On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 8:19 PM, Bruce <[email protected]> wrote: > Denis Heidtmann wrote: >> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:22 PM, Joe Pruett <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>>> More info. I found entries in daemon.log: >>>> Nov 30 08:06:04 R2D4 ntpdate[3330]: step time server 69.63.177.217 >>>> offset 0.894285 sec >>>> ... >>>> Nov 30 11:57:14 R2D4 ntpdate[3434]: can't find host >>>> http://www.pool.ntp.org/zone/us >>>> Nov 30 11:57:14 R2D4 ntpdate[3434]: no servers can be used, exiting >>>> >>>> This seems to indicate that ntpdate was run before I made the changes >>>> to anacrontab and rebooted. Perhaps I did do it manually, but I do >>>> not recall doing that, and I can not find the command in my history. >>>> The only conclusion I can get from this is that ntpdate is already >>>> being run somewhere. I think I had better remove my changes to >>>> anacrontab, reboot, and look at daemon.log again. >>>> >>>> Also, it seem that http://www.pool.ntp.org/zone/us as suggested by >>>> Randall is not working. Did I miss-type? >>>> >>> no, you misunderstood. you were supposed to go look at that web page >>> which would tell you what to put into your ntp config. >>> >>> terse, but confusing is our motto :-). >>> >> >> Ah--thanks for the clue-stick. >> >> But now that i look at that site, I see the following: "Make sure your >> computer's clock is set to something sensible (within a few minutes of >> the 'true' time) - you could use ntpdate pool.ntp.org". >> >> That is what I was planning, which precipitated Randall's comment >> (lazy, he said!). So I do not feel so bad in interpreting the advice >> on that site as I had. Seeing as I will not be using ntpd (my machine >> is typically not up long enough to make it a sensible way to correct >> the clock--correct me if I am wrong), I plan to use ntpdate. >> >> ntpdate uses data in /etc/default/ntpdate (ntpd not installed, hence >> no /etc/ntp.conf file. So now I have added to /etc/default/ntpdate >> the line NTPSERVERS="0.us.pool.ntp.org 1.us.pool.ntp.org >> 2.us.pool.ntp.org 3.us.pool.ntp.org" >> >> We will see if that keeps the binary men happy. >> >> Now to go back to the question of whether ntpdate is being run by >> default, buried somewhere in the bowels this system. >> >> -Denis >> _______________________________________________ >> PLUG mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug >> > I think Ubuntu runs ntpdate at bootup by default. IIRC, I read that in > one of the Ubuntu forums. > > Bruce And so it is.
To recap: I wanted to keep my system clock reasonably correct. I understood that ubuntu runs ntpdate at boot by default. It was not happening. Two reasons: 1) /etc/default/ntpdate has a line NTPDATE_USE_NTP_CONF=yes, which causes ntpdate to go to /etc/ntp.conf for the server list. ntpd is not installed,( again, the default condition), so /etc/ntp.conf does not exist. Changing the statement to NTPDATE_USE_NTP_CONF=no causes ntpdate to use the server list following in NTPSERVERS="ntp.ubuntu.com". 2) My dsl modem was blocking port 124, so ntpdate could not reach any servers. Option -u on ntpdate forces use of an unprivileged port, so servers can be reached. I learned some stuff about ntp servers, my modem, anacron, and ubuntu. I never tested whether the default server ntp.ubuntu.com actually worked, since I had expert advice on choice of servers. Thanks to all who helped me navigate the maze. -Denis _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
