NAME¶
ntpq - standard NTP query program
SYNOPSIS¶
ntpq [-inp] [-c
command] [
host] [...]
DESCRIPTION¶
The ntpq utility program is used to monitor NTP daemon ntpd operations and
determine performance. It uses the standard NTP mode 6 control message formats
defined in Appendix B of the NTPv3 specification RFC1305. 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 can 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 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. ntpq 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. ntpq
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 DNS resolution to the IPv4 namespace, while a -6
qualifier forces DNS resolution to the IPv6 namespace.
OPTIONS¶
Command line options are described following. 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.
- -4
- Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command
line to the IPv4 namespace.
- -6
- Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command
line to the IPv6 namespace.
- -c
- 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). Multiple -c options may be given.
- -i
- Force ntpq to operate in interactive mode. Prompts will be
written to the standard output and commands read from the standard
input.
- -n
- Output all host addresses in dotted-quad numeric format
rather than converting to the canonical host names.
- -p
- 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.
SEE ALSO¶
/usr/share/doc/ntp-doc/html/ntpq.html for the full documentation.