User guide for the chrony suite
*******************************
1 Introduction
**************
1.1 Overview
============
Chrony is a software package for maintaining the accuracy of computer
system clocks. It consists of a pair of programs :
* `chronyd'. This is a daemon which runs in background on the
system. It obtains measurements (e.g. via the network) of the
system's offset relative to other systems, and adjusts the system
time accordingly. For isolated systems, the user can periodically
enter the correct time by hand (using `chronyc'). In either case,
`chronyd' determines the rate at which the computer gains or loses
time, and compensates for this.
`chronyd' can also act as an NTP server, and provide a time-of-day
service to other computers. A typical set-up is to run `chronyd'
on a gateway computer that has a dial-up link to the Internet, and
use it to serve time to computers on a private LAN sitting behind
the gateway. The IP addresses that can act as clients of
`chronyd' can be tightly controlled. The default is no client
access.
* `chronyc'. This is a command-line driven control and monitoring
program. An administrator can use this to fine-tune various
parameters within the daemon, add or delete servers etc whilst the
daemon is running.
The IP addresses from which `chronyc' clients may connect can be
tightly controlled. The default is just the computer that
`chronyd' itself is running on.
1.2 Acknowledgements
====================
The `chrony' suite makes use of the algorithm known as _RSA Data
Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm_ for authenticating
messages between different machines on the network.
In writing the `chronyd' program, extensive use has been made of
RFC1305, written by David Mills. I have occasionally referred to the
`xntp' suite's source code to check details of the protocol that the
RFC did not make absolutely clear. The core algorithms in `chronyd'
are all completely distinct from `xntp', however.
1.3 Availability
================
1.3.1 Getting the software
--------------------------
Links on the chrony home page (http://chrony.tuxfamily.org) describe
how to obtain the software.
1.3.2 Platforms
---------------
Although most of the program is portable between Unix-like systems,
there are parts that have to be tailored to each specific vendor's
system. These are the parts that interface with the operating system's
facilities for adjusting the system clock; different operating systems
may provide different function calls to achieve this, and even where
the same function is used it may have different quirks in its behaviour.
The software is known to work in the following environments:
* Linux on i386, x86_64 and PowerPC architectures. The software is
known to work on Linux 2.0.x and newer. Prior to 2.0.31, the real
time clock can't be used.
* NetBSD
* BSD/386
* Solaris 2.3/2.5/2.5.1/2.6/2.7/2.8 on Sparc (Sparc 20, Ultrasparc)
and i386
* SunOS 4.1.4 on Sparc 2 and Sparc20.
Closely related systems may work too, but they have not been tested.
Porting the software to other system (particularly to those
supporting an `adjtime' system call) should not be difficult, however it
requires access to such systems to test out the driver.
1.4 Relationship to other software packages
===========================================
1.4.1 xntpd
-----------
The `reference' implementation of the Network Time Protocol is the
program `xntpd', available via The NTP home page
(http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp).
`xntpd' is designed to support all the operating modes defined by
RFC1305, and has driver support for a large number of reference clocks
(such as GPS receivers) that can be connected directly to a computer,
thereby providing a so-called 'stratum 1' server.
Things `chronyd' can do that `xntpd' can't:
* `chronyd' can perform usefully in an environment where access to
the time reference is intermittent. `chronyd' estimates _both_
the current time offset _and_ the rate at which the computer's
clock gains or loses time, and can use that rate estimate to trim
the clock after the reference disappears. `xntpd' corrects any
time offset by speeding up and slowing down the computer clock, and
so could be left with a significant rate error if the reference
disappears whilst it is trying to correct a big offset.
* `chronyd' provides support for isolated networks whether the only
method of time correction is manual entry (e.g. by the
administrator looking at a clock). `chronyd' can look at the
errors corrected at different updates to work out the rate at
which the computer gains or loses time, and use this estimate to
trim the computer clock subsequently.
* `chronyd' provides support to work out the gain or loss rate of the
`real-time clock', i.e. the clock that maintains the time when the
computer is turned off. It can use this data when the system
boots to set the system time from a corrected version of the
real-time clock. These real-time clock facilities are only
available on certain releases of Linux, so far.
* The `xntpd' program is supported by other programs to carry out
certain functions. `ntpdate' is used to provide an initial
correction to the system clock based on a `one-shot' sampling of
other NTP servers. `tickadj' is used to adjust certain operating
system parameters to make `xntpd' work better. All this
functionality is integrated into `chronyd'.
Things `xntpd' can do that `chronyd' can't:
* `xntpd' supports effectively all of RFC1305, including broadcast /
multicast clients and extra encryption schemes for authenticating
data packets.
* `xntpd' has been ported to more types of computer / operating
system (so far).
* xntpd is designed to work solely with integer arithmetic (i.e.
does not require floating point support from its host).
1.4.2 timed
-----------
`timed' is a program that is part of the BSD networking suite. It uses
broadcast packets to find all machines running the daemon within a
subnet. The machines elect a master which periodically measures the
system clock offsets of the other computers using ICMP timestamps.
Corrections are sent to each member as a result of this process.
Problems that may arise with `timed' are :
* Because it uses broadcasts, it is not possible to isolate its
functionality to a particular group of computers; there is a risk
of upsetting other computers on the same network (e.g. where a
whole company is on the same subnet but different departments are
independent from the point of view of administering their
computers.)
* The update period appears to be 10 minutes. Computers can build up
significant offsets relative to each other in that time. If a
computer can estimate its rate of drift it can keep itself closer
to the other computers between updates by adjusting its clock
every few seconds. `timed' does not seem to do this.
* `timed' does not have any integrated capability for feeding
real-time into its estimates, or for estimating the average rate
of time loss/gain of the machines relative to real-time (unless
one of the computers in the group has access to an external
reference and is always appointed as the `master').
`timed' does have the benefit over `chronyd' that for isolated
networks of computers, they will track the `majority vote' time. For
such isolated networks, `chronyd' requires one computer to be the
`master' with the others slaved to it. If the master has a particular
defective clock, the whole set of computers will tend to slip relative
to real time (but they _will_ stay accurate relative to one another).
1.5 Distribution rights and (lack of) warranty
==============================================
Chrony may be distributed in accordance with the GNU General Public
License version 2, reproduced in *Note GPL::.
1.6 Bug reporting and suggestions
=================================
If you think you've found a bug in chrony, or have a suggestion, please
let us know. You can join chrony users mailing list by sending a
message with the subject subscribe to
<chrony-users-request@chrony.tuxfamily.org>. Only subscribers can post
to the list.
When you are reporting a bug, please send us all the information you
can. Unfortunately, chrony has proven to be one of those programs
where it is very difficult to reproduce bugs in a different
environment. So we may have to interact with you quite a lot to obtain
enough extra logging and tracing to pin-point the problem in some
cases. Please be patient and plan for this!
Of course, if you can debug the problem yourself and send us a
source code patch to fix it, we will be very grateful!
1.7 Contributions
=================
Although chrony is now a fairly mature and established project, there
are still areas that could be improved. If you can program in C and
have some expertise in these areas, you might be able to fill the gaps.
Particular areas that need addressing are :
1. Porting to other Unices
This involves creating equivalents of sys_solaris.c, sys_linux.c
etc for the new system. Note, the Linux driver has been reported
as working on a range of different architectures (Alpha, Sparc,
MIPS as well as x86 of course).
2. Porting to Windows NT
I did a small amount of work on this under Cygwin. Only the
sorting out of the include files has really been achieved so far.
The two main areas still to address are
1. The system clock driver.
2. How to make chronyd into an NT service (i.e. what to replace
fork(), setsid() etc with so that chronyd can be
automatically started in the system bootstrap.
3. More drivers for reference clock support
4. Automation of the trimrtc and writertc mechanisms
Currently, the RTC trimming mechanism is a manual operation,
because there has to be a reasonable guarantee that the system
will stay up for a reasonable length of time afterwards. (If it
is shut down too soon, a poor characterisation of the RTC drift
rate will be stored on disc, giving a bad system clock error when
the system is next booted.)
To make chrony more automated for the non-expert user, it would be
useful if this problem could be avoided so that trimrtc could be
done automatically (e.g. in a crontab, or as part of the ip-up or
ip-down scripts.)
2 Installation
**************
The software is distributed as source code which has to be compiled.
The source code is supplied in the form of a gzipped tar file, which
unpacks to a subdirectory identifying the name and version of the
program.
After unpacking the source code, change directory into it, and type
./configure
This is a shell script that automatically determines the system type.
There is a single optional parameter, `--prefix' which indicates the
directory tree where the software should be installed. For example,
./configure --prefix=/opt/free
will install the `chronyd' daemon into /opt/free/sbin and the
chronyc control program into /opt/free/bin. The default value for the
prefix is /usr/local.
The configure script assumes you want to use gcc as your compiler.
If you want to use a different compiler, you can configure this way:
CC=cc CFLAGS=-O ./configure --prefix=/opt/free
for Bourne-family shells, or
setenv CC cc
setenv CFLAGS -O
./configure --prefix=/opt/free
for C-family shells.
If the software cannot (yet) be built on your system, an error
message will be shown. Otherwise, `Makefile' will be generated.
If editline or readline library is available, chronyc will be built
with line editing support. If you don't want this, specify the
-disable-readline flag to configure. Please refer to *note line
editing support:: for more information.
If a `timepps.h' header is available, chronyd will be built with PPS
API reference clock driver. If the header is installed in a location
that isn't normally searched by the compiler, you can add it to the
searched locations by setting `CPPFLAGS' variable to
`-I/path/to/timepps'.
Now type
make
to build the programs.
If you want to build the manual in plain text, HTML and info
versions, type
make docs
Once the programs have been successfully compiled, they need to be
installed in their target locations. This step normally needs to be
performed by the superuser, and requires the following command to be
entered.
make install
This will install the binaries, plain text manual and manpages.
To install the HTML and info versions of the manual as well, enter
the command
make install-docs
If you want chrony to appear in the top level info directory
listing, you need to run the `install-info' command manually after this
step. `install-info' takes 2 arguments. The first is the path to the
`chrony.info' file you have just installed. This will be the argument
you gave to -prefix when you configured (`/usr/local' by default), with
`/share/info/chrony.info' on the end. The second argument is the
location of the file called `dir'. This will typically be
`/usr/share/info/dir'. So the typical command line would be
install-info /usr/local/share/info/chrony.info /usr/share/info/dir
Now that the software is successfully installed, the next step is to
set up a configuration file. The contents of this depend on the
network environment in which the computer operates. Typical scenarios
are described in the following section of the document.
2.1 Support for line editing libraries
======================================
Chronyc can be built with support for line editing, this allows you to
use the cursor keys to replay and edit old commands. Two libraries are
supported which provide such functionality, editline and GNU readline.
Please note that readline since version 6.0 is licensed under GPLv3+
which is incompatible with chrony's license GPLv2. You should use
editline instead if you don't want to use older readline versions.
The configure script will automatically enable the line editing
support if one of the supported libraries is available. If they are
both available, the editline library will be used.
If you don't want to use it (in which case chronyc will use a
minimal command line interface), invoke configure like this:
./configure --disable-readline other-options...
If you have editline, readline or ncurses installed in locations
that aren't normally searched by the compiler and linker, you need to
use extra options:
`--with-readline-includes=directory_name'
This defines the name of the directory above the one where
`readline.h' is. `readline.h' is assumed to be in `editline' or
`readline' subdirectory of the named directory.
`--with-readline-library=directory_name'
This defines the directory containing the `libedit.a' or
`libedit.so' file, or `libreadline.a' or `libreadline.so' file.
`--with-ncurses-library=directory_name'
This defines the directory containing the `libncurses.a' or
`libncurses.so' file.
2.2 Extra options for package builders
======================================
The configure and make procedures have some extra options that may be
useful if you are building a distribution package for chrony.
The -infodir=DIR option to configure specifies an install directory
for the info files. This overrides the `info' subdirectory of the
argument to the -prefix option. For example, you might use
./configure --prefix=/usr --infodir=/usr/share/info
The -mandir=DIR option to configure specifies an install directory
for the man pages. This overrides the `man' subdirectory of the
argument to the -prefix option.
./configure --prefix=/usr --infodir=/usr/share/info --mandir=/usr/share/man
to set both options together.
The final option is the DESTDIR option to the make command. For
example, you could use the commands
./configure --prefix=/usr --infodir=/usr/share/info --mandir=/usr/share/man
make all docs
make install DESTDIR=./tmp
cd tmp
tar cvf - . | gzip -9 > chrony.tar.gz
to build a package. When untarred within the root directory, this
will install the files to the intended final locations.
3 Typical operating scenarios
*****************************
3.1 Computers connected to the internet
=======================================
In this section we discuss how to configure chrony for computers that
have permanent connections to the internet (or to any network
containing true NTP servers which ultimately derive their time from a
reference clock).
To operate in this mode, you will need to know the names of the NTP
server machines you wish to use. You may be able to find names of
suitable servers by one of the following methods:
* Your institution may already operate servers on its network.
Contact your system administrator to find out.
* Your ISP probably has one or more NTP servers available for its
customers.
* Somewhere under the NTP homepage there is a list of public stratum
1 and stratum 2 servers. You should find one or more servers that
are near to you -- check that their access policy allows you to
use their facilities.
Assuming that you have found some servers, you need to set up a
configuration file to run chrony. The (compiled-in) default location
for this file is `/etc/chrony.conf'. Assuming that your ntp servers
are called `a.b.c' and `d.e.f', your `chrony.conf' file could contain
as a minimum
server a.b.c
server d.e.f
server g.h.i
However, you will probably want to include some of the other
directives described later. The following directives will be
particularly useful : `driftfile', `commandkey', `keyfile'. The
smallest useful configuration file would look something like
server a.b.c
server d.e.f
server g.h.i
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
commandkey 1
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
3.2 Infrequent connection to true NTP servers
=============================================
In this section we discuss how to configure chrony for computers that
have occasional connections to the internet.
3.2.1 Setting up the configuration file for infrequent connections
------------------------------------------------------------------
As in the previous section, you will need access to NTP servers on the
internet. The same remarks apply for how to find them.
In this case, you will need some additional configuration to tell
`chronyd' when the connection to the internet goes up and down. This
saves the program from continuously trying to poll the servers when
they are inaccessible.
Again, assuming that your ntp servers are called `a.b.c' and
`d.e.f', your `chrony.conf' file would need to contain something like
server a.b.c
server d.e.f
server g.h.i
However, the following issues need to be addressed:
1. Your computer probably doesn't have DNS access whilst offline to
turn the machine names into IP addresses.
2. Your computer will keep trying to contact the servers to obtain
timestamps, even whilst offline. If you operate a dial-on-demand
system, things are even worse, because the link to the internet
will keep getting established.
