path: root/usr.sbin/xntpd/doc/ntpq.8

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.TH NTPQ 8 LOCAL
.SH NAME
ntpq - standard Network Time Protocol query program
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ntpq
[
.B -inp
] [
.B -c 
.I command
] [
.I host
] [
.I ...
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Ntpq
is used to query NTP servers which implement the recommended NTP
mode 6 control message format about current state and to request
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.
.I Ntpq
can also obtain and print a list of peers in a common format
by sending multiple queries to the server.
.PP
If one or more request options is included on the command line when
.I 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
.I localhost
by default.  If no request options are given,
.I 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
.I localhost
when no other host is specified.
.I Ntpq
will prompt for commands if the standard input is a terminal device.
.PP
.I Ntpq
uses NTP mode 6 packets to communicate with the NTP server, and hence
can be used to query any compatable 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.
.I Ntpq
makes one attempt to retransmit requests, and will time requests out if
the remote host is not heard from within a suitable time out time.
.PP
Command line options are described following.  Specifying a command
line option other than
.B -i
or
.B -n
will cause the specified query (queries) to be sent to the indicated
host(s) immediately.  Otherwise,
.I ntpq
will attempt to read interactive format commands from the standard input.
.Ip -c 8
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
.B -c
options may be given.
.Ip -i 8
Force
.I ntpq
to operate in interactive mode.  Prompts will be written to the
standard output and commands read from the standard input.
.Ip -n 8
Output all host addresses in dotted\-quad numeric format rather than
converting to the canonical host names.
.Ip -p 8
Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a summary
of their state.  This is equivalent to the \*(L"peers\*(R" interactive
command.
.SH INTERNAL COMMANDS
.PP
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.  The output of a command
is normally sent to the standard output, but optionally the output of
individual commands may be sent to a file by appending a \*(L">\*(R",
followed by a file name, to the command line.
.PP
A number of interactive format commands are executed entirely within the
.I ntpq
program itself and do not result in NTP mode 6 requests being sent
to a server.  These are described following.
.PP
.B ?
[
.I command_keyword
}
.PP
A \*(L"?\*(R" by itself will print a list of all the command keywords
known to this incarnation of
.IR ntpq .
A \*(L"?\*(R" followed by a command keyword will print funcation and
usage information about the command.  This command is probably a better
source of information about
.I ntpq
than this manual page.
.PP
.B timeout
.I millseconds
.PP
Specify a time out period for responses to server queries.  The default
is about 5000 milliseconds.  Note that since
.I ntpq
retries each query once after a time out the total waiting time for a
time out will be twice the time out value set.
.PP
.B delay
.I milliseconds
.PP
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
time stamps in authenticated requests, so this command may be obsolete.
.PP
.B host
.I hostname
.PP
Set the host to which future queries will be sent.
.I Hostname
may be either a host name or a numeric
address.
.PP
.B poll
[
.I #
] [
.B verbose
]
.PP
Poll the current server in client mode.  The first argument is the
number of times to poll (default is 1) while the second argument may
be given to obtain a more detailed output of the results.  This command
is currently just wishful thinking.
.PP
.B keyid
.I #
.PP
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.
.PP
.B passwd
.PP
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.
.PP
.B "hostnames yes|no"
.PP
If \*(L"yes\*(R" is specified, host names are printed in information
displays.  If \*(L"no\*(R" is given, numeric addresses are printed
instead.  The default is \*(L"yes\*(R" unless modified using the command
line
.B -n
switch.
.PP
.B raw
.PP
Causes all output from query commands is printed as received from the
remote server.  The only formating/intepretation done on the data is
to transform nonascii data into a printable (but barely understandable)
form.
.PP
.B cooked
.PP
Causes output from query commands to be \*(L"cooked\*(R".  Variables
which are recognized by the server will have their values reformatted
for human consumption.  Variables which
.I ntpq
thinks should have a decodeable value but didn't are marked with a
trailing \*(L"?\*(R".
.PP
.B ntpversion
.B 1|2|3
.PP
Sets the NTP version number which
.I ntpq
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.
