ntpdate - No Servers

[echotech2]

Ubuntu 13.10, all updates.

I'm not sure how to fix this:

dave@scamper:~$ ntpdate
13 Dec 06:45:34 ntpdate[23690]: no servers can be used, exiting

(if it needs fixing, lol)

--Dave

[ian-weisser]

That error usually means that ntpdate cannot find a reliable server. Since there are *lots* of reliable NTP servers on the internet, that usually means that your system is being blocked from seeing them (by a firewall or proxy), or you have told NTP to ignore them (by editing the config file).

Are you behind a proxy? Or on a network that provides an NTP server?

Have you changed any of the settings in the /etc/ntp.conf file?

[efflandt]

There may not be any /etc/ntp.conf by default, in which case you would need to include ntp server(s) on the ntpdate command line.

ntpdate-debian command uses /etc/default/ntpdate, which by default polls ntp.ubuntu.com (unless you changed that file or also had /etc/ntp.conf properly configured). Even if properly configured either ntpdate command needs root access:

efflandt@xps8100-1204:~$ sudo ntpdate
13 Dec 21:25:23 ntpdate[9429]: no servers can be used, exiting
efflandt@xps8100-1204:~$ sudo ntpdate-debian
13 Dec 21:25:38 ntpdate[9432]: step time server 91.189.89.199 offset -1.103506 sec

[ian-weisser]

Even if properly configured either ntpdate command needs root access

Oh! Great catch!

[echotech2]

Thanks for the replies. Using sudo didn't work.

dave@scamper:~$ sudo ntpdate
[sudo] password for dave:
14 Dec 06:03:39 ntpdate[27536]: no servers can be used, exiting

and

dave@scamper:~$ sudo ntpdate-debian
[sudo] password for dave:
14 Dec 06:18:04 ntpdate[27667]: the NTP socket is in use, exiting


I am using a caching proxy (Polipo - http://www.pps.univ-paris-diderot.fr...ftware/polipo/ ) and it is set up as "Network Proxy", "Apply System-Wide". I was thinking (Note: caffeine level is being adjusted and may not have reached optimum level yet...) maybe Polipo isn't passing whatever protocol ntpdate uses, but I have been using Polipo for several years without any apparent problems.

ntp.conf:

# /etc/ntp.conf, configuration for ntpd; see ntp.conf(5) for help
driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
# Enable this if you want statistics to be logged.
#statsdir /var/log/ntpstats/
statistics loopstats peerstats clockstats
filegen loopstats file loopstats type day enable
filegen peerstats file peerstats type day enable
filegen clockstats file clockstats type day enable
# Specify one or more NTP servers.
# Use servers from the NTP Pool Project. Approved by Ubuntu Technical Board
# on 2011-02-08 (LP: #104525). See http://www.pool.ntp.org/join.html for
# more information.
server 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
server 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
server 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
server 3.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
# Use Ubuntu's ntp server as a fallback.
server ntp.ubuntu.com
# Access control configuration; see /usr/share/doc/ntp-doc/html/accopt.html for
# details. The web page <http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/AccessRestrictions>
# might also be helpful.
# Note that "restrict" applies to both servers and clients, so a configuration
# that might be intended to block requests from certain clients could also end
# up blocking replies from your own upstream servers.
# By default, exchange time with everybody, but don't allow configuration.
restrict -4 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer noquery
restrict -6 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer noquery


--Dave

[echotech2]

OK, I bypassed the Polipo proxy ("Network Proxy"=None, clicked "Apply System-Wide") and I get the same output.

dave@scamper:~$ sudo ntpdate
[sudo] password for dave:
16 Dec 06:26:50 ntpdate[3576]: no servers can be used, exiting

and

dave@scamper:~$ sudo ntpdate-debian
16 Dec 06:27:36 ntpdate[3578]: the NTP socket is in use, exiting

Does this mean that my clock is not syncing with ANY time server?

--Dave

[echotech2]

I say, I say. Methinks this could use a a slight nudge.

[Lars Noodén]

You have ntpd running already. It is using the NTP socket already, making it unavailable to ntpdate.

service ntp status

It synchronizes the clock for you, doing so continuously in the background. You can track its progress in syslog.

sudo grep ntpd /var/log/syslog

If you look in the older, compressed syslogs you can use zgrep instead.

If you really want to run ntpdate, then you have to pause ntpd.

sudo service ntp stop
sudo ntpdate 3.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org
sudo service ntp start

You can point ntpdate at whichever time server you want, not just one from Ubuntu's pool. If you want to use whatever is in /etc/ntp.conf, then use ntpdate-debian instead. However, unless your clock is somehow off by a huge amount, ntpd will take care of the adjustment for you automatically in the background.

[philinux]

Minor point. You dont need sudo for this.

grep ntpd /var/log/syslog

[Lars Noodén]

Minor point. You dont need sudo for this.

Thanks. My system is a little more customized, I should have tried a generic machine. If you are a member of the group adm sudo is not needed. Since that is often parceled out along with full sudo access, I guess sudo is not needed.