For this reason, it would be better to specify this part of your
configuration file in the following way:
server 1.2.3.4 offline
server 5.6.7.8 offline
server 9.10.11.12 offline
Because numeric IP addresses have been used, the first problem is
overcome. The `offline' keyword indicates that the servers start in an
offline state, and that they should not be contacted until `chronyd'
receives notification that the link to the internet is present.
An alternative is to use the names of the NTP servers, and put
entries for them into your `/etc/hosts' file. This will be OK as long
as `files' comes before `dns' in the `hosts' line of the
`/etc/nsswitch.conf' file.
In order to notify `chronyd' of the presence of the link, you will
need to be able to log in to it with the program chronyc. To do this,
`chronyd' needs to be configured with an administrator password. To
set up an administrator password, you can create a file
`/etc/chrony.keys' containing a single line
1 xyzzy
and add the following line to `/etc/chrony.conf' (the order of the
lines does not matter)
commandkey 1
The smallest useful configuration file would look something like
server 1.2.3.4 offline
server 5.6.7.8 offline
server 9.10.11.12 offline
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
commandkey 1
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
The next section describes how to tell `chronyd' when the internet
link goes up and down.
3.2.2 How to tell chronyd when the internet link is available.
--------------------------------------------------------------
To use this option, you will need to configure a command key in
`chronyd's' configuration file `/etc/chrony.conf', as described in the
previous section.
To tell `chronyd' when to start and finish sampling the servers, the
`online' and `offline' commands of chronyc need to be used. To give an
example of their use, we assume that `pppd' is the program being used
to connect to the internet, and that chronyc has been installed at its
default location `/usr/local/bin/chronyc'. We also assume that the
command key has been set up as described in the previous section.
In the file `/etc/ppp/ip-up' we add the command sequence
/usr/local/bin/chronyc <<EOF
password xyzzy
online
EOF
and in the file `/etc/ppp/ip-down' we add the sequence
/usr/local/bin/chronyc <<EOF
password xyzzy
offline
EOF
`chronyd's' polling of the servers will now only occur whilst the
machine is actually connected to the Internet.
3.3 Isolated networks
=====================
In this section we discuss how to configure chrony for computers that
never have network conectivity to any computer which ultimately derives
its time from a reference clock.
In this situation, one computer is selected to be the master
timeserver. The other computers are either direct clients of the
master, or clients of clients.
The rate value in the master's drift file needs to be set to the
average rate at which the master gains or loses time. `chronyd'
includes support for this, in the form of the `manual' directive in the
configuration file and the `settime' command in the `chronyc' program.
If the master is rebooted, `chronyd' can re-read the drift rate from
the drift file. However, the master has no accurate estimate of the
current time. To get around this, the system can be configured so that
the master can initially set itself to a `majority-vote' of selected
clients' times; this allows the clients to `flywheel' the master across
its outage.
A typical configuration file for the master (called `master') might
be (assuming the clients are in the 192.168.165.x subnet and that the
master's address is 192.168.169.170)
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
commandkey 25
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
initstepslew 10 client1 client3 client6
local stratum 8
manual
allow 192.168.165
For the clients that have to resynchronise the master when it
restarts, the configuration file might be
server master
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
logdir /var/log/chrony
log measurements statistics tracking
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
commandkey 24
local stratum 10
initstepslew 20 master
allow 192.168.169.170
The rest of the clients would be the same, except that the `local'
and `allow' directives are not required.
3.4 The home PC with a dial-up connection
=========================================
3.4.1 Assumptions/how the software works
----------------------------------------
This section considers the home computer which has a dial-up connection.
It assumes that Linux is run exclusively on the computer. Dual-boot
systems may work; it depends what (if anything) the other system does to
the system's real-time clock.
Much of the configuration for this case is discussed earlier (*note
Infrequent connection::). This section addresses specifically the case
of a computer which is turned off between 'sessions'.
In this case, `chronyd' relies on the computer's real-time clock
(RTC) to maintain the time between the periods when it is powered up.
The arrangement is shown in the figure below.
trim if required PSTN
+---------------------------+ +----------+
| | | |
v | | |
+---------+ +-------+ +-----+ +---+
| System's| measure error/ |chronyd| |modem| |ISP|
|real-time|------------------->| |-------| | | |
| clock | drift rate +-------+ +-----+ +---+
+---------+ ^ |
| | |
+---------------------------+ --o-----o---
set time at boot up |
+----------+
|NTP server|
+----------+
When the computer is connected to the Internet (via the modem),
`chronyd' has access to external NTP servers which it makes
measurements from. These measurements are saved, and straight-line fits
are performed on them to provide an estimate of the computer's time
error and rate of gaining/losing time.
When the computer is taken offline from the Internet, the best
estimate of the gain/loss rate is used to free-run the computer until
it next goes online.
Whilst the computer is running, `chronyd' makes measurements of the
real-time clock (RTC) (via the `/dev/rtc' interface, which must be
compiled into the kernel). An estimate is made of the RTC error at a
particular RTC second, and the rate at which the RTC gains or loses time
relative to true time.
The RTC is fully supported in 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.
On 2.6 kernels, if your motherboard has a HPET, you need to enable
the `HPET_EMULATE_RTC' option in your kernel configuration. Otherwise,
chrony will not be able to interact with the RTC device and will give
up using it.
For kernels in the 2.0 series prior to 2.0.32, the kernel was set up
to trim the RTC every 11 minutes. This would be disasterous for
`chronyd' - there is no reliable way of synchronising with this
trimming. For this reason, `chronyd' only supports the RTC in 2.0
kernels from v2.0.32 onwards.
When the computer is powered down, the measurement histories for all
the NTP servers are saved to files (if the `dumponexit' directive is
specified in the configuration file), and the RTC tracking information
is also saved to a file (if the `rtcfile' directive has been
specified). These pieces of information are also saved if the `dump'
and `writertc' commands respectively are issued through `chronyc'.
When the computer is rebooted, `chronyd' reads the current RTC time
and the RTC information saved at the last shutdown. This information is
used to set the system clock to the best estimate of what its time would
have been now, had it been left running continuously. The measurement
histories for the servers are then reloaded.
The next time the computer goes online, the previous sessions'
measurements can contribute to the line-fitting process, which gives a
much better estimate of the computer's gain/loss rate.
One problem with saving the measurements and RTC data when the
machine is shut down is what happens if there is a power failure; the
most recent data will not be saved. Although `chronyd' is robust enough
to cope with this, some performance may be lost. (The main danger
arises if the RTC has been changed during the session, with the
`trimrtc' command in `chronyc'. Because of this, `trimrtc' will make
sure that a meaningful RTC file is saved out after the change is
completed).
The easiest protection against power failure is to put the `dump'
and `writertc' commands in the same place as the `offline' command is
issued to take `chronyd' offline; because `chronyd' free-runs between
online sessions, no parameters will change significantly between going
offline from the Internet and any power failure.
A final point regards home computers which are left running for
extended periods and where it is desired to spin down the hard disc
when it is not in use (e.g. when not accessed for 15 minutes).
`chronyd' has been planned so it supports such operation; this is the
reason why the RTC tracking parameters are not saved to disc after
every update, but only when the user requests such a write, or during
the shutdown sequence. The only other facility that will generate
periodic writes to the disc is the `log rtc' facility in the
configuration file; this option should not be used if you want your
disc to spin down.
3.4.2 Typical configuration files.
----------------------------------
To illustrate how a dial-up home computer might be configured, example
configuration files are shown in this section.
For the `/etc/chrony.conf' file, the following can be used as an
example. _NOTE : The `server' directives are only applicable to
customers of Demon Internet; users of other ISPs will need to use their
own ISP's NTP servers or public NTP servers._
server 158.152.1.65 minpoll 5 maxpoll 10 maxdelay 0.4 offline
server 158.152.1.76 minpoll 5 maxpoll 10 maxdelay 0.4 offline
server 194.159.253.2 minpoll 5 maxpoll 10 maxdelay 0.4 offline
logdir /var/log/chrony
log statistics measurements tracking
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
commandkey 25
maxupdateskew 100.0
dumponexit
dumpdir /var/log/chrony
rtcfile /etc/chrony.rtc
With Freeserve as the ISP, I use the following server lines :
server 194.152.64.68 minpoll 5 maxpoll 10 maxdelay 0.4 offline
server 194.152.64.35 minpoll 5 maxpoll 10 maxdelay 0.4 offline
server 194.152.64.34 minpoll 5 maxpoll 10 maxdelay 0.4 offline
I use `pppd' for connecting to my ISP. This runs two scripts
`/etc/ppp/ip-up' and `/etc/ppp/ip-down' when the link goes online and
offline respectively.
The relevant part of the `/etc/ppp/ip-up' file is (with a dummy
password)
/usr/local/bin/chronyc <<EOF
password xxxxxxxx
online
EOF
and the relevant part of the `/etc/ppp/ip-down' script is
/usr/local/bin/chronyc <<EOF
password xxxxxxxx
offline
dump
writertc
EOF
(Because they have to contain the administrator password, it would be
desirable to make the files readable only by root on a multiuser
machine).
To start `chronyd' during the boot sequence, I have the following in
`/etc/rc.d/rc.local' (this is a Slackware system)
if [ -f /usr/local/sbin/chronyd -a -f /etc/chrony.conf ]; then
/usr/local/sbin/chronyd -r -s
echo "Start chronyd"
fi
The placement of this command may be important on some systems. In
particular, `chronyd' may need to be started several seconds (about 10
as a minimum) before any software that depends on the system clock not
jumping or moving backwards, depending on the directives in `chronyd's'
configuration file.
For the system shutdown, `chronyd' should receive a SIGTERM several
seconds before the final SIGKILL; the SIGTERM causes the measurement
histories and RTC information to be saved out. There should be no need
to add anything to the shutdown sequence, unless (as my system had)
there is no pause between the SIGTERM and SIGKILL being delivered to the
remaining processes. So if you find something like
killall5 -15
killall5 -9
in your `/etc/rc.d/rc.0' script, you will need to insert a sleep,
e.g.
killall5 -15
sleep 5
killall5 -9
Otherwise, `chronyd' will not always save information on shutdown,
which could be a problem if you don't use `dump' and `writertc' when
you go offline.
3.5 Other important configuration options
=========================================
The most common option to include in the configuration file is the
`driftfile' option. One of the major tasks of `chronyd' is to work out
how fast or how slow the system clock runs relative to real time - e.g.
in terms of seconds gained or lost per day. Measurements over a long
period are usually required to refine this estimate to an acceptable
degree of accuracy. Therefore, it would be bad if `chronyd' had to
work the value out each time it is restarted, because the system clock
would not run so accurately whilst the determination is taking place.
To avoid this problem, `chronyd' allows the gain or loss rate to be
stored in a file, which can be read back in when the program is
restarted. This file is called the drift file, and might typically be
stored in `/etc/chrony.drift'. By specifying an option like the
following
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
in the configuration file (`/etc/chrony.conf'), the drift file
facility will be activated.
4 Usage reference
*****************
4.1 Starting chronyd
====================
If `chronyd' has been installed to its default location
`/usr/local/sbin/chronyd', starting it is simply a matter of entering
the command
/usr/local/sbin/chronyd
Information messages and warnings will be logged to syslog.
The command line options supported are as follows:
`-n'
When run in this mode, the program will not detach itself from the
terminal.
`-d'
When run in this mode, the program will not detach itself from the
terminal, and all messages will be sent to the terminal instead of
to syslog.
`-f <conf-file>'
This option can be used to specify an alternate location for the
configuration file (default `/etc/chrony.conf').
`-r'
This option will reload sample histories for each of the servers
being used. These histories are created by using the `dump'
command in `chronyc', or by setting the `dumponexit' directive in
the configuration file. This option is useful if you want to stop
and restart `chronyd' briefly for any reason, e.g. to install a new
version. However, it only makes sense on systems where the kernel
can maintain clock compensation whilst not under `chronyd's'
control. The only version where this happens so far is Linux. On
systems where this is not the case, e.g. Solaris and SunOS the
option should not be used.
`-s'
This option will set the system clock from the computer's real-time
clock. This is analogous to supplying the `-s' flag to the
`/sbin/clock' program during the Linux boot sequence.
Support for real-time clocks is limited at present - the criteria
are described in the section on the `rtcfile' directive (*note
rtcfile directive::).
If `chronyd' cannot support the real time clock on your computer,
this option cannot be used and a warning message will be logged to
the syslog.
If used in conjunction with the `-r' flag, `chronyd' will attempt
to preserve the old samples after setting the system clock from
the real time clock. This can be used to allow `chronyd' to
perform long term averaging of the gain or loss rate across system
reboots, and is useful for dial-up systems that are shut down when
not in use. For this to work well, it relies on `chronyd' having
been able to determine accurate statistics for the difference
between the real time clock and system clock last time the
computer was on.
`-u <user>'
When this option is used, chronyd will drop root privileges to the
specified user. So far, it works only on Linux when compiled with
capabilities support.
`-v'
This option displays `chronyd's' version number to the terminal and
exits.
`-P <priority>'
This option will select the SCHED_FIFO real-time scheduler at the
specified priority (which must be between 0 and 100). This mode is
supported only on Linux.
`-m'
This option will lock chronyd into RAM so that it will never be
paged out. This mode is only supported on Linux.
`-4'
With this option hostnames will be resolved only to IPv4 addresses.
`-6'
With this option hostnames will be resolved only to IPv6 addresses.
On systems that support an `/etc/rc.local' file for starting
programs at boot time, `chronyd' can be started from there.
On systems with a System V style initialisation (e.g. Solaris), a
suitable start/stop script might be as shown below. This might be
placed in the file `/etc/rc2.d/S83chrony'.
#!/bin/sh
# This file should have uid root, gid sys and chmod 744
#
killproc() { # kill the named process(es)
pid=`/usr/bin/ps -e |
/usr/bin/grep -w $1 |
/usr/bin/sed -e 's/^ *//' -e 's/ .*//'`
[ "$pid" != "" ] && kill $pid
}
case "$1" in
'start')
if [ -f /opt/free/sbin/chronyd -a -f /etc/chrony.conf ]; then
/opt/free/sbin/chronyd
fi
;;
'stop')
killproc chronyd
;;
*)
echo "Usage: /etc/rc2.d/S83chrony { start | stop }"
;;
esac
(In both cases, you may want to bear in mind that `chronyd' can step
the time when it starts. There may be other programs started at boot
time that could be upset by this, so you may need to consider the
ordering carefully. However, `chronyd' will need to start after
daemons providing services that it may require, e.g. the domain name
service.)
