xref: /openbsd-src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.8 (revision 328c3f4b3a396065bb78dcb935b4c3fd9b96b0ca)
1.\" $OpenBSD: ntpd.8,v 1.49 2023/03/02 17:09:53 jmc Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2003, 2004, 2006 Henning Brauer <henning@openbsd.org>
4.\"
5.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
6.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
7.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
8.\"
9.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
10.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
11.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
12.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
13.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF MIND, USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN
14.\" AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT
15.\" OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
16.\"
17.Dd $Mdocdate: March 2 2023 $
18.Dt NTPD 8
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm ntpd
22.Nd Network Time Protocol (NTP) daemon
23.Sh SYNOPSIS
24.Nm ntpd
25.Bk -words
26.Op Fl dnv
27.Op Fl f Ar file
28.Ek
29.Sh DESCRIPTION
30The
31.Nm
32daemon synchronizes the local clock to one or more remote NTP servers
33or local timedelta sensors.
34.Nm
35can also act as an NTP server itself,
36redistributing the local time.
37It implements the Simple Network Time Protocol version 4,
38as described in RFC 5905,
39and the Network Time Protocol version 3,
40as described in RFC 1305.
41Time can also be fetched from TLS HTTPS servers to reduce the
42impact of unauthenticated NTP
43man-in-the-middle attacks.
44.Pp
45The options are as follows:
46.Bl -tag -width "-f fileXXX"
47.It Fl d
48Do not daemonize.
49If this option is specified,
50.Nm
51will run in the foreground and log to
52.Em stderr .
53.It Fl f Ar file
54Use
55.Ar file
56as the configuration file,
57instead of the default
58.Pa /etc/ntpd.conf .
59.It Fl n
60Configtest mode.
61Only check the configuration file for validity.
62.It Fl v
63This option allows
64.Nm
65to send DEBUG priority messages to syslog.
66.El
67.Pp
68.Nm
69uses the
70.Xr adjtime 2
71system call to correct the local system time without causing time jumps.
72Adjustments of 32ms and greater are logged using
73.Xr syslog 3 .
74The threshold value is chosen to avoid having local clock drift
75thrash the log files.
76Should
77.Nm
78be started with the
79.Fl d
80or
81.Fl v
82option, all calls to
83.Xr adjtime 2
84will be logged.
85.Pp
86At boot,
87.Nm
88will stay for a maximum of 15 seconds in the foreground and make efforts to
89verify and correct the time if constraints are configured and
90satisfied or if trusted servers or sensors return results,
91and if the clock is not being moved backwards.
92.Pp
93After the local clock is synchronized,
94.Nm
95adjusts the clock frequency using the
96.Xr adjfreq 2
97system call to compensate for systematic drift.
98.Pp
99.Nm
100is started at boot time by default via
101.Va ntpd_flags
102in
103.Pa /etc/rc.conf .
104See
105.Xr rc 8
106and
107.Xr rc.conf 8
108for more information on the boot process
109and enabling daemons.
110.Pp
111When
112.Nm
113starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file,
114typically
115.Xr ntpd.conf 5 ,
116and its initial clock drift from
117.Pa /var/db/ntpd.drift .
118Clock drift is periodically written to the drift file thereafter.
119.Sh FILES
120.Bl -tag -width "/var/db/ntpd.driftXXX" -compact
121.It Pa /etc/ntpd.conf
122Default configuration file.
123.It Pa /var/db/ntpd.drift
124Drift file.
125.It Pa /var/run/ntpd.sock
126Socket file for communication with
127.Xr ntpctl 8 .
128.El
129.Sh SEE ALSO
130.Xr date 1 ,
131.Xr adjfreq 2 ,
132.Xr adjtime 2 ,
133.Xr ntpd.conf 5 ,
134.Xr ntpctl 8 ,
135.Xr rc 8 ,
136.Xr rc.conf 8 ,
137.Xr rdate 8
138.Sh STANDARDS
139.Rs
140.%A David L. Mills
141.%D March 1992
142.%R RFC 1305
143.%T Network Time Protocol (Version 3): Specification, Implementation and Analysis
144.Re
145.Pp
146.Rs
147.%A David L. Mills
148.%A Jim Martin
149.%A Jack Burbank
150.%A William Kasch
151.%D June 2010
152.%R RFC 5905
153.%T Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification
154.Re
155.Sh HISTORY
156The
157.Nm
158program first appeared in
159.Ox 3.6 .
160