Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 77086
Unable to sync system time
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:48:04 EDT
I'm unable to use ntpdate to sync time&date because too big offset: # ntpdate tak.cesnet.cz 2 Nov 01:36:50 ntpdate[1581]: Can't adjust the time of day: Invalid argument # ntptrace tak.cesnet.cz tak.cesnet.cz: stratum 1, offset -93634.278879, synch distance 0.00157, refid 'GPS' # date 10312339 # ntpdate tak.cesnet.cz 31 Oct 23:39:11 ntpdate[1588]: step time server 195.113.144.238 offset 6.853757 sec Seems odd error message or stupid bug... I don not remember same problem with old version of ntpdate (without libcap) but I could be wrong (I did not tested it).
I've noticed this problem with the RedHat 8.0 distribution. It's not a problem with ntp but a problem with dhcpcd. Apparently, it fails to make the entry: restrict NTP-SERVER in the /etc/ntp.conf file (where NTP-SERVER is the ip-address or name provided via DHCP). Since it does make the entry: restrict default ignore the end result is that ntp is effectively blocked from syncing with anyone. I was about to submit it as a dhcpc bug but decided to check the ntp bugs to see if someone else had encountered the issue.
Seems to be two different bugs. I had no ntp daemon running and I did not used dhcpd to obtain IP address. I'm only using ntpdate to sync time every hour (because ntp daemon was not so fail-proof). What I did is try to use with ntpdate to change local time and it refused to do because "bad argument". This is odd. The second problem is that script for ntpd daemon is using ntpdate to sync time like I did, but this simply not work when time offset is too big as I reported. I'm reopening to point that there is an inconsistency.
ok, found the bug in the source.. .thx for reporting...
I had problems with ntp that relate to the default ignore entry in the ntp.conf. they didn't come from dhcp, I think it's just the defaul entry in the config file. Also: - ntp doesn't log that it's not synching. in fact there's no indication that anything's wrong unless you happen to do a manual clock check - there's no warning from ntp that it's got a stupid configuration. in fact it's not trivial to find that it's getting the returned signals correctly and then throwing them away. (I faffed for ages checking firewall settings, and ethereal to be sure that something was going on at all.
should be fixed with ntp-4.1.1b-1
An errata has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on the solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2002-230.html