4.2 The chronyd configuration file
==================================
The configuration file is normally called `/etc/chrony.conf'; in fact,
this is the compiled-in default. However, other locations can be
specified with a command line option.
Each command in the configuration file is placed on a separate line.
The following sections describe each of the commands in turn. The
directives can occur in any order in the file.
4.2.1 Comments in the configuration file
----------------------------------------
The configuration file may contain comment lines. A comment line is
any line that starts with zero or more spaces followed by any one of
the following characters:
* !
* ;
* #
* %
Any line with this format will be ignored.
4.2.2 acquisitionport
---------------------
`chronyd' uses a separate client-side port for the rapid-fire
measurements requested with the `initstepslew' directive (*note
initstepslew directive::). Normally, that port is chosen arbitrarily
by the operating system. However, you can use `acquisitionport' to
explicitly specify a port. This may be useful for getting through
firewalls.
Do not make acquisition and regular NTP service (*note port
directive::) use the same port.
An example of the `acquisitionport' command is
acquisitionport 1123
This would change the port used for rapid queries to udp/1123. You
could then persuade the firewall administrator to let that port through.
4.2.3 allow
-----------
The `allow' command is used to designate a particular subnet from which
NTP clients are allowed to access the computer as an NTP server.
The default is that no clients are allowed access, i.e. `chronyd'
operates purely as an NTP client. If the `allow' directive is used,
`chronyd' will be both a client of its servers, and a server to other
clients.
Examples of use of the command are as follows:
allow foo.bar.com
allow 1.2
allow 3.4.5
allow 6.7.8/22
allow 6.7.8.9/22
allow 2001:db8::/32
allow 0/0
allow ::/0
allow
The first command allows the named node to be an NTP client of this
computer. The second command allows any node with an IPv4 address of
the form 1.2.x.y (with x and y arbitrary) to be an NTP client of this
computer. Likewise, the third command allows any node with an IPv4
address of the form 3.4.5.x to have client NTP access. The fourth and
fifth forms allow access from any node with an IPv4 address of the form
6.7.8.x, 6.7.9.x, 6.7.10.x or 6.7.11.x (with x arbitrary), i.e. the
value 22 is the number of bits defining the specified subnet. (In the
fifth form, the final byte is ignored). The sixth form is used for IPv6
addresses. The seventh and eighth forms allow access by any IPv4 and
IPv6 node respectively. The ninth forms allows access by any node
(IPv4 or IPv6).
A second form of the directive, `allow all', has a greater effect,
depending on the ordering of directives in the configuration file. To
illustrate the effect, consider the two examples
allow 1.2.3.4
deny 1.2.3
allow 1.2
and
allow 1.2.3.4
deny 1.2.3
allow all 1.2
In the first example, the effect is the same regardles of what order
the three directives are given in. So the 1.2.x.y subnet is allowed
access, except for the 1.2.3.x subnet, which is denied access, however
the host 1.2.3.4 is allowed access.
In the second example, the `allow all 1.2' directives overrides the
effect of _any_ previous directive relating to a subnet within the
specified subnet. Within a configuration file this capability is
probably rather moot; however, it is of greater use for reconfiguration
at run-time via `chronyc' (*note allow all command::).
Note, if the `initstepslew' directive (*note initstepslew
directive::) is used in the configuration file, each of the computers
listed in that directive must allow client access by this computer for
it to work.
4.2.4 bindaddress
-----------------
The bindaddress allows you to restrict the network interface to which
chronyd will listen for NTP packets. This provides an additional level
of access restriction above that available through the 'deny' mechanism.
Suppose you have a local ethernet with addresses in the 192.168.1.0
subnet together with a dial-up connection. The ethernet interface's IP
address is 192.168.1.1. Suppose (for some reason) you want to block all
access through the dialup connection (note, this will even block replies
from servers on the dialup side, so you will not be able to synchronise
to an external source). You could add the line
bindaddress 192.168.1.1
to the configuration file.
This directive affects NTP (UDP port 123) packets. If no
`bindcmdaddress' directive is present, the address supplied by
`bindaddress' will be used to control binding of the command socket
(UDP port 323) as well.
The `bindaddress' directive has been found to cause problems when
used on computers that need to pass NTP traffic over multiple network
interfaces (e.g. firewalls). It is, therefore, not particularly
useful. Use of the `allow' and `deny' directives together with a
network firewall is more likely to be successful.
For each of IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, only one `bindaddress'
directive can be specified.
4.2.5 bindcmdaddress
--------------------
The bindcmdaddress allows you to restrict the network interface to which
chronyd will listen for command packets (issued by chronyc).
Suppose you have a local ethernet with addresses in the 192.168.1.0
subnet together with a dial-up connection. The ethernet interface's IP
address is 192.168.1.1. Suppose you want to block all access through
the dialup connection. You could add the line
bindcmdaddress 192.168.1.1
to the configuration file.
The `bindcmdaddress' directive has been found to cause problems when
used on computers that need to pass command traffic over multiple
network interfaces. It is, therefore, not particularly useful. Use of
the `cmdallow' and `cmddeny' directives together with a network firewall
is more likely to be successful.
For each of IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, only one `bindcmdaddress'
directive can be specified.
4.2.6 broadcast
---------------
The `broadcast' directive is used to declare a broadcast address to
which chronyd should send packets in NTP broadcast mode (i.e. make
chronyd act as a broadcast server). Broadcast clients on that subnet
will be able to synchronise.
The syntax is as follows
broadcast 30 192.168.1.255
broadcast 60 192.168.2.255 12123
broadcast 60 ff02::101
In the first example, the destination port defaults to 123/udp (the
normal NTP port). In the second example, the destionation port is
specified as 12123. The first parameter in each case (30 or 60
respectively) is the interval in seconds between broadcast packets
being sent. The second parameter in each case is the broadcast address
to send the packet to. This should correspond to the broadcast address
of one of the network interfaces on the computer where chronyd is
running.
You can have more than 1 `broadcast' directive if you have more than
1 network interface onto which you wish to send NTP broadcast packets.
Chronyd itself cannot currently act as a broadcast client; it must
always be configured as a point-to-point client by defining specific
NTP servers and peers. This broadcast server feature is intended for
providing a time source to other NTP software (e.g. various MS Windows
clients).
If xntpd is used as the broadcast client, it will try to use a
point-to-point client/server NTP access to measure the round-trip
delay. Thus, the broadcast subnet should also be the subject of an
`allow' directive (*note allow directive::).
4.2.7 cmdallow
--------------
This is similar to the `allow' directive (*note allow directive::),
except that it allows control access (rather than NTP client access) to
a particular subnet or host. (By 'control access' is meant that
chronyc can be run on those hosts and successfully connect to chronyd
on this computer.)
The syntax is identical to the `allow' directive.
There is also a `cmdallow all' directive with similar behaviour to
the `allow all' directive (but applying to control access in this case,
of course).
4.2.8 cmddeny
-------------
This is similar to the `cmdallow' directive (*note cmdallow
directive::), except that it denies control access to a particular
subnet or host, rather than allowing it.
The syntax is identical.
There is also a `cmddeny all' directive with similar behaviour to the
`cmdallow all' directive.
4.2.9 commandkey
----------------
The commandkey command is used to set the key number used for
authenticating user commands via the chronyc program at run time. This
allows certain actions of the chronyc program to be restricted to
administrators.
An example of the commandkey command is
commandkey 20
In the key file (see the keyfile command) there should be a line of
the form
20 foobar
When running the chronyc program to perform run-time configuration,
the command
password foobar
must be entered before any commands affecting the operation of the
daemon can be entered.
4.2.10 cmdport
--------------
The `cmdport' directive allows the port that is used for run-time
command and monitoring (via the program `chronyc') to be altered from
its default (323/udp).
An example shows the syntax
cmdport 257
This would make `chronyd' use 257/udp as its command port.
(`chronyc' would need to be run with the `-p 257' switch to
inter-operate correctly).
4.2.11 deny
-----------
This is similar to the `allow' directive (*note allow directive::),
except that it denies NTP client access to a particular subnet or host,
rather than allowing it.
The syntax is identical.
There is also a `deny all' directive with similar behaviour to the
`allow all' directive.
4.2.12 driftfile
----------------
One of the main activities of the `chronyd' program is to work out the
rate at which the system clock gains or loses time relative to real
time.
Whenever `chronyd' computes a new value of the gain/loss rate, it is
desirable to record it somewhere. This allows `chronyd' to begin
compensating the system clock at that rate whenever it is restarted,
even before it has had a chance to obtain an equally good estimate of
the rate during the new run. (This process may take many minutes, at
least).
The driftfile command allows a file to be specified into which
`chronyd' can store the rate information. Two parameters are recorded
in the file. The first is the rate at which the system clock gains or
loses time, expressed in parts per million, with gains positive.
Therefore, a value of 100.0 indicates that when the system clock has
advanced by a second, it has gained 100 microseconds on reality (so the
true time has only advanced by 999900 microseconds). The second is an
estimate of the error bound around the first value in which the true
rate actually lies.
An example of the driftfile command is
driftfile /etc/chrony.drift
4.2.13 dumpdir
--------------
To compute the rate of gain or loss of time, `chronyd' has to store a
measurement history for each of the time sources it uses.
Certain systems (so far only Linux) have operating system support for
setting the rate of gain or loss to compensate for known errors. (On
other systems, `chronyd' must simulate such a capability by
periodically slewing the system clock forwards or backwards by a
suitable amount to compensate for the error built up since the previous
slew).
For such systems, it is possible to save the measurement history
across restarts of `chronyd' (assuming no changes are made to the system
clock behaviour whilst it is not running). If this capability is to be
used (via the dumponexit command in the configuration file, or the dump
command in chronyc), the dumpdir command should be used to define the
directory where the measurement histories are saved.
An example of the command is
dumpdir /var/log/chrony
A source whose reference id (the IP address for IPv4 sources) is
1.2.3.4 would have its measurement history saved in the file
`/var/log/chrony/1.2.3.4.dat'.
4.2.14 dumponexit
-----------------
If this command is present, it indicates that `chronyd' should save the
measurement history for each of its time sources recorded whenever the
program exits. (See the dumpdir command above).
4.2.15 fallbackdrift
--------------------
Fallback drifts are long-term averages of the system clock drift
calculated over exponentially increasing intervals. They are used when
the clock is unsynchronised to avoid quickly drifting away from true
time if there was a short-term deviation in drift before the
synchronisation was lost.
The directive specifies the minimum and maximum interval for how long
the system clock has to be unsynchronised to switch between fallback
drifts. They are defined as a power of 2 (in seconds). The syntax is
as follows
fallbackdrift 16 19
In this example, the minimum interval is 16 (18 hours) and maximum
interval is 19 (6 days). The system clock frequency will be set to the
first fallback 18 hours after the synchronisation was lost, to the
second after 36 hours, etc. This might be a good setting to cover
daily and weekly temperature fluctuations.
By default (or if the specified maximum or minimum is 0), no
fallbacks will be used and the clock frequency will stay at the last
value calculated before synchronisation was lost.
4.2.16 include
--------------
The `include' directive includes a specified configuration file. This
is useful when maintaining configuration on multiple hosts to keep the
differences in a separate file.
include /etc/chrony/local.conf
4.2.17 initstepslew
-------------------
In normal operation, `chronyd' always slews the time when it needs to
adjust the system clock. For example, to correct a system clock which
is 1 second slow, `chronyd' slightly increases the amount by which the
system clock is advanced on each clock interrupt, until the error is
removed. (Actually, this is done by calling the `adjtime()' or similar
system function which does it for us.) Note that at no time does time
run backwards with this method.
On most Unix systems it is not desirable to step the system clock,
because many programs rely on time advancing monotonically forwards.
When the `chronyd' daemon is initially started, it is possible that
the system clock is considerably in error. Attempting to correct such
an error by slewing may not be sensible, since it may take several hours
to correct the error by this means.
The purpose of the `initstepslew' directive is to allow `chronyd' to
make a rapid measurement of the system clock error at boot time, and to
correct the system clock by stepping before normal operation begins.
Since this would normally be performed only at an appropriate point in
the system boot sequence, no other software should be adversely affected
by the step.
If the correction required is less than a specified threshold, a
slew is used instead. This makes it easier to restart `chronyd' whilst
the system is in normal operation.
The `initstepslew' directive takes a threshold and a list of NTP
servers as arguments. A maximum of 8 will be used. Each of the servers
is rapidly polled several times, and a majority voting mechanism used to
find the most likely range of system clock error that is present. A
step (or slew) is applied to the system clock to correct this error.
`chronyd' then enters its normal operating mode (where only slews are
used).
An example of use of the command is
initstepslew 30 foo.bar.com baz.quz.com
where 2 NTP servers are used to make the measurement. The `30'
indicates that if the system's error is found to be 30 seconds or less,
a slew will be used to correct it; if the error is above 30 seconds, a
step will be used.
The `initstepslew' directive can also be used in an isolated LAN
environment, where the clocks are set manually. The most stable
computer is chosen as the master, and the other computers are slaved to
it. If each of the slaves is configured with the local option (see
below), the master can be set up with an `initstepslew' directive which
references some or all of the slaves. Then, if the master machine has
to be rebooted, the slaves can be relied on to 'flywheel' the time for
the master.
4.2.18 keyfile
--------------
This command is used to specify the location of the file containing
ID/key pairs for the following 2 uses:
* Authentication of NTP packets.
* Authentication of administrator commands entered via chronyc.
The format of the command is shown in the example below
keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
The argument is simply the name of the file containing the ID/key
pairs. The format of the file is shown below
10 tulip
11 hyacinth
20 crocus
25 iris
...
Each line consists of an ID and a password. The ID can be any
unsigned integer in the range 0 through 2**32-1. The password can be
any string of characters not containing a space.
For NTP use, the MD5 authentication scheme is always used. This
must be borne in mind if `chronyd' is to inter-operate in authenticated
mode with `xntpd' running on other computers.
The ID for the chronyc authentication key is specified with the
commandkey command (see earlier).
4.2.19 local
------------
The local keyword is used to allow `chronyd' to appear synchronised to
real time (from the viewpoint of clients polling it), even if it has no
current synchronisation source.
This option is normally used on computers in an isolated network,
where several computers are required to synchronise to one other, this
being the "master" which is kept vaguely in line with real time by
manual input.
An example of the command is
local stratum 10
The value 10 may be substituted with other values in the range 1
through 15. Stratum 1 indicates a computer that has a true real-time
reference directly connected to it (e.g. GPS, atomic clock etc) –
such computers are expected to be very close to real time. Stratum 2
computers are those which have a stratum 1 server; stratum 3 computers
have a stratum 2 server and so on.
