hi,
i'm trying to keep my local clock synched through ntpd. i used to do

that with ntpdate, but since ntpd is available in a standard install

i thought i'd try that. i start ntpd at boot, with added -s to synch

the clock right away. however, after that it starts moving the clock

backwards. restarting ntpd just makes it repeat the process :
[old ntpd, started at boot]

Mar 27 08:46:58  ntpd[20919]: adjusting local clock by 9642.320276s

Mar 27 08:49:06  ntpd[20919]: adjusting local clock by 2143.405987s

Mar 27 08:50:07  ntpd[20919]: adjusting local clock by 2142.248606s

Mar 27 08:51:42  ntpd[20919]: adjusting local clock by 9644.027785s

Mar 27 08:54:45  ntpd[1871]: ntp_dispatch_imsg in ntp engine: pipe closed

Mar 27 08:54:45  ntpd[1871]: ntp engine exiting

[restart]

Mar 27 08:55:02  ntpd[2426]: ntp engine ready

Mar 27 11:35:52  ntpd[16439]: set local clock to Tue Mar 27 11:35:52 CEST 2007 (offset 9649.641093s)

Mar 27 11:36:09  ntpd[2426]: peer 194.146.227.112 now valid

[some more peers snipped]

Mar 27 11:37:33  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 1.288053s

Mar 27 11:40:10  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 6.464148s

Mar 27 11:40:10  ntpd[2426]: clock is now synced

Mar 27 11:44:23  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 10.656797s

Mar 27 11:46:36  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 13.004900s

Mar 27 11:46:36  ntpd[2426]: clock is now unsynced

Mar 27 11:49:17  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 11.683026s

Mar 27 11:53:39  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 15.193740s
(if left alone, this adjustment will increase perpetually).
timezone is set correctly :

$ ls -la /etc/localtime

lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  36 Dec  2 00:38 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam
$ date

Tue Mar 27 12:25:30 CEST 2007
any ideas ? it _has_ managed to keep the clock synched once,

but after a reboot it went completely bonkers. i tried removing

the drift-file and restarting it as well, to no avail. i'm

running 4.0-release, and the provided ntpd.
--

CUL8R, Peter.

It looks like your clock drifts more that ntpd can compensate. Please

share some details on your setup, like the dmesg.  Also, if you remove

the drift file, you must reboot, since otherwise the existing

frequency compensations stays in effect. 
	-Otto

hi,
ok, i cleared the drift-file and rebooted. as near as i can

figure (i had to boot multiple times, and unclean at that) this

is what happend slightly bfore/during/after the last boot (the times

are so screwed i can't really make it out).
Mar 28 20:12:46  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 950.304366s

Mar 28 20:17:11  ntpd[6515]: adjusting local clock by 954.223055s

Mar 28 22:53:00  ntpd[18691]: ntp engine ready

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[14539]: set local clock to Wed Mar 28 20:49:13 CEST 2007 (offset -7427.749161s)

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[18691]: reply from 213.246.63.72: negative delay -7427.686509s, next query 3068s

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[18691]: reply from 62.220.226.2: negative delay -7427.684053s, next query 3199s

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[18691]: reply from 149.156.70.5: negative delay -7427.676747s, next query 3149s

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[18691]: reply from 193.11.184.180: negative delay -7427.676303s, next query 3136s

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[18691]: reply from 194.215.7.39: not synced, next query 3052s

Mar 28 20:49:13  ntpd[18691]: reply from 128.241.238.31: negative delay -7427.633371s, next query 3083s

Mar 28 20:49:13  savecore: no core dump

Mar 28 20:58:54  ntpd[3522]: peer 80.240.210.253 now valid

[peers snipped]

Mar 28 20:59:57  ntpd[31863]: adjusting local clock by 2.284285s

Mar 28 21:02:37  ntpd[18773]: ntp engine ready

Mar 28 21:02:37  ntpd[18773]: reply from 194.215.7.39: not synced, next query 3110s

Mar 28 21:02:37  savecore: no core dump

Mar 28 21:02:52  ntpd[18773]: peer 217.150.242.8 now valid

Mar 28 21:02:59  ntpd[18773]: peer 213.246.63.72 now valid

Mar 28 21:02:59  ntpd[18773]: peer 193.11.184.180 now valid

Mar 28 21:02:59  ntpd[18773]: peer 128.241.238.31 now valid

Mar 28 21:03:00  ntpd[18773]: peer 149.156.70.5 now valid

Mar 28 21:03:03  ntpd[18773]: peer 62.220.226.2 now valid

Mar 28 21:03:57  ntpd[2354]: adjusting local clock by 6.573991s

Mar 28 21:06:04  ntpd[2354]: adjusting local clock by 3.905197s

Mar 28 21:08:37  ntpd[2354]: adjusting local clock by 8.4...
[ message continues ]

Yep, this configrms it. Your clock is drifting so much that ntpd can't

keep up. I'm afraid there's not a lot I can do about that.

Unless I'm very confused, though, repeated use of something like

rdate(8) will work, or, rather, 'work'...
		Joachim