NAME
ntpdc - special NTP query program
SYNOPSIS
ntpdc [-ilnps] [-c command] [host] [...]
DESCRIPTION
ntpdc is used to query the ntpd daemon about its current state and to
request changes in that state. The program may be run either in
interactive mode or controlled using command line arguments. Extensive
state and statistics information is available through the ntpdc
interface. In addition, nearly all the configuration options which can
be specified at startup using ntpd's configuration file may also be
specified at run time using ntpdc.
If one or more request options are included on the command line when
ntpdc is executed, each of the requests will be sent to the NTP servers
running on each of the hosts given as command line arguments, or on
localhost by default. If no request options are given, ntpdc will
attempt to read commands from the standard input and execute these on
the NTP server running on the first host given on the command line,
again defaulting to localhost when no other host is specified. ntpdc
will prompt for commands if the standard input is a terminal device.
ntpdc uses NTP mode 7 packets to communicate with the NTP server, and
hence can be used to query any compatible server on the network which
permits it. Note that since NTP is a UDP protocol this communication
will be somewhat unreliable, especially over large distances in terms
of network topology. ntpdc makes no attempt to retransmit requests, and
will time requests out if the remote host is not heard from within a
suitable timeout time.
The operation of ntpdc are specific to the particular implementation of
the ntpd daemon and can be expected to work only with this and maybe
some previous versions of the daemon. Requests from a remote ntpdc
program which affect the state of the local server must be
authenticated, which requires both the remote program and local server
share a common key and key identifier.
Note that in contexts where a host name is expected, a -4 qualifier
preceding the host name forces DNS resolution to the IPv4 namespace,
while a -6 qualifier forces DNS resolution to the IPv6 namespace.
OPTIONS
Specifying a command line option other than -i or -n will cause the
specified query (queries) to be sent to the indicated host(s)
immediately. Otherwise, ntpdc will attempt to read interactive format
commands from the standard input.
-4 Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command line
to the IPv4 namespace.
-6 Force DNS resolution of following host names on the command line
to the IPv6 namespace.
-c command
The following argument is interpreted as an interactive format
command and is added to the list of commands to be executed on
the specified host(s). Multiple -c options may be given.
-i Force ntpdc to operate in interactive mode. Prompts will be
written to the standard output and commands read from the
standard input.
-l Obtain a list of peers which are known to the server(s). This
switch is equivalent to -c listpeers.
-n Output all host addresses in dotted-quad numeric format rather
than converting to the canonical host names.
-p Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a
summary of their state. This is equivalent to -c peers.
-s Print a list of the peers known to the server as well as a
summary of their state, but in a slightly different format than
the -p switch. This is equivalent to -c dmpeers.
SEE ALSO
/usr/share/doc/ntp-doc/html/ntpdc.html for the full documentation.