A large value of 10 indicates that the clock is so many hops away
from a reference clock that its time is fairly unreliable. Put another
way, if the computer ever has access to another computer which is
ultimately synchronised to a reference clock, it will almost certainly
be at a stratum less than 10. Therefore, the choice of a high value
like 10 for the local command prevents the machine's own time from ever
being confused with real time, were it ever to leak out to clients that
have visibility of real servers.
4.2.20 linux_hz
---------------
(This option only applies to Linux).
By default, chronyd will find the value of `HZ' from a kernel header
file at compile time. `HZ' is the nominal number of timer interrupts
per second. If you're running chronyd on the system where it was
built, the value it has should be right, and you don't need to worry
about this option.
This option is provided for people who move a pre-built chronyd onto
a system where the value of HZ in the kernel headers has been changed
from the default value.
An example of the command is
linux_hz 100
4.2.21 linux_freq_scale
-----------------------
(This option only applies to Linux).
By default, chronyd will find the value of `HZ' and `SHIFT_HZ' from
kernel header files at compile time. An internal value called
`freq_scale' is calculated from this. By default it is
(1<<SHIFT_HZ)/HZ, except for the case HZ=100, when special case code is
used which leads to the value 128/128.125. If you're running chronyd
on the system where it was built, the value it has should be right, and
you don't need to worry about this option.
This option is provided for people who move a pre-built chronyd onto
a system where the method by which the kernel computes the reciprocal
of this value has been changed or where the HZ and SHIFT_HZ constants
differ from those on the system where chronyd was built.
An example of the command is
linux_freq_scale 0.99902439
4.2.22 log
----------
The log command indicates that certain information is to be logged.
`measurements'
This option logs the raw NTP measurements and related information
to a file called measurements.log.
`statistics'
This option logs information about the regression processing to a
file called statistics.log.
`tracking'
This option logs changes to the estimate of the system's gain or
loss rate, and any slews made, to a file called tracking.log.
`rtc'
This option logs information about the system's real-time clock.
`refclocks'
This option logs the raw and filtered reference clock measurements
to a file called refclocks.log.
`tempcomp'
This option logs the temperature measurements and system rate
compensations to a file called tempcomp.log.
The files are written to the directory specified by the logdir
command.
An example of the command is
log measurements statistics tracking
4.2.22.1 Measurements log file format
.....................................
An example line (which actually appears as a single line in the file)
from the measurements log file is shown below.
2010-12-22 05:40:50 158.152.1.76 N 8 1111 111 1111 10 10 1.0 \
-4.966e-03 2.296e-01 1.577e-05 1.615e-01 7.446e-03
The columns are as follows (the quantities in square brackets are the
values from the example line above) :
1. Date [2010-12-22]
2. Hour:Minute:Second [05:40:50]. Note that the date/time pair is
expressed in UTC, not the local time zone.
3. IP address of server/peer from which measurement comes
[158.152.1.76]
4. Leap status (`N' means normal, `+' means that the last minute of
today has 61 seconds, `-' means that the last minute of the day
has 59 seconds, `?' means the remote computer is not currently
synchronised.) [N]
5. Stratum of remote computer. [2]
6. RFC1305 tests 1 through 4 (1=pass, 0=fail) [1111]
7. Tests for maximum delay, maximum delay ratio and maximum delay dev
ratio, against defined parameters (1=pass, 0=fail) [111]
8. RFC1305 tests 5 through 8 (1=pass, 0=fail) [1111]
9. Local poll [10]
10. Remote poll [10]
11. `Score' (an internal score within each polling level used to
decide when to increase or decrease the polling level. This is
adjusted based on number of measurements currently being used for
the regression algorithm). [1.0]
12. The estimated local clock error (`theta' in RFC1305). Positive
indicates that the local clock is slow. [-4.966e-03].
13. The peer delay (`delta' in RFC1305). [2.296e-01]
14. The peer dispersion (`epsilon' in RFC1305). [1.577e-05]
15. The root delay (`Delta' in RFC1305). [1.615e-01]
16. The root dispersion (`E' in RFC1305). [7.446e-03]
A banner is periodically written to the log file to indicate the
meanings of the columns.
4.2.22.2 Statistics log file format
...................................
An example line (which actually appears as a single line in the file)
from the statistics log file is shown below.
1998-07-22 05:40:50 158.152.1.76 6.261e-03 -3.247e-03 \
2.220e-03 1.874e-06 1.080e-06 7.8e-02 16 0 8
The columns are as follows (the quantities in square brackets are the
values from the example line above) :
1. Date [1998-07-22]
2. Hour:Minute:Second [05:40:50]. Note that the date/time pair is
expressed in UTC, not the local time zone.
3. IP address of server/peer from which measurement comes
[158.152.1.76]
4. The estimated standard deviation of the measurements from the
source (in seconds). [6.261e-03]
5. The estimated offset of the source (in seconds, positive means the
local clock is estimated to be fast, in this case). [-3.247e-03]
6. The estimated standard deviation of the offset estimate (in
seconds). [2.220e-03]
7. The estimated rate at which the local clock is gaining or losing
time relative to the source (in seconds per second, positive means
the local clock is gaining). This is relative to the compensation
currently being applied to the local clock, _not_ to the local
clock without any compensation. [1.874e-06]
8. The estimated error in the rate value (in seconds per second).
[1.080e-06].
9. The ration of |old_rate - new_rate| / old_rate_error. Large values
indicate the statistics are not modelling the source very well.
[7.8e-02]
10. The number of measurements currently being used for the regression
algorithm. [16]
11. The new starting index (the oldest sample has index 0; this is the
method used to prune old samples when it no longer looks like the
measurements fit a linear model). [0, i.e. no samples discarded
this time]
12. The number of runs. The number of runs of regression residuals
with the same sign is computed. If this is too small it indicates
that the measurements are no longer represented well by a linear
model and that some older samples need to be discarded. The
number of runs for the data that is being retained is tabulated.
Values of approximately half the number of samples are expected.
[8]
A banner is periodically written to the log file to indicate the
meanings of the columns.
4.2.22.3 Tracking log file format
.................................
An example line (which actually appears as a single line in the file)
from the tracking log file is shown below.
1998-07-22 05:40:50 158.152.1.76 3 340.529 1.606 1.046e-03
The columns are as follows (the quantities in square brackets are the
values from the example line above) :
1. Date [1998-07-22]
2. Hour:Minute:Second [05:40:50]. Note that the date/time pair is
expressed in UTC, not the local time zone.
3. The IP address of the server/peer to which the local system is
synchronised. [158.152.1.76]
4. The stratum of the local system. [3]
5. The local system frequency (in ppm, positive means the local
system runs fast of UTC). [340.529]
6. The error bounds on the frequency (in ppm) [1.606]
7. The estimated local offset at the epoch (which is rapidly
corrected by slewing the local clock. (In seconds, positive
indicates the local system is fast of UTC). [1.046e-3]
A banner is periodically written to the log file to indicate the
meanings of the columns.
4.2.22.4 Real-time clock log file format
........................................
An example line (which actually appears as a single line in the file)
from the measurements log file is shown below.
1998-07-22 05:40:50 -0.037360 1 -0.037434\
-37.948 12 5 120
The columns are as follows (the quantities in square brackets are the
values from the example line above) :
1. Date [1998-07-22]
2. Hour:Minute:Second [05:40:50]. Note that the date/time pair is
expressed in UTC, not the local time zone.
3. The measured offset between the system's real time clock and the
system (`gettimeofday()') time. In seconds, positive indicates
that the RTC is fast of the system time. [-0.037360].
4. Flag indicating whether the regression has produced valid
coefficients. (1 for yes, 0 for no). [1]
5. Offset at the current time predicted by the regression process. A
large difference between this value and the measured offset tends
to indicate that the measurement is an outlier with a serious
measurement error. [-0.037434].
6. The rate at which the RTC is losing or gaining time relative to the
system clock. In ppm, with positive indicating that the RTC is
gaining time. [-37.948]
7. The number of measurements used in the regression. [12]
8. The number of runs of regression residuals of the same sign. Low
values indicate that a straight line is no longer a good model of
the measured data and that older measurements should be discarded.
[5]
9. The measurement interval used prior to the measurement being made
(in seconds). [120]
A banner is periodically written to the log file to indicate the
meanings of the columns.
4.2.22.5 Refclocks log file format
..................................
An example line (which actually appears as a single line in the file)
from the refclocks log file is shown below.
2009-11-30 14:33:27.000000 PPS2 7 N 1 4.900000e-07 -6.741777e-07 1.000e-06
The columns are as follows (the quantities in square brackets are the
values from the example line above) :
1. Date [2009-11-30]
2. Hour:Minute:Second.Microsecond [14:33:27.000000]. Note that the
date/time pair is expressed in UTC, not the local time zone.
3. Reference ID of refclock from which measurement comes. [PPS2]
4. Sequence number of driver poll within one polling interval for raw
samples, or `-' for filtered samples. [7]
5. Leap status (`N' means normal, `+' means that the last minute of
today has 61 seconds, `-' means that the last minute of the day
has 59 seconds). [N]
6. Flag indicating whether the sample comes from PPS source. (1 for
yes, 0 for no, or `-' for filtered sample). [1]
7. Local clock error measured by refclock driver, or `-' for filtered
sample. [4.900000e-07]
8. Local clock error with applied corrections. Positive indicates
that the local clock is slow. [-6.741777e-07]
9. Assumed dispersion of the sample. [1.000e-06]
A banner is periodically written to the log file to indicate the
meanings of the columns.
4.2.22.6 Tempcomp log file format
.................................
An example line (which actually appears as a single line in the file)
from the tempcomp log file is shown below.
2010-04-19 10:39:48 2.8000e+04 3.6600e-01
The columns are as follows (the quantities in square brackets are the
values from the example line above) :
1. Date [2010-04-19]
2. Hour:Minute:Second [10:39:48]. Note that the date/time pair is
expressed in UTC, not the local time zone.
3. Temperature read from tempcomp file. [2.8000e+04]
4. Applied compensation in ppm, positive means the system clock is
running faster than it would be without the compensation.
[3.6600e-01]
A banner is periodically written to the log file to indicate the
meanings of the columns.
4.2.23 logbanner
----------------
A banner is periodically written to the log files enabled by the `log'
directive to indicate the meanings of the columns.
The `logbanner' directive specifies after how many entries in the
log file should be the banner written. The default is 32, and 0 can be
used to disable it entirely.
4.2.24 logchange
----------------
This directive forces `chronyd' to send a message to syslog if it makes
a system clock adjustment larger than a threshold value. An example of
use is
logchange 0.5
which would cause a syslog message to be generated a system clock
error of over 0.5 seconds starts to be compensated.
Clock errors detected either via NTP packets or via timestamps
entered via the `settime' command of `chronyc' are logged.
This directive assumes that syslog messages are appearing where
somebody can see them. This allows that person to see if a large error
has arisen, e.g. because of a fault, or because of faulty timezone
handling, for example when summer time (daylight saving) starts or ends.
4.2.25 logdir
-------------
This directive allows the directory where log files are written to be
specified.
An example of the use of this directive is
logdir /var/log/chrony
4.2.26 mailonchange
-------------------
This directive defines an email address to which mail should be sent if
chronyd applies a correction exceeding a particular threshold to the
system clock.
An example of use of this directive is
mailonchange root@localhost 0.5
This would send a mail message to root if a change of more than 0.5
seconds were applied to the system clock.
4.2.27 makestep
---------------
Normally chronyd will cause the system to gradually correct any time
offset, by slowing down or speeding up the clock as required. In
certain situations, the system clock may be so far adrift that this
slewing process would take a very long time to correct the system clock.
This directive forces `chronyd' to step system clock if the
adjustment is larger than a threshold value, but only if there were no
more clock updates since `chronyd' was started than a specified limit
(a negative value can be used to disable the limit).
This is particularly useful when using reference clocks, because the
`initstepslew' directive (*note initstepslew directive::) works only
with NTP sources.
An example of the use of this directive is
makestep 1000 10
This would step system clock if the adjustment is larger than 1000
seconds, but only in the first ten clock updates.
4.2.28 manual
-------------
The `manual' directive enables support at run-time for the `settime'
command in chronyc (*note settime command::). If no `manual' directive
is included, any attempt to use the `settime' command in chronyc will
be met with an error message.
Note that the `settime' command can be enabled at run-time using the
`manual' command in chronyc (*note manual command::). (The idea of the
two commands is that the `manual' command controls the manual clock
driver's behaviour, whereas the `settime' command allows samples of
manually entered time to be provided).
4.2.29 maxclockerror
--------------------
The `maxclockerror' directive sets the maximum assumed frequency error
of the local clock. This is a frequency stability of the clock, not an
absolute frequency error.
By default, the maximum assumed error is set to 1 ppm.
The syntax is
maxclockerror <error-in-ppm>
Typical values for <error-in-ppm> might be 10 for a low quality clock
to 0.1 for a high quality clock using a temperature compensated crystal
oscillator.
4.2.30 maxupdateskew
--------------------
One of `chronyd's' tasks is to work out how fast or slow the computer's
clock runs relative to its reference sources. In addition, it computes
an estimate of the error bounds around the estimated value.
If the range of error is too large, it probably indicates that the
measurements have not settled down yet, and that the estimated gain or
loss rate is not very reliable.
The `maxupdateskew' parameter allows the threshold for determining
whether an estimate may be so unreliable that it should not be used.
By default, the threshold is 1000 ppm.
The syntax is
maxupdateskew <skew-in-ppm>
Typical values for <skew-in-ppm> might be 100 for a dial-up
connection to servers over a phone line, and 5 or 10 for a computer on
a LAN.
It should be noted that this is not the only means of protection
against using unreliable estimates. At all times, `chronyd' keeps
track of both the estimated gain or loss rate, and the error bound on
the estimate. When a new estimate is generated following another
measurement from one of the sources, a weighted combination algorithm is
used to update the master estimate. So if `chronyd' has an existing
highly-reliable master estimate and a new estimate is generated which
has large error bounds, the existing master estimate will dominate in
the new master estimate.
4.2.31 noclientlog
------------------
This directive, which takes no arguments, specifies that client accesses
are not to be logged. Normally they are logged, allowing statistics to
be reported using the `clients' command in `chronyc'.
4.2.32 clientloglimit
---------------------
This directive specifies the maximum size of the memory allocated to
log client accesses. When the limit is reached, only information for
clients that have already been logged will be updated. If 0 is
specified, the memory size will be unlimited. The default is 524288
bytes.
An example of the use of this directive is
clientloglimit 1048576
4.2.33 peer
-----------
The syntax of this directive is identical to that for the `server'
directive (*note server directive::), except that it is used to specify
an NTP peer rather than an NTP server.
