Andrew Clark wrote:
I'm having problems getting NTP to work on my network. My gateway syncs fine, but whenever I try to sync off the gate way, I get: no server suitable for synchronization found For instance: root@bristlenose[1] 0 /usr/doc/ntp # ntpdate -q 192.168.1.1 server 192.168.1.1, stratum 2, offset -0.882461, delay 0.02628 16 Jan 10:53:16 ntpdate[1422]: no server suitable for synchronization found Any ideas? Please CC responses, I'm not subscribe at this account ATM. Cheers, Andrew Clark 90East (Asia Pacific) Pty Ltd Canberra, Australia
Here are some "gotchas" that I discovered while getting NTP working here. Maybe one of these will help.
1. Check your config files for the proper IPs. This should have been configured correctly upon install, but it doesn't hurt to check. I would suggest using IP numbers rather than server names in case your DNS is a bit off. There has been several "updates" to the NTP program lately, that change the location of the config files, so check your DOCS to see where they are located. Generally they are either somewhere in /etc or in the /etc/init.d/ntp initscript... depending on the version you have installed.
2. NTPDATE and NTP are two different programs and cannot be run at the same time. NTPDATE is generally run once at startup to get the system clock in synch and then NTP will be started to provide continous updates/synch. Unless you are planning on running your own "server" for your LAN, the NTP program may be a bit of overkill. You can get the same effect by running NTPDATE and updating it periodically with a cron job. Your desires/needs will dictate what you need here.
3. The NTP program requires port 123 to be open. If you have a firewall, then check your ruleset to make sure this port is open. The NTPDATE program doesn't seem to care about this. This is one that got me for quite a while.
4. Make sure the external time server you are trying to synch with is available. Many are "closed" and require the sysop's permission to use it. It is generally good PR to notify them that you are going to use their time server anyway. I have found the following list of "public" time servers quite useful: http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/servers.htm . I chose a Stratum-3 "public" server with no restrictions from a couple of local Universities and have never had any problems.
5. This one falls in the category of "So obvious it shouldn't be mentioned", but PING the external server and make sure it is UP! I messed around for about 2 weeks with a server off the list once before I did this :(. My head still has marks from beating it against the wall <g>.
6. For some reason, NTP would not synch with an EXTERNAL server on my IPMasq / Firewall machine. When I moved it to another machine on the LAN, it started working fine. Strangely, I can use NTP on the IPMasq machine to synch to the LAN NTP server! Dunno why.... black magic I suspect ;)
Cheers, -Don Spoon-