.PP
.B authenticate
.B yes|no
.PP
Normally
.I ntpq
does not authenticate requests unless they are write requests.  The command
.B authenticate yes
causes
.I ntpq
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 peer display.
.PP
.B addvars
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
.B rmvars
.IR <variable_name> [,...]
.B clearvars
.PP
The data carried by NTP mode 6 messages consists of a list of items
of the form
.IP "" 8
<variable_name>=<value>
.PP
where the \*(L"=<value>\*(R" is ignored, and can be omitted, in requests
to the server to read variables.
.I Ntpq
maintains an internal list in which data to be included in control messages
can be assembled, and sent using
the
.B readlist
and
.B writelist
commands described below.  The
.B 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
.B rmvars
command can be used to remove individual variables from the list, while
the
.B clearlist
command removes all variables from the list.
.PP
.B debug
.I more|less|off
.PP
Turns internal query program debugging on and off.
.PP
.B quit
.PP
Exit
.IR ntpq .
.SH CONTROL MESSAGE COMMANDS
.PP
Each peer known to an NTP server has a 16 bit integer
.I association
.I identifier
assigned to it.  NTP control messages which carry peer variables
must identify the peer the values correspond to by including
its association ID.  An association ID of 0 is special, and indicates
the variables are system variables, whose names are drawn from a
separate name space.
.PP
Control message commands result in one or more NTP mode 6
messages being sent to the server, and cause the data returned to be
printed in some format.  Most commands currently implemented send a single
message and expect a single response.  The current exceptions are the
.B peers
command, which will send a preprogrammed series of messages to obtain
the data it needs, and the
.B mreadlist
and
.B mreadvar
commands, which will iterate over a range of associations.
.PP
.B associations
.PP
Obtains and prints a list of association identifiers and
peer statuses for in\-spec
peers of the server being queried.  The list is printed in
columns.  The first of these is an index numbering the associations
from 1 for internal use, the second the actual association identifier
returned by the server and the third the status word for the peer.  This
is followed by a number of columns containing data decoded from the
status word.  Note
that the data returned by the \*(L"associations\*(R" command is cached
internally in
.IR ntpq .
The index is then of use when dealing with stupid servers which use
association identifiers which are hard for humans to type, in that
for any subsequent commands which require an association identifier
as an argument, the form
.I &index
may be used as an alternative.
.PP
.B lassocations
.PP
Obtains and prints a list of association identifiers and peer statuses
for all associations for which the server is maintaining state.  This
command differs from the
\*(L"associations\*(R"
command only for servers which retain state for out\-of\-spec client
associations (i.e. fuzzballs).  Such associations are normally omitted
from the display when the
\*(L"associations\*(R"
command is used, but are included in the output of
\*(L"lassociations\*(R".
.PP
.B passociations
.PP
Prints association data concerning in\-spec peers from the internally cached
list of associations.  This command performs
identically to the \*(L"associations\*(R" except that it displays the
internally stored data rather than making a new query.
.PP
.B lpassociations
.PP
Print data for all associations, including out\-of\-spec client
associations, from the internally cached list of associations.  This command
differs from \*(L"passociations\*(R" only when dealing with fuzzballs.
.PP
.B pstatus
.I assocID
.PP
Sends a read status request to the server for the given association.
The names and values of the peer variables returned will be printed.  Note
that the status word from the header is displayed preceding the variables,
both in hexidecimal and in pidgeon English.
.PP
.B readvar
[
.I assocID
] [
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
]
.PP
Requests that the values of the specified variables be returned by the
server by sending a read variables request.  If the association ID
is omitted or is given as zero the variables
are system variables, otherwise they
are peer variables and the values returned will be those
of the corresponding peer.  Omitting the variable list will send a
request with no data which should induce the server to return a
default display.
.PP
.B rv
[
.I assocID
] [
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
]
.PP
An easy\-to\-type short form for the
.B readvar
command.
.PP
.B writevar
.I assocID
.IR <variable_name>=<value> [,...]
.PP
Like the
.B readvar
request, except the specified variables are written instead of read.