4.2.34 pidfile
--------------
chronyd always writes its process ID (pid) to a file, and checks this
file on startup to see if another chronyd may already be running on the
system. By default, the file used is `/var/run/chronyd.pid'. The
`pidfile' directive allows the name to be changed, e.g.
pidfile /var/tmp/chronyd.pid
4.2.35 port
-----------
This option allows you to configure the port used for the NTP service
on your machine.
The compiled in default is udp/123, the standard NTP port. It is
unlikely that you would ever need to change this value. A possible
exception would be if you wanted to operate strictly in client-only
mode and never be available as a server to xntpd clients.
An example of the port command is
port 11123
This would change the NTP port served by chronyd on the computer to
udp/11123.
4.2.36 refclock
---------------
Reference clocks allows very accurate synchronisation and `chronyd' can
function as a stratum 1 server. They are specified by the `refclock'
directive. It has two mandatory parameters, a refclock driver name and
a driver specific parameter.
There are currently three drivers included:
`PPS'
PPSAPI (pulse per second) driver. The parameter is the path to a
PPS device. Assert events are used by default. Driver option
`:clear' can be appended to the path if clear events should be
used instead.
As PPS refclock gets only sub-second time information, it needs
another source (NTP or non-PPS refclock) or local directive (*note
local directive::) enabled to work. For example:
refclock PPS /dev/pps0 lock NMEA
refclock SHM 0 offset 0.5 delay 0.1 refid NMEA noselect
`SHM'
NTP shared memory driver. This driver uses a shared memory
segment to receive data from another daemon which communicates
with an actual reference clock. The parameter is the number of a
shared memory segment, usually 0, 1, 2 or 3. For example:
refclock SHM 1 poll 3 refid GPS1
A driver option in form `:perm=NNN' can be appended to the segment
number to create the segment with permissions other than the
default `0600'.
Some examples of applications that can be used as SHM sources are
`gpsd', `shmpps' and `radioclk'.
`SOCK'
Unix domain socket driver. It is similar to the SHM driver, but
uses a different format and uses a socket instead of shared
memory. It does not require polling, the offset resolution is not
limited to microseconds and it supports transmitting of PPS data.
The parameter is a path to the socket which will be created by
`chronyd' and used to receive the messages. The format of
messages sent over the socket is described in the
`refclock_sock.c' file.
Recent versions of the `gpsd' daemon include support for the SOCK
protocol. The path where the socket should be created is
described in the `gpsd(8)' man page. For example:
refclock SOCK /var/run/chrony.ttyS0.sock
The `refclock' command also supports a number of subfields (which
may be defined in any order):
`poll'
Timestamps produced by refclock drivers are not used immediately,
but they are stored and processed by a median filter in intervals
specified by this option. This is defined as a power of 2. The
default is 4 (16 seconds). A shorter interval allows `chronyd' to
react faster to changes in clock frequency, but it may decrease
the accuracy if the source is too noisy.
`dpoll'
Some drivers are not controlled by external events and thus require
polling. Again this is defined as a power of 2 and can be negative
for sub-second intervals. The default is 0 (1 second).
`refid'
This option is used to specify a reference id of the refclock, as
up to four ASCII characters. By default, first three characters
from driver name and the number of the refclock are used as refid.
Each refclock must have an unique refid.
`filter'
This option sets the length of the median filter which is used to
reduce noise. With each poll about 40 percent of the stored
samples is discarded and one final sample is calculated as average
of the remaining samples. If the length is 4 or above, at least 4
samples have to be collected between polls. For lengths below 4,
the filter has to be full. The default is 64.
`rate'
PPS signal frequency (in Hz). This option only controls how the
received pulses are aligned. To actually receive more than one
pulse per second, a negative `dpoll' has to be specified (-3 for
5Hz signal). The default is 1.
`lock'
This option can be used to lock a PPS refclock to another refclock
whose reference id is specified by this option. In this mode
received pulses are aligned directly to unfiltered samples from
the refclock. By default, pulses are aligned to local clock, but
only when it is well synchronised.
`offset'
This option can be used to compensate a constant error. The
specified offset (in seconds) is applied to all samples produced
by the refclock. The default is 0.0.
`delay'
This option is used to specify how the refclock is assumed to be
inaccurate (in seconds). Increasing the value is useful to avoid
having no majority in the source selection algorithm or to make
the algorithm prefer other refclocks. The default is 1e-9 (1
nanosecond).
`precision'
Refclock precision (in seconds). The default is 1e-6 (1
microsecond) for SHM refclock, and 1e-9 (1 nanosecond) for SOCK
and PPS refclocks.
`prefer'
Prefer this source over sources without prefer option.
`noselect'
Never select this source. This is useful for monitoring or with
sources which are not very accurate, but are locked with a PPS
refclock.
4.2.37 reselectdist
-------------------
When `chronyd' selects synchronisation source from available sources, it
will prefer the one with minimum synchronisation distance. However, to
avoid frequent reselecting when there are sources with similar
distance, a fixed distance is added to the distance for sources that
are currently not selected. This can be set with the `reselectdist'
option. By default, the distance is 100 microseconds.
The syntax is
reselectdist <dist-in-seconds>
4.2.38 rtcdevice
----------------
The `rtcdevice' directive defines the name of the device file for
accessing the real time clock. By default this is `/dev/rtc/', unless
the directive is used to set a different value. This applies to Linux
systems with devfs. An example of use is
rtcdevice /dev/misc/rtc
4.2.39 rtcfile
--------------
The `rtcfile' directive defines the name of the file in which `chronyd'
can save parameters associated with tracking the accuracy of the
system's real-time clock (RTC).
The syntax is illustrated in the following example
rtcfile /etc/chrony.rtc
`chronyd' saves information in this file when it exits and when the
`writertc' command is issued in `chronyc'. The information saved is
the RTC's error at some epoch, that epoch (in seconds since January 1
1970), and the rate at which the RTC gains or loses time.
So far, the support for real-time clocks is limited - their code is
even more system-specific than the rest of the software. You can only
use the real time clock facilities (the `rtcfile' directive and the
`-s' command line option to `chronyd') if the following three
conditions apply:
1. You are running Linux version 2.2.x or 2.4.x (for any value of x),
or v2.0.x with x>=32.
2. You have compiled the kernel with extended real-time clock support
(i.e. the `/dev/rtc' device is capable of doing useful things).
3. You don't have other applications that need to make use of
`/dev/rtc' at all.
4.2.40 rtconutc
---------------
`chronyd' assumes by default that the real time clock (RTC) keeps local
time (including any daylight saving changes). This is convenient on
PCs running Linux which are dual-booted with DOS or Windows.
NOTE : IF YOU KEEP THE REAL TIME CLOCK ON LOCAL TIME AND YOUR
COMPUTER IS OFF WHEN DAYLIGHT SAVING (SUMMER TIME) STARTS OR ENDS, THE
COMPUTER'S SYSTEM TIME WILL BE ONE HOUR IN ERROR WHEN YOU NEXT BOOT AND
START CHRONYD.
An alternative is for the RTC to keep Universal Coordinated Time
(UTC). This does not suffer from the 1 hour problem when daylight
saving starts or ends.
If the `rtconutc' directive appears, it means the RTC is required to
keep UTC. The directive takes no arguments. It is equivalent to
specifying the `-u' switch to the Linux `/sbin/clock' program.
4.2.41 rtcsync
--------------
The `rtcsync' directive will enable a kernel mode where the system time
is copied to the real time clock (RTC) every 11 minutes.
This directive is supported only on Linux and cannot be used when the
normal RTC tracking is enabled, i.e. when the `rtcfile' directive is
used.
4.2.42 sched_priority
---------------------
The `sched_priority' directive will select the SCHED_FIFO real-time
scheduler at the specified priority (which must be between 0 and 100).
This mode is supported only on Linux.
This directive uses the Linux sched_setscheduler() system call to
instruct the kernel to use the SCHED_FIFO first-in, first-out real-time
scheduling policy for Chronyd with the specified priority. This means
that whenever Chronyd is ready to run it will run, interrupting
whatever else is running unless it is a higher priority real-time
process. This should not impact performance as Chronyd's resource
requirements are modest, but it should result in lower and more
consistent latency since Chronyd will not need to wait for the
scheduler to get around to running it. You should not use this unless
you really need it. The sched_setscheduler man page has more details.
4.2.43 stratumweight
--------------------
The `stratumweight' directive sets how much distance should be added
per stratum to the synchronisation distance when `chronyd' selects the
synchronisation source from available sources.
The syntax is
stratumweight <dist-in-seconds>
By default, it is 1 second. This usually means that sources with
lower stratum will be preferred to sources with higher stratum even
when their distance is significantly worse. Setting `stratumweight' to
0 makes `chronyd' ignore stratum when selecting the source.
4.2.44 lock_all
---------------
The `lock_all' directive will lock chronyd into RAM so that it will
never be paged out. This mode is only supported on Linux. This
directive uses the Linux mlockall() system call to prevent Chronyd from
ever being swapped out. This should result in lower and more
consistent latency. It should not have significant impact on
performance as Chronyd's memory usage is modest. The mlockall man page
has more details.
4.2.45 server
-------------
The `server' directive allows NTP servers to be specified. The
client/server relationship is strictly hierarchical : a client may
synchronise its system time to that of the server, but the server's
system time will never be influenced by that of a client.
The `server' directive is immediately followed by either the name of
the server, or its IP address. The server command also supports a
number of subfields (which may be defined in any order):
`port'
This option allows the UDP port on which the server understands NTP
requests to be specified. For normal servers this option should
not be required (the default is 123, the standard NTP port).
`minpoll'
Although `chronyd' will trim the rate at which it samples the
server during normal operation, the user may wish to constrain the
minimum polling interval. This is always defined as a power of 2,
so <tt/minpoll 5/ would mean that the polling interval cannot drop
below 32 seconds. The default is 6 (64 seconds).
`maxpoll'
In a similar way, the user may wish to constrain the maximum
polling interval. Again this is specified as a power of 2, so
<tt/maxpoll 9/ indicates that the polling interval must stay at or
below 512 seconds. The default is 10 (1024 seconds).
`maxdelay'
`chronyd' uses the network round-trip delay to the server to
determine how accurate a particular measurement is likely to be.
Long round-trip delays indicate that the request, or the response,
or both were delayed. If only one of the messages was delayed the
measurement error is likely to be substantial.
For small variations in round trip delay, `chronyd' uses a
weighting scheme when processing the measurements. However,
beyond a certain level of delay the measurements are likely to be
so corrupted as to be useless. (This is particularly so on
dial-up or other slow links, where a long delay probably indicates
a highly asymmetric delay caused by the response waiting behind a
lot of packets related to a download of some sort).
If the user knows that round trip delays above a certain level
should cause the measurement to be ignored, this level can be
defined with the maxdelay command. For example, <tt/maxdelay 0.3/
would indicate that measurements with a round-trip delay of 0.3
seconds or more should be ignored.
`maxdelayratio'
This option is similar to the maxdelay option above. `chronyd'
keeps a record of the minimum round-trip delay amongst the previous
measurements that it has buffered. If a measurement has a round
trip delay that is greater than the maxdelayratio times the
minimum delay, it will be rejected.
`maxdelaydevratio'
If a measurement has ratio of the increase in round-trip delay from
the minimum delay amongst the previous measurements to the standard
deviation of the previous measurements that is greater than
maxdelaydevratio, it will be rejected. The default is 10.0.
`presend'
If the timing measurements being made by `chronyd' are the only
network data passing between two computers, you may find that some
measurements are badly skewed due to either the client or the
server having to do an ARP lookup on the other party prior to
transmitting a packet. This is more of a problem with long
sampling intervals, which may be similar in duration to the
lifetime of entries in the ARP caches of the machines.
In order to avoid this problem, the `presend' option may be used.
It takes a single integer argument, which is the smallest polling
interval for which a pair of packets will be exchanged between the
client and the server prior to the actual measurement being
initiated by the client. For example, with the following option
included in a `server' directive :
presend 9
when the polling interval is 512 seconds or more, a UDP echo
datagram will be sent to the server a short time (currently 4
seconds) before the NTP client mode datagram.
`key'
The NTP protocol supports the inclusion of checksums in the
packets, to prevent computers having their system time upset by
rogue packets being sent to them. The checksums are generated as
a function of a password, using the MD5 algorithm.
The association between key numbers and passwords is contained in
the keys file, defined by the keyfile command.
If the key option is present, `chronyd' will attempt to use
authenticated packets when communicating with this server. The key
number used will be the single argument to the key option. The
server must have the same password for this key number configured,
otherwise no relationship between the computers will be possible.
`offline'
If the server will not be reachable when `chronyd' is started, the
offline option may be specified. `chronyd' will not try to poll
the server until it is enabled to do so (by using the online
option of `chronyc').
`auto_offline'
If this option is set, the server will be assumed to have gone
offline when 2 requests have been sent to it without receiving a
response. This option avoids the need to run the `offline' (*note
offline command::) command from chrony when disconnecting the
dial-up link. (It will still be necessary to use chronyc's
`online' (*note online command::) command when the link has been
established, to enable measurements to start.)
`iburst'
On start, make four measurements over a short duration (rather than
the usual periodic measurements).
`minstratum'
When the synchronisation source is selected from available
sources, sources with lower stratum are normally preferred. This
option can be used to increase stratum of the source to the
specified minimum, so `chronyd' will avoid selecting that source.
This is useful with low stratum sources that are known to be
unrealiable or inaccurate and which should be used only when other
sources are unreachable.
`polltarget'
Target number of measurements to use for the regression algorithm
which `chronyd' will try to maintain by adjusting polling interval
between `minpoll' and `maxpoll'. A higher target makes `chronyd'
prefer shorter polling intervals. The default is 6 and a useful
range is 6 to 60.
`prefer'
Prefer this source over sources without prefer option.
`noselect'
Never select this source. This is particularly useful for
monitoring.
4.2.46 tempcomp
---------------
Normally, changes in rate of drift of the system clock are caused
mainly by changes in temperature of the crystal oscillator on the
mainboard.
If there are available temperature measurements from a sensor close
to the oscillator, `tempcomp' directive can be used to compensate for
the changes in rate and possibly improve clock accuracy.
Whether it will really help depends on many factors, including
resolution of the sensor, noise in measurements, time source polling
interval, compensation update interval, how good are the temperature
coefficients, and how close is the sensor to the oscillator. The
frequency reported in tracking.log should be more stable and the
offsets should be smaller.
The directive has six parameters: path to the file which contains
current temperature in text format, update interval (in seconds), and
temperature coefficients T0, k0, k1, k2.
