.
-x Make all adjustments by SLEW.
THE CONFIGURATION FILE
The
xntpd configuration file is read at initial startup in order to specify the synchronization sources,
modes and other related information. Usually, it is installed in the /etc/ntp.conf directory, but could
Section 1M−−918 Hewlett-Packard Company − 1 − HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003