.PP
.B readlist
[
.I assocID
]
.PP
Requests that the values of the variables in the internal variable
list be returned by the server.  If the association ID is omitted
or is 0 the variables are assumed to be system variables.  Otherwise
they are treated as peer variables.  If the internal variable list
is empty a request is sent without data, which should induce the remote
server to return a default display.
.PP
.B rl
[
.I assocID
]
.PP
An easy\-to\-type short form of the
.B readlist
command.
.PP
.B writelist
[
.I assocID
]
.PP
Like the
.B readlist
request, except the internal list variables are written instead of
read.
.PP
.B mreadvar
.I assocID
.I assocID
[
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
]
.PP
Like the
.B readvar
command except the query is done for each of a range of (nonzero)
association IDs.  This range is determined from the association list
cached by the most recent
.B associations
command.
.PP
.B mrv
.I assocID
.I assocID
[
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
]
.PP
An easy\-to\-type short form of the
.B mreadvar
command.
.PP
.B mreadlist
.I assocID
.I assocID
.PP
Like the
.B readlist
command except the query is done for each of a range of (nonzero)
association IDs.  This range is determined from the association list
cached by the most recent
.B associations
command.
.PP
.B mrl
.I assocID
.I assocID
.PP
An easy\-to\-type short form of the
.B mreadlist
command.
.PP
.B clockvar
[
.I assocID
]
[
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
]
.PP
Requests that a list of the server's clock variables be sent.  Servers
which have a radio clock or other external synchronization will respond
positively to this.  If the association identifier is omitted or zero
the request is for the variables of the \*(L"system clock\*(R" and will
generally get a positive response from all servers with a clock.  If the
server treats clocks as pseudo\-peers, and hence can possibly have more than
one clock connected at once, referencing the appropriate
peer association ID will show the variables of a particular clock.  Omitting
the variable list will cause the server to return a default variable display.
.PP
.B cv
[
.I assocID
]
[
.IR <variable_name>[=<value>] [,...]
]
.PP
An easy\-to\-type short form of the
.B clockvar
command.
.PP
.B peers
.PP
Obtains a list of in\-spec peers of the server, along
with a summary of each peer's state.  Summary information includes the address
of the remote peer, the reference ID (0.0.0.0 if the refID is unknown),
the stratum of the remote peer, the polling interval,
in seconds, the reachability
register, in octal, and the current estimated delay, offset and dispersion
of the peer, all in seconds.
.PP
The character in the left margin indicates the fate of this peer in the
clock selection process. The codes mean: <sp> discarded due to high stratum
and/or failed sanity checks; \*(L"x\*(R" designated falsticker by the
intersection algorithm; \*(L".\*(R" culled from the end of the candidate
list; \*(L"-\*(R" discarded by the clustering algorithmi; \*(L"+\*(R"
included in the final selection set; \*(L"#\*(R" selected for synchronizatio;n
but distance exceeds maximum; \*(L"*\*(R" selected for synchronization; and
\*(L"o\*(R" selected for synchronization, pps signal in use.
.PP
Note that since the
.B peers
command depends on the ability to parse the values in the
responses it gets it may fail to work from time to time with servers
which poorly control the data formats.
.PP
The contents of the host field may be one of four forms. It may be a host name,
an IP address, a reference clock implementation name with its parameter or
\*(L"REFCLK(<implementation number>, <parameter>)\*(R". On \*(L"hostnames no\*(R"
only IP\-addresses will be displayed.
.PP
.B lpeers
.PP
Like
.BR peers ,
except a summary of all associations for which the server is maintaining
state is printed.  This can produce a much longer list of peers from
fuzzball servers.
.PP
.B opeers
.PP
An old form of the \*(L"peers\*(R" command with the reference ID
replaced by the local interface address.
.SH HISTORY
.PP
Written by Dennis Ferguson at the University of Toronto.
.SH BUGS
.PP
The
.B peers
command is non\-atomic and may occasionally result in spurious error
messages about invalid associations occurring and terminating the
command.
.PP
The timeout time is a fixed constant, which means you wait a long time
for time outs since it assumes sort of a worst case.  The program
should improve the time out estimate as it sends queries to a particular
host, but doesn't.