The frequency compensation is calculated (in ppm) as
`k0 + (T - T0) * k1 + (T - T0)^2 * k2'
The result has to be between -10 ppm and 10 ppm, otherwise the
measurement is considered to be faulty and will be ignored. The k0
coefficient can be used to get the results in that range.
Valid measurements and calculated corrections are logged to
tempcomp.log file if enabled with `log tempcomp' directive.
An example of use is
tempcomp /sys/class/hwmon/hwmon1/device/temp2_input 30 26000 0.0 0.000183 0.0
The measured temperature will be read from the file in Linux sysfs
filesystem every 30 seconds. When the temperature is 26 degress
(26000), the system clock frequency will not be adjusted. When it is
27 degrees (27000), the clock will be set to run 0.183ppm faster than
it would be without the compensation, etc.
4.3 Running chronyc
===================
Chronyc is the program that can be used to reconfigure options within
the `chronyd' program whilst it is running. Chronyc can also be used
to generate status reports about the operation of `chronyd'.
4.3.1 Basic use
---------------
The program chronyc is run by entering
chronyc
at the command line. The prompt `chronyc' is displayed whilst
chronyc is expecting input from the user, when it is being run from a
terminal. If chronyc's input or output are redirected from/to a file,
the prompt is now shown.
When you are finished entering commands, the commands `exit' or
`quit' will terminate the program. (Entering <Control-D> will also
terminate the program.)
4.3.2 Command line options
--------------------------
Chronyc supports the following command line options.
`-v'
Displays the version number of chronyc on the terminal, and exists.
`-h <host>'
This option allows the user to specify which host running the
`chronyd' program is to be contacted. This allows for remote
configuration, without having to telnet or rlogin to the other host
first.
The default is to contact `chronyd' running on the same host as
that where chronyc is being run.
`-p <port>'
This option allows the user to specify the UDP port number which
the target `chronyd' is using for its command & monitoring
connections. This defaults to the compiled-in default; there
would rarely be a need to change this.
`-n'
This option disables resolving IP addresses to hostnames.
`-4'
With this option hostnames will be resolved only to IPv4 addresses.
`-6'
With this option hostnames will be resolved only to IPv6 addresses.
`-m'
With this option multiple commands can be specified on the command
line. Each argument will be interpreted as a whole command.
4.3.3 Security with chronyc
---------------------------
Many of the commands available through chronyc have a fair amount of
power to reconfigure the run-time behaviour of `chronyd'. Consequently,
`chronyc' is quite dangerous for the integrity of the target system's
clock performance. Having access to `chronyd' via chronyc is more or
less equivalent to being able to modify `chronyd's' configuration file
(typically `/etc/chrony.conf') and to restart `chronyd'.
Chronyc also provides a number of monitoring (as opposed to
commanding) commands, which will not affect the behaviour of `chronyd'.
However, you may still want to restrict access to these commands.
In view of this, access to some of the capabilities of chronyc will
usually be tightly controlled. There are two mechanisms supported:
1. The set of hosts from which `chronyd' will accept commands can be
restricted. By default, commands will only be accepted from the
same host that `chronyd' is running on.
2. Any command that actually reconfigures some aspect of `chronyd's'
behaviour requires the user of chronyc to know a password. This
password is specified in `chronyd's' keys file (*note keyfile
directive::) and specified via the commandkey option in its
configuration file (*note commandkey directive::).
Only the following commands can be used _without_ providing a
password:
* `activity'
* `dns'
* `exit'
* `help'
* `password'
* `quit'
* `rtcdata'
* `sources'
* `sourcestats'
* `tracking'
* `waitsync'
All other commands require a password to have been specified
previously, because they affect `chronyd's' operation.
4.3.4 Command reference
-----------------------
This section describes each of the commands available within the chronyc
program. Chronyc offers the user a simple command-line driven
interface.
4.3.4.1 accheck
...............
This command allows you to check whether client NTP access is allowed
from a particular host.
Examples of use, showing a named host and a numeric IP address, are
as follows:
accheck a.b.c
accheck 1.2.3.4
accheck 2001:db8::1
This command can be used to examine the effect of a series of
`allow', `allow all', `deny' and `deny all' commands specified either
via chronyc, or in `chronyd's' configuration file.
4.3.4.2 activity
................
This command reports the number of servers/peers that are online and
offline. If the auto_offline option is used in specifying some of the
servers/peers, the `activity' command may be useful for detecting when
all of them have entered the offline state after the PPP link has been
disconnected.
The report shows the number of servers/peers in 4 states:
* `online' : the server/peer is currently online (i.e. assumed by
chronyd to be reachable)
* `offline' : the server/peer is currently offline (i.e. assumed by
chronyd to be unreachable, and no measurements from it will be
attempted.)
* `burst_online' : a burst command has been initiated for the
server/peer and is being performed; after the burst is complete,
the server/peer will be returned to the online state.
* `burst_offline' : a burst command has been initiated for the
server/peer and is being performed; after the burst is complete,
the server/peer will be returned to the offline state.
4.3.4.3 add peer
................
The `add peer' command allows a new NTP peer to be added whilst
`chronyd' is running.
Following the words `add peer', the syntax of the following
parameters and options is identical to that for the `peer' directive in
the configuration file (*note peer directive::).
An example of using this command is shown below.
add peer foo.bar.com minpoll 6 maxpoll 10 authkey 25
4.3.4.4 add server
..................
The `add server' command allows a new NTP server to be added whilst
`chronyd' is running.
Following the words `add server', the syntax of the following
parameters and options is identical to that for the `server' directive
in the configuration file (*note server directive::).
An example of using this command is shown below.
add server foo.bar.com minpoll 6 maxpoll 10 authkey 25
4.3.4.5 allow
.............
The effect of the allow command is identical to the `allow' directive in
the configuration file (*note allow directive::).
The syntax is illustrated in the following examples:
allow foo.bar.com
allow 1.2
allow 3.4.5
allow 6.7.8/22
allow 6.7.8.9/22
allow 2001:db8:789a::/48
allow 0/0
allow ::/0
allow
The effect of each of these examples is the same as that of the
`allow' directive in the configuration file.
4.3.4.6 allow all
.................
The effect of the allow command is identical to the `allow all'
directive in the configuration file (*note allow directive::).
4.3.4.7 burst
.............
The `burst' command tells `chronyd' to make a set of measurements to
each of its NTP sources over a short duration (rather than the usual
periodic measurements that it makes). After such a burst, `chronyd'
will revert to the previous state for each source. This might be either
online, if the source was being periodically measured in the normal way,
or offline, if the source had been indicated as being offline.
(Switching a source between the online and offline states is described
in *note online command::, *note offline command::).
The syntax of the burst command is as follows
burst <n-good-measurements>/<max-measurements> [<mask>/<masked-address>]
burst <n-good-measurements>/<max-measurements> [<masked-address>/<masked-bits>]
The mask and masked-address arguments are optional, in which case
`chronyd' will initiate a burst for all of its currently defined
sources.
The arguments have the following meaning and format.
`n-good-measurements'
This defines the number of good measurements that `chronyd' will
want to obtain from each source. A measurement is good if it
passes certain tests, for example, the round trip time to the
source must be acceptable. (This allows `chronyd' to reject
measurements that are likely to be bogus.)
`max-measurements'
This defines the maximum number of measurements that `chronyd' will
attempt to make, even if the required number of good measurements
has not been obtained.
`mask'
This is an IP address with which the IP address of each of
`chronyd''s sources is to be masked.
`masked-address'
This is an IP address. If the masked IP address of a source
matches this value then the burst command is applied to that
source.
`masked-bits'
This can be used with `masked-address' for CIDR notation, which is
a shorter alternative to the form with mask.
If no mask or masked address arguments are provided, every source
will be matched.
An example of the two-argument form of the command is
burst 2/10
This will cause `chronyd' to attempt to get two good measurements
from each source, stopping after two have been obtained, but in no
event will it try more than ten probes to the source.
Examples of the four-argument form of the command are
burst 2/10 255.255.0.0/1.2.0.0
burst 2/10 2001:db8:789a::/48
In the first case, the two out of ten sampling will only be applied
to sources whose IPv4 addresses are of the form `1.2.x.y', where x and y
are arbitrary. In the second case, the sampling will be applied to
sources whose IPv6 addresses have first 48 bits equal to
`2001:db8:789a'.
4.3.4.8 clients
...............
This command shows a list of all clients that have accessed the server,
through either the NTP or command/monitoring ports. There are no
arguments.
An example of the output is
Hostname Client Peer CmdAuth CmdNorm CmdBad LstN LstC
========================= ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== ==== ====
localhost 0 0 15 1 0 29y 0
aardvark.xxx 4 0 0 0 0 49 29y
badger.xxx 4 0 0 0 0 6 29y
Each row shows the data for a single host. Only hosts that have
passed the host access checks (set with the `allow', `deny', `cmdallow'
and `cmddeny' commands or configuration file directives) are logged.
The columns are as follows:
1. The hostname of the client
2. The number of times the client has accessed the server using an NTP
client mode packet.
3. The number of times the client has accessed the server using an NTP
symmetric active mode packet.
4. The number of authenticated command packets that have been
processed from the client (i.e. those following a successful
`password' command).
5. The number of unauthenticated command packets that have been
processed from the client.
6. The number of bad command packets received from the client (not all
forms of bad packet are logged).
7. Time since the last NTP packet was received
8. Time since the last command packet was received
The last two entries will be shown as the time since 1970 if no
packet of that type has ever been received.
4.3.4.9 cmdaccheck
..................
This command is similar to the `accheck' command, except that it is
used to check whether command access is permitted from a named host.
Examples of use are as follows:
cmdaccheck a.b.c
cmdaccheck 1.2.3.4
cmdaccheck 2001:db8::1
4.3.4.10 cmdallow
.................
This is similar to the `allow' command, except that it is used to allow
particular hosts or subnets to use the chronyc program to interact with
`chronyd' on the current host.
4.3.4.11 cmdallow all
.....................
This is similar to the `allow all' command, except that it is used
toallow particular hosts or subnets to use the chronyc program to
interactwith `chronyd' on the current host.
4.3.4.12 cmddeny
................
This is similar to the `deny' command, except that it is used to allow
particular hosts or subnets to use the chronyc program to interact with
`chronyd' on the current host.
4.3.4.13 cmddeny all
....................
This is similar to the `deny all' command, except that it is used to
allow particular hosts or subnets to use the chronyc program to
interact with `chronyd' on the current host.
4.3.4.14 cyclelogs
..................
The `cyclelogs' command causes all of `chronyd's' open log files to be
closed and re-opened. This allows them to be renamed so that they can
be periodically purged. An example of how to do this is shown below.
% mv /var/log/chrony/measurements.log /var/log/chrony/measurements1.log
% chronyc
chronyc> password aardvark
200 OK
chronyc> cyclelogs
200 OK
chronyc> exit
% ls -l /var/log/chrony
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jun 8 18:17 measurements.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12345 Jun 8 18:17 measurements1.log
% rm -f measurements1.log
4.3.4.15 delete
...............
The `delete' command allows an NTP server or peer to be removed from
the current set of sources.
The syntax is illustrated in the examples below.
delete foo.bar.com
delete 1.2.3.4
delete 2001:db8::1
There is one parameter, the name or IP address of the server or peer
to be deleted.
4.3.4.16 deny
.............
The effect of the allow command is identical to the `deny' directive in
the configuration file (*note deny directive::).
The syntax is illustrated in the following examples:
deny foo.bar.com
deny 1.2
deny 3.4.5
deny 6.7.8/22
deny 6.7.8.9/22
deny 2001:db8:789a::/48
deny 0/0
deny ::/0
deny
4.3.4.17 deny all
.................
The effect of the allow command is identical to the `deny all'
directive in the configuration file (*note deny directive::).
4.3.4.18 dns
............
The `dns' command configures how are hostnames and IP addresses
resolved in `chronyc'. IP addresses can be resolved to hostnames when
printing results of `sources', `sourcestats', `tracking' and `clients'
commands. Hostnames are resolved in commands that take an address as
argument.
There are five forms of the command:
`dns -n'
Disables resolving IP addresses to hostnames. Raw IP addresses
will be displayed.
`dns +n'
Enables resolving IP addresses to hostnames. This is the default
unless `chronyc' was started with `-n' option.
`dns -4'
Resolves hostnames only to IPv4 addresses.
`dns -6'
Resolves hostnames only to IPv6 addresses.
`dns -46'
Resolves hostnames to both address families. This is the default
unless `chronyc' was started with `-4' or `-6' option.
4.3.4.19 dump
.............
The `dump' command causes `chronyd' to write its current history of
measurements for each of its sources to dump files, either for
inspection or to support the `-r' option when `chronyd' is restarted.
The `dump' command is somewhat equivalent to the `dumponexit'
directive in the chrony configuration file. *Note dumponexit
directive::.
To use the `dump', you probably want to configure the name of the
directory into which the dump files will be written. This can only be
done in the configuration file, see *note dumpdir directive::.
4.3.4.20 exit
.............
The exit command exits from chronyc and returns the user to the shell
(same as the quit command).
4.3.4.21 help
.............
The help command displays a summary of the commands and their arguments.
4.3.4.22 local
..............
The `local' command allows `chronyd' to be told that it is to appear as
a reference source, even if it is not itself properly synchronised to
an external source. (This can be used on isolated networks, to allow
one computer to be a master time server with the other computers slaving
to it.) The `local' command is somewhat equivalent to the `local'
directive in the configuration file, see *note local directive::.
The syntax is as shown in the following examples.
local stratum 10
local off
The first example enables the local reference mode on the host, and
sets the stratum at which it should claim to be synchronised.
The second example disables the local reference mode.
4.3.4.23 makestep
.................
Normally chronyd will cause the system to gradually correct any time
offset, by slowing down or speeding up the clock as required. In
certain situations, the system clock may be so far adrift that this
slewing process would take a very long time to correct the system clock.
The `makestep' command can be used in this situation. It cancels
any remaining correction that was being slewed, and jumps the system
clock by the equivalent amount, making it correct immediately.
BE WARNED - certain software will be seriously affected by such
jumps to the system time. (That is the reason why chronyd uses slewing
normally.)
The `makestep' directive in the configuration file can be used to
step the clock automatically when the adjustment is larger than a
specified threshold, see *note makestep directive::.
4.3.4.24 manual
...............
The manual command enables and disables use of the `settime' command
(*note settime command::), and is used to modify the behaviour of the
manual clock driver.
Examples of the command are shown below.
manual on
manual off
manual delete 1
manual list
manual reset
The `on' form of the command enables use of the `settime' command.
The `off' form of the command disables use of the `settime' command.
