xref: /openbsd-src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.8 (revision f2da64fbbbf1b03f09f390ab01267c93dfd77c4c)
1.\" $OpenBSD: ntpd.8,v 1.40 2015/10/30 16:41:53 reyk 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: October 30 2015 $
18.Dt NTPD 8
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm ntpd
22.Nd Network Time Protocol daemon
23.Sh SYNOPSIS
24.Nm ntpd
25.Bk -words
26.Op Fl dnSsv
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 S
63Do not set the time immediately at startup.
64This is the default.
65.It Fl s
66Try to set the time immediately at startup, as opposed to slowly adjusting the
67clock.
68.Nm
69will stay in the foreground for up to 15 seconds waiting for one of the
70configured NTP servers to reply.
71.It Fl v
72This option allows
73.Nm
74to send DEBUG priority messages to syslog.
75.El
76.Pp
77.Nm
78uses the
79.Xr adjtime 2
80system call to correct the local system time without causing time jumps.
81Adjustments of 32ms and greater are logged using
82.Xr syslog 3 .
83The threshold value is chosen to avoid having local clock drift
84thrash the log files.
85Should
86.Nm
87be started with the
88.Fl d
89or
90.Fl v
91option, all calls to
92.Xr adjtime 2
93will be logged.
94.Pp
95After the local clock is synchronized,
96.Nm
97adjusts the clock frequency using the
98.Xr adjfreq 2
99system call to compensate for systematic drift.
100.Pp
101.Nm
102is usually started at boot time, and can be enabled by
103setting
104.Va ntpd_flags
105in
106.Pa /etc/rc.conf.local .
107See
108.Xr rc 8
109and
110.Xr rc.conf 8
111for more information on the boot process
112and enabling daemons.
113.Pp
114When
115.Nm
116starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file,
117typically
118.Xr ntpd.conf 5 ,
119and its initial clock drift from
120.Pa /var/db/ntpd.drift .
121Clock drift is periodically written to the drift file thereafter.
122.Sh FILES
123.Bl -tag -width "/var/db/ntpd.driftXXX" -compact
124.It Pa /etc/ntpd.conf
125Default configuration file.
126.It Pa /var/db/ntpd.drift
127Drift file.
128.It Pa /var/run/ntpd.sock
129Socket file for communication with
130.Xr ntpctl 8 .
131.El
132.Sh SEE ALSO
133.Xr date 1 ,
134.Xr adjfreq 2 ,
135.Xr adjtime 2 ,
136.Xr ntpd.conf 5 ,
137.Xr ntpctl 8 ,
138.Xr rc 8 ,
139.Xr rc.conf 8 ,
140.Xr rdate 8
141.Sh STANDARDS
142.Rs
143.%A David L. Mills
144.%D March 1992
145.%R RFC 1305
146.%T Network Time Protocol (Version 3): Specification, Implementation and Analysis
147.Re
148.Pp
149.Rs
150.%A David L. Mills
151.%A Jim Martin
152.%A Jack Burbank
153.%A William Kasch
154.%D June 2010
155.%R RFC 5905
156.%T Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification
157.Re
158.Sh HISTORY
159The
160.Nm
161program first appeared in
162.Ox 3.6 .
163