After boot, time is incorrect

[Charles McCary]

I have two systems that are both using ntp time synchronization. After boot system 1 consistently comes up with the time an hour and a half off (early). System 2 is fine.

ntp starts on system 1 but errors out because the "gap" is too large to be corrected. So I set the time manually and restart ntp and all is ok, until next reboot.

Any ideas on what I could be missing? Theoretically these systems are configured very similarly.

thanks,

c

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Charles:

This is odd. At least, to avoid having to manually reset the time, edit '/etc/rc.config.d/netdaemons' and put the name of a trusted timesouce as:

export NTPDATE_SERVER=goodtime.machine.net

This will cause 'ntpdate' to be run once at bootup to step the time to a correct value. Thereafter, 'xntpd' should keep things synchronized.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Charles McCary]

James,

thanks I'll try that.

What's the difference in setting that and what I already have in the /etc/ntp.conf file?

thanks,

c

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi (again) Charles:

By configuring NTPDATE_SERVER your server's time will be stepped (in one jump) to a correct value at bootup by 'ntpdate'. Thereafter, 'xntpd' will run and keep time synchronized. In your case, this should prevent you from having to manually restart 'xntpd' because it has found its server-side time so vastly different from its synchronization sources and hence died.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Charles McCary]

Great - thanks I'll give it a shot.

[Charles McCary]

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