The `list' form of the command lists all the samples currently
stored in `chronyd'. The output is illustrated below.
210 n_samples = 1
# Date Time(UTC) Slewed Original Residual
====================================================
0 27Jan99 22:09:20 0.00 0.97 0.00
The columns as as follows :
1. The sample index (used for the `manual delete' command)
2. The date and time of the sample
3. The system clock error when the timestamp was entered, adjusted to
allow for changes made to the system clock since.
4. The system clock error when the timestamp was entered, as it
originally was (without allowing for changes to the system clock
since).
5. The regression residual at this point, in seconds. This allows
'outliers' to be easily spotted, so that they can be deleted using
the `manual delete' command.
The `delete' form of the command deletes a single sample. The
parameter is the index of the sample, as shown in the first column of
the output from `manual list'. Following deletion of the data point,
the current error and drift rate are re-estimated from the remaining
data points and the system clock trimmed if necessary. This option is
intended to allow 'outliers' to be discarded, i.e. samples where the
administrator realises he/she has entered a very poor timestamp.
The `reset' form of the command deletes all samples at once. The
system clock is left running as it was before the command was entered.
4.3.4.25 maxdelay
.................
This allows the `maxdelay' option for one of the sources to be
modified, in the same way as specifying the `maxdelay' option for the
`server' directive in the configuration file (*note server directive::).
The following examples illustrate the syntax
maxdelay foo.bar.com 0.3
maxdelay 1.2.3.4 0.0015
maxdelay 2001:db8::1 0.0015
The first example sets the maximum network delay allowed for a
measurement to the host `foo.bar.com' to 0.3 seconds. The second and
third examples set the maximum network delay for a measurement to the
host with IPv4 address `1.2.3.4' and the host with IPv6 address
`2001:db8::1' to 1.5 milliseconds.
(Any measurement whose network delay exceeds the specified value is
discarded.)
4.3.4.26 maxdelayratio
......................
This allows the `maxdelayratio' option for one of the sources to be
modified, in the same way as specifying the `maxdelayratio' option for
the `server' directive in the configuration file (*note server
directive::).
The following examples illustrate the syntax
maxdelayratio foo.bar.com 1.5
maxdelayratio 1.2.3.4 2.0
maxdelayratio 2001:db8::1 2.0
The first example sets the maximum network delay for a measurement to
the host `foo.bar.com' to be 1.5 times the minimum delay found amongst
the previous measurements that have been retained. The second and
third examples set the maximum network delay for a measurement to the
host with IPv4 address `1.2.3.4' and the host with IPv6 address
`2001:db8::1' to be double the retained minimum.
As for `maxdelay', any measurement whose network delay is too large
will be discarded.
4.3.4.27 maxdelaydevratio
.........................
This allows the `maxdelaydevratio' option for one of the sources to be
modified, in the same way as specifying the `maxdelaydevratio' option
for the `server' directive in the configuration file (*note server
directive::).
The following examples illustrate the syntax
maxdelaydevratio foo.bar.com 0.1
maxdelaydevratio 1.2.3.4 1.0
maxdelaydevratio 2001:db8::1 100.0
4.3.4.28 maxpoll
................
The `maxpoll' command is used to modify the minimum polling interval
for one of the current set of sources. It is equivalent to the
`maxpoll' option in the `server' directive in the configuration file
(*note server directive::).
The syntax is as follows
maxpoll <host> <new-maxpoll>
where the host can be specified as either a machine name or IP
address. The new minimum poll is specified as a base-2 logarithm of
the number of seconds between polls (e.g. specify 6 for 64 second
sampling).
An example is
maxpoll foo.bar.com 10
which sets the maximum polling interval for the host `foo.bar.com'
to 1024 seconds.
Note that the new maximum polling interval only takes effect after
the next measurement has been made.
4.3.4.29 maxupdateskew
......................
This command has the same effect as the `maxupdateskew' directive in
the configuration file, see *note maxupdateskew directive::.
4.3.4.30 minpoll
................
The `minpoll' command is used to modify the minimum polling interval
for one of the current set of sources. It is equivalent to the
`minpoll' option in the `server' directive in the configuration file
(*note server directive::).
The syntax is as follows
minpoll <host> <new-minpoll>
where the host can be specified as either a machine name or IP
address. The new minimum poll is specified as a base-2 logarithm of
the number of seconds between polls (e.g. specify 6 for 64 second
sampling).
An example is
minpoll foo.bar.com 5
which sets the minimum polling interval for the host `foo.bar.com'
to 32 seconds.
Note that the new minimum polling interval only takes effect after
the next measurement has been made.
4.3.4.31 minstratum
...................
The `minstratum' command is used to modify the minimum stratum for one
of the current set of sources. It is equivalent to the `minstratum'
option in the `server' directive in the configuration file (*note
server directive::).
The syntax is as follows
minstratum <host> <new-min-stratum>
where the host can be specified as either a machine name or IP
address.
An example is
minpoll foo.bar.com 5
which sets the minimum stratum for the host `foo.bar.com' to 5.
Note that the new minimum stratum only takes effect after the next
measurement has been made.
4.3.4.32 offline
................
The `offline' command is used to warn `chronyd' that the network
connection to a particular host or hosts is about to be lost. It should
be used on computers with a dial-up or similar connection to their time
sources, to warn `chronyd' that the connection is about to be broken.
An example of how to use `offline' in this case is shown in *note
Advising chronyd of internet availability::.
Another case where `offline' could be used is where a computer
serves time to a local group of computers, and has a permanant
connection to true time servers outside the organisation. However, the
external connection is heavily loaded at certain times of the day and
the measurements obtained are less reliable at those times. In this
case, it is probably most useful to determine the gain/loss rate during
the quiet periods and let the whole network coast through the loaded
periods. The `offline' and `online' commands can be used to achieve
this. The situation is shown in the figure below.
+----------+
|Ext source|
+----------+
|
|
|/| <-- Link with variable
| reliability
|
+-------------------+
|Local master server|
+-------------------+
|
+---+---+-----+-----+----+----+
| | | | | | |
Local clients
If the source to which `chronyd' is currently synchronised is
indicated offline in this way, `chronyd' will continue to treat it as
the synchronisation source. If the network connection were broken
without the `offline' command being used, `chronyd' would assume that
the source had failed and would attempt to pick another synchronisation
source.
There are three forms of the `offline' command. The first form is a
wildcard, meaning all sources. The second form allows a IP address mask
and a masked address to be specified. The third form uses the CIDR
notation. These forms are illustrated below.
offline
offline 255.255.255.0/1.2.3.0
offline 2001:db8:789a::/48
The second form means that the `offline' command is to be applied to
any source whose IPv4 address is in the `1.2.3' subnet. (The host's
address is logically and-ed with the mask, and if the result matches the
masked-address the host is processed). The third form means that the
command is to be applied to all sources whose IPv6 addresses have first
48 bits equal to `2001:db8:789a'.
The wildcard form of the address is actually equivalent to
offline 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0
offline ::/0
4.3.4.33 online
...............
The `online' command is opposite in function to the `offline' command.
It is used to advise `chronyd' that network connectivity to a
particular source or sources has been restored.
The syntax is identical to that of the `offline' command, see *note
offline command::.
4.3.4.34 password
.................
The password command is used to allow chronyc to send privileged
commands to `chronyd'. The password can either be entered on the
command line, or can be entered without echoing. The syntax for
entering the password on the command line is as follows
password xyzzy
To enter the password without it being echoed, enter
password
The computer will respond with a `Password:' prompt, at which you
should enter the password and press return. (Note that the no-echo mode
is limited to 8 characters on SunOS 4.1 due to limitations in the system
library. Other systems do not have this restriction.)
The password is any string of characters not containing whitespace.
It has to match `chronyd's' currently defined command key (*note
commandkey directive::).
4.3.4.35 polltarget
...................
The `polltarget' command is used to modify the poll target for one of
the current set of sources. It is equivalent to the `polltarget'
option in the `server' directive in the configuration file (*note
server directive::).
The syntax is as follows
polltarget <host> <new-poll-target>
where the host can be specified as either a machine name or IP
address.
An example is
polltarget foo.bar.com 12
which sets the poll target for the host `foo.bar.com' to 12.
4.3.4.36 quit
.............
The quit command exits from chronyc and returns the user to the shell
(same as the exit command).
4.3.4.37 reselect
.................
To avoid excessive switching between sources, `chronyd' may stay
synchronised to a source even when it is not currently the best one
among the available sources.
The `reselect' command can be used to force `chronyd' to reselect
the best synchronisation source.
4.3.4.38 reselectdist
.....................
The `reselectdist' command sets the reselect distance. It is equivalent
to the `reselectdist' directive in the configuration file (*note
reselectdist directive::).
4.3.4.39 retries
................
The `retries' command sets the maximum number of retries for `chronyc'
requests before giving up. The response timeout is controlled by
`timeout' command (*note timeout command::).
The default is 2.
4.3.4.40 rtcdata
................
The `rtcdata' command displays the current real time clock RTC
parameters.
An example output is shown below.
RTC ref time (GMT) : Sat May 30 07:25:56 1998
Number of samples : 10
Number of runs : 5
Sample span period : 549
RTC is fast by : -1.632736 seconds
RTC gains time at : -107.623 ppm
The fields have the following meaning
`RTC ref time (GMT)'
This is the RTC reading the last time its error was measured.
`Number of samples'
This is the number of previous measurements being used to
determine the RTC gain/loss rate.
`Number of runs'
This is the number of runs of residuals of the same sign following
the regression fit for (RTC error) versus (RTC time). A value
which is small indicates that the measurements are not well
approximated by a linear model, and that the algorithm will tend
to delete the older measurements to improve the fit.
`Sample span period'
This is the period that the measurements span (from the oldest to
the newest). Without a unit the value is in seconds; suffixes `m'
for minutes, `h' for hours, `d' for days or `y' for years may be
used.
`RTC is fast by'
This is the estimate of how many seconds fast the RTC when it
thought the time was at the reference time (above). If this value
is large, you may (or may not) want to use the `trimrtc' command
to bring the RTC into line with the system clock. (Note, a large
error will not affect `chronyd's' operation, unless it becomes so
big as to start causing rounding errors.
`RTC gains time at'
This is the amount of time gained (positive) or lost (negative) by
the real time clock for each second that it ticks. It is measured
in parts per million. So if the value shown was +1, suppose the
RTC was exactly right when it crosses a particular second
boundary. Then it would be 1 microsecond fast when it crosses its
next second boundary.
4.3.4.41 settime
................
The `settime' command allows the current time to be entered manually,
if this option has been configured into `chronyd'. (It may be
configured either with the `manual' directive in the configuration file
(*note manual directive::), or with the `manual' command of chronyc
(*note manual command::).
It should be noted that the computer's sense of time will only be as
accurate as the reference you use for providing this input (e.g. your
watch), as well as how well you can time the press of the return key.
When inputting time to an isolated network, I have a battery operated
alarm clock that is synchronised to the Rugby MSF time signal in the UK.
Providing your computer's time zone is set up properly, you will be
able to enter a local time (rather than UTC).
The response to a successful `settime' command indicates the amount
that the computer's clock was wrong. It should be apparent from this if
you have entered the time wrongly, e.g. with the wrong time zone.
The rate of drift of the system clock is estimated by a regression
process using the entered measurement and all previous measurements
entered during the present run of `chronyd'. However, the entered
measurement is used for adjusting the current clock offset (rather than
the estimated intercept from the regression, which is ignored).
Contrast what happens with the `manual delete' command, where the
intercept is used to set the current offset (since there is no
measurement that has just been typed in in that case).
The time is parsed by the public domain `getdate' algorithm.
Consequently, you can only specify time to the nearest second.
Examples of inputs that are valid are shown below.
settime 16:30
settime 16:30:05
settime Nov 21, 1997 16:30:05
For a full description of `getdate', get hold of the getdate
documentation (bundled, for example, with the source for GNU tar).
4.3.4.42 sources
................
This command displays information about the current time sources that
`chronyd' is accessing.
The optional argument `-v' can be specified, meaning _verbose_. In
this case, extra caption lines are shown as a reminder of the meanings
of the columns.
210 Number of sources = 3
MS Name/IP address Stratum Poll LastRx Last sample
=======================================================================
^+ a.b.c 3 6 47m -9491us[-6983us] +/- 159ms
^+ d.e.f 3 6 47m +32ms[ +35ms] +/- 274ms
^* g.h.i 2 6 47m +8839us[ +11ms] +/- 214ms
The columns are as follows:
`M'
This indicates the mode of the source. `^' means a server, `='
means a peer and `#' indicates a locally connected reference clock.
`S'
This column indicates the state of the sources. `*' indicates the
source to which `chronyd' is current synchronised. `+' indicates
other acceptable sources. `?' indicates sources to which
connectivity has been lost. `x' indicates a clock which `chronyd'
thinks is is a falseticker (i.e. its time is inconsistent with a
majority of other sources). `~' indicates a source whose time
appears to have too much variability. The `~' condition is also
shown at start-up, until at least 3 samples have been gathered
from it.
`Name/IP address'
This shows the name or the IP address of the source, or refid for
reference clocks.
`Stratum'
This shows the stratum of the source, as reported in its most
recently received sample. Stratum 1 indicates a computer with a
locally attached reference clock. A computer that is synchronised
to a stratum 1 computer is at stratum 2. A computer that is
synchronised to a stratum 2 computer is at stratum 3, and so on.
`Poll'
This shows the rate at which the source is being polled, as a
base-2 logarithm of the interval in seconds. Thus, a value of 6
would indicate that a measurement is being made every 64 seconds.
`chronyd' automatically varies the polling rate in response to
prevailing conditions.
`LastRx'
This column shows how long ago the last sample was received from
the source. This is normally in seconds. The letters `m', `h',
`d' or `y' indicate minutes, hours, days or years.
`Last sample'
This column shows the offset between the local clock and the
source at the last measurement. The number in the square brackets
shows the actual measured offset. This may be suffixed by `ns'
(indicating nanoseconds), `us' (indicating microseconds), `ms'
(indicating milliseconds), or `s' (indicating seconds). The
number to the left of the square brackets shows the original
measurement, adjusted to allow for any slews applied to the local
clock since. The number following the `+/-' indicator shows the
margin of error in the measurement.
Positive offsets indicate that the local clock is fast of the
source.
4.3.4.43 sourcestats
....................
The `sourcestats' command displays information about the drift rate and
offset estimatation process for each of the sources currently being
examined by `chronyd'.
The optional argument `-v' can be specified, meaning _verbose_. In
this case, extra caption lines are shown as a reminder of the meanings
of the columns.
An example report is
210 Number of sources = 1
Name/IP Address NP NR Span Frequency Freq Skew Offset Std Dev
===============================================================================
abc.def.ghi 11 5 46m -0.001 0.045 1us 25us
The columns are as follows
`Name/IP Address'
This is the name or IP address of the NTP server (or peer) or
refid of the refclock to which the rest of the line relates.
`NP'
This is the number of sample points currently being retained for
the server. The drift rate and current offset are estimated by
performing a linear regression through these points.
`NR'
This is the number of runs of residuals having the same sign
following the last regression. If this number starts to become
too small relative to the number of samples, it indicates that a
straight line is no longer a good fit to the data. If the number
of runs is too low, `chronyd' discards older samples and re-runs
the regression until the number of runs becomes acceptable.
`Span'
This is the interval between the oldest and newest samples. If no
unit is shown the value is in seconds. In the example, the
interval is 46 minutes.
`Frequency'
This is the estimated residual frequency for the server, in parts
per million. In this case, the computer's clock is estimated to
be running 1 part in 10**9 slow relative to the server.
`Freq Skew'
This is the estimated error bounds on `Freq' (again in parts per
million).
`Offset'
This is the estimated offset of the source.
`Std Dev'
This is the estimated sample standard deviation.
4.3.4.44 timeout
................
The `timeout' command sets the initial timeout for `chronyc' requests
in milliseconds. If no response is received from `chronyd', the
timeout is doubled and the request is resent. The maximum number of
retries is configured with the `retries' command (*note retries
command::).
The default is 1000 milliseconds.
4.3.4.45 tracking
.................
The `tracking' command displays parameters about the system's clock
performance. An example of the output is shown below.
Reference ID : 1.2.3.4 (a.b.c)
Stratum : 3
Ref time (UTC) : Sun May 17 06:13:11 1998
System time : 0.000000000 seconds fast of NTP time
Frequency : 331.898 ppm fast
Residual freq : 0.004 ppm
Skew : 0.154 ppm
Root delay : 0.373169 seconds
Root dispersion : 0.024780 seconds
The fields are explained as follows.
`Reference ID'
This is the refid and name (or IP address) if available, of the
server to which the computer is currently synchronised. If this
is `127.127.1.1' it means the computer is not synchronised to any
external source and that you have the `local' mode operating (via
the `local' command in `chronyc' (*note local command::), or the
`local' directive in the `/etc/chrony.conf' file (*note local
directive::)).
`Stratum'
The stratum indicates how many hops away from a computer with an
attached reference clock we are. Such a computer is a stratum-1
computer, so the computer in the example is two hops away (i.e.
`a.b.c' is a stratum-2 and is synchronised from a stratum-1).
`Ref time'
This is the time (GMT) at which the last measurement from the
reference source was processed.
`System time'
In normal operation, `chronyd' _never_ steps the system clock,
because any jump in the timescale can have adverse consequences for
certain application programs. Instead, any error in the system
clock is corrected by slightly speeding up or slowing down the
system clock until the error has been removed, and then returning
to the system clock's normal speed. A consequence of this is that
there will be a period when the system clock (as read by other
programs using the `gettimeofday()' system call, or by the `date'
command in the shell) will be different from `chronyd's' estimate
of the current true time (which it reports to NTP clients when it
is operating in server mode). The value reported on this line is
the difference due to this effect.
On systems such as Solaris and SunOS, `chronyd' has no means to
adjust the fundamental rate of the system clock, so keeps the
system time correct by periodically making offsets to it as though
an error had been measured. The build up of these offsets will be
observed in this report. On systems such as Linux where `chronyd'
can adjust the fundamental rate of the system clock, this value
will show zero unless a very recent measurement has shown the
system to be error.
`Frequency'
The `frequency' is the rate by which the system's clock would be
would be wrong if `chronyd' was not correcting it. It is
expressed in ppm (parts per million). For example, a value of
1ppm would mean that when the system's clock thinks it has
advanced 1 second, it has actually advanced by 1.000001 seconds
relative to true time.
As you can see in the example, the clock in the computer I
developed `chrony' on is not a very good one - it gains about 30
seconds per day! This was the reason I started to write `chrony'
in the first place.
`Residual freq'
This shows the `residual frequency' for the currently selected
reference source. This reflects any difference between what the
measurements from the reference source indicate the frequency
should be and the frequency currently being used.
The reason this is not always zero is that a smoothing procedure is
applied to the frequency. Each time a measurement from the
reference source is obtained and a new residual frequency
computed, the estimated accuracy of this residual is compared with
the estimated accuracy (see `skew' next) of the existing frequency
value. A weighted average is computed for the new frequency, with
weights depending on these accuracies. If the measurements from
the reference source follow a consistent trend, the residual will
be driven to zero over time.
`Skew'
This is the estimated error bound on the the frequency.
`Root delay'
This is the total of the network path delays to the stratum-1
computer from which the computer is ultimately synchronised.
In certain extreme situations, this value can be negative. (This
can arise in a symmetric peer arrangement where the computers'
frequencies are not tracking each other and the network delay is
very short relative to the turn-around time at each computer.)
`Root dispersion'
This is the total dispersion accumulated through all the computers
back to the stratum-1 computer from which the computer is
ultimately synchronised. Dispersion is due to system clock
resolution, statistical measurement variations etc.
An absolute bound on the computer's clock accuracy (assuming the
stratum-1 computer is correct) is given by
clock_error <= root_dispersion + (0.5 * |root_delay|)
4.3.4.46 trimrtc
................
The `trimrtc' command is used to correct the system's real time clock
(RTC) to the main system clock. It has no effect if the error between
the two clocks is currently estimated at less than a second (the
resolution of the RTC is only 1 second).
The command takes no arguments. It performs the following steps (if
the RTC is more than 1 second away from the system clock):
1. Remember the currently estimated gain/loss rate of the RTC and
flush the previous measurements.
2. Step the real time clock to bring it within a second of the system
clock.
3. Make several measurements to accurately determine the new offset
between the RTC and the system clock (i.e. the remaining fraction
of a second error)
4. Save the RTC parameters to the RTC file (specified with the
`rtcfile' directive in the configuration file (*note rtcfile
directive::).
The last step is done as a precaution against the computer suffering
a power failure before either the daemon exits or the `writertc'
command is issued.
`chronyd' will still work perfectly well both whilst operating and
across machine reboots even if the `trimrtc' command is never used (and
the RTC is allowed to drift away from true time). The `trimrtc'
command is provided as a method by which it can be corrected, in a
manner compatible with `chronyd' using it to maintain accurate time
across machine reboots.
4.3.4.47 waitsync
.................
The `waitsync' command waits for `chronyd' to synchronise.
Up to three optional arguments can be specified, the first is the
maximum number of tries in 10 second intervals before giving up and
returning a non-zero error code. When 0 is specified, or there are no
arguments, the number of tries will not be limited.
The second and third arguments are the maximum allowed remaining
correction of the system clock and the maximum allowed skew (in ppm) as
reported by the `tracking' command (*note tracking command::) in the
`System time' and `Skew' fields. If not specified or zero, the value
will not be checked.
An example is
waitsync 60 0.01
which will wait up to about 10 minutes for `chronyd' to synchronise
to a source and the remaining correction to be less than 10
milliseconds.
4.3.4.48 writertc
.................
The `writertc' command writes the currently estimated error and
gain/loss rate parameters for the RTC to the RTC file (specified with
the `rtcfile' directive (*note rtcfile directive::)). This information
is also written automatically when `chronyd' is killed (with SIGHUP,
SIGINT, SIGQUIT or SIGTERM).
Appendix A Porting guide
************************
This appendix discusses issues that have arisen in writing the
system-specific parts of the existing ports. This will provide useful
information for those attempting to write ports to other systems.
A.1 System driver files
=======================
The system specific parts of the software are contained in files with
names like `sys_linux.c'.
The following functions are required in a system driver file:
1. A function to read the current frequency
2. A function to set the current frequency
3. A function to slew the system time by a specified delta
4. A function to step the system time by a specified delta
5. A function to work out the error at a particular time between the
system's clock and `chronyd's' estimate of real time. (This is
required because some systems have to track real time by making
the system time follow it in a 'sawtooth' fashion).
The "frequency" is the rate at which the system gains or loses time,
measured relative to the system when running uncompensated.
A.2 Quirks of particular systems
================================
These sections describe quirks in each system type that needed to be
investigated to port the software to each system type.
A.2.1 Linux
-----------
The following quirks have been found in developing the Linux port.
1. In order to avoid floating point arithmetic, the kernel uses
shifting and adding to approximate a scaling of 100/128. This
approximation implies that the frequency set via the `adjtimex()'
system call is not the frequency that is actually obtained. The
method of approximation varies between kernel versions and must be
determined by examining the kernel source. An inverse factor must
be included in the driver to compensate.
2. In some kernel versions, an `adjtimex()' system call with the flags
bits all zeroed will return the amount of offset still to be
corrected. In others (e.g. the 2.0 series beyond 2.0.32), the
offset must be changed in order to get the old offset returned
(similar to `adjtime()' on other systems).
A.2.2 Solaris 2.5
-----------------
The following quirks have been found in developing the Solaris port.
1. The `adjtime()' system call with a zero argument does not cancel an
adjustment that is in progress - it just reports the remaining
adjustment.
2. The `settimeofday()' system call only observes the seconds part of
the argument - any fractional seconds part is lost. second.
3. The kernel variable `dosynctodr' has to be set to zero, otherwise
the system clock is periodically reset to the real-time clock.
A.2.3 SunOS 4.1.4
-----------------
The following quirks have been found in developing the SunOS port.
1. The `adjtime()' system call truncates its argument to a multiple of
the system's `tickadj' variable. (`chronyd' sets that to 100,
giving a 1 part in 100 slewing capability for correcting offsets.)
2. The kernel variable `dosynctodr' has to be set to zero, otherwise
the system clock is periodically reset to the real-time clock.
Appendix B GNU General Public License
*************************************
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51
Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA Everyone is
permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license
document, but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
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License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software-to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
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FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
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How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
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To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
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convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it
does.> Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
02110-1301 USA.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like
this when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show
w'. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items-whatever suits your
program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or
your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program,
if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the
program `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by
James Hacker.
<signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989 Ty Coon, President of Vice
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your
program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine
library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the
GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. Table of Contents
*****************
User guide for the chrony suite
1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
1.2 Acknowledgements
1.3 Availability
1.3.1 Getting the software
1.3.2 Platforms
1.4 Relationship to other software packages
1.4.1 xntpd
1.4.2 timed
1.5 Distribution rights and (lack of) warranty
1.6 Bug reporting and suggestions
1.7 Contributions
2 Installation
2.1 Support for line editing libraries
2.2 Extra options for package builders
3 Typical operating scenarios
3.1 Computers connected to the internet
3.2 Infrequent connection to true NTP servers
3.2.1 Setting up the configuration file for infrequent connections
3.2.2 How to tell chronyd when the internet link is available.
3.3 Isolated networks
3.4 The home PC with a dial-up connection
3.4.1 Assumptions/how the software works
3.4.2 Typical configuration files.
3.5 Other important configuration options
4 Usage reference
4.1 Starting chronyd
4.2 The chronyd configuration file
4.2.1 Comments in the configuration file
4.2.2 acquisitionport
4.2.3 allow
4.2.4 bindaddress
4.2.5 bindcmdaddress
4.2.6 broadcast
4.2.7 cmdallow
4.2.8 cmddeny
4.2.9 commandkey
4.2.10 cmdport
4.2.11 deny
4.2.12 driftfile
4.2.13 dumpdir
4.2.14 dumponexit
4.2.15 fallbackdrift
4.2.16 include
4.2.17 initstepslew
4.2.18 keyfile
4.2.19 local
4.2.20 linux_hz
4.2.21 linux_freq_scale
4.2.22 log
4.2.22.1 Measurements log file format
4.2.22.2 Statistics log file format
4.2.22.3 Tracking log file format
4.2.22.4 Real-time clock log file format
4.2.22.5 Refclocks log file format
4.2.22.6 Tempcomp log file format
4.2.23 logbanner
4.2.24 logchange
4.2.25 logdir
4.2.26 mailonchange
4.2.27 makestep
4.2.28 manual
4.2.29 maxclockerror
4.2.30 maxupdateskew
4.2.31 noclientlog
4.2.32 clientloglimit
4.2.33 peer
4.2.34 pidfile
4.2.35 port
4.2.36 refclock
4.2.37 reselectdist
4.2.38 rtcdevice
4.2.39 rtcfile
4.2.40 rtconutc
4.2.41 rtcsync
4.2.42 sched_priority
4.2.43 stratumweight
4.2.44 lock_all
4.2.45 server
4.2.46 tempcomp
4.3 Running chronyc
4.3.1 Basic use
4.3.2 Command line options
4.3.3 Security with chronyc
4.3.4 Command reference
4.3.4.1 accheck
4.3.4.2 activity
4.3.4.3 add peer
4.3.4.4 add server
4.3.4.5 allow
4.3.4.6 allow all
4.3.4.7 burst
4.3.4.8 clients
4.3.4.9 cmdaccheck
4.3.4.10 cmdallow
4.3.4.11 cmdallow all
4.3.4.12 cmddeny
4.3.4.13 cmddeny all
4.3.4.14 cyclelogs
4.3.4.15 delete
4.3.4.16 deny
4.3.4.17 deny all
4.3.4.18 dns
4.3.4.19 dump
4.3.4.20 exit
4.3.4.21 help
4.3.4.22 local
4.3.4.23 makestep
4.3.4.24 manual
4.3.4.25 maxdelay
4.3.4.26 maxdelayratio
4.3.4.27 maxdelaydevratio
4.3.4.28 maxpoll
4.3.4.29 maxupdateskew
4.3.4.30 minpoll
4.3.4.31 minstratum
4.3.4.32 offline
4.3.4.33 online
4.3.4.34 password
4.3.4.35 polltarget
4.3.4.36 quit
4.3.4.37 reselect
4.3.4.38 reselectdist
4.3.4.39 retries
4.3.4.40 rtcdata
4.3.4.41 settime
4.3.4.42 sources
4.3.4.43 sourcestats
4.3.4.44 timeout
4.3.4.45 tracking
4.3.4.46 trimrtc
4.3.4.47 waitsync
4.3.4.48 writertc
Appendix A Porting guide
A.1 System driver files
A.2 Quirks of particular systems
A.2.1 Linux
A.2.2 Solaris 2.5
A.2.3 SunOS 4.1.4
Appendix B GNU General Public License
distrib
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Mandriva
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2011.0
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x86_64
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media
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contrib-testing
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by-pkgid
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176035a3c3ac2b54d951d872a0534e87
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files
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