/sbin/init.d/xntpd stop / -start

[Mark Parsons]

Hi All,

What are the implications (if any) of running the above whilst the server is up and running?

Kind Regards,

Mark P.

[Patrick Wallek]

Well, the obvious one is that the NTP process will be stopped and restarted.  In the time that it takes that to happen your server will not be syncing its time with your NTP time sources.

The other item that comes into play is whether or not you have an NTPDATE_SERVER set in the /etc/rc.config.d/netdaemons file.  If you do then your time will be set to the time value received from that server.  If there is a large difference in time several seconds to minutes, then that could cause problems with applications (like databases).

If your server has been keeping time well and there are no issues, then it shouldn't be a big deal to stop / start NTP.

[Ajin_1]

The service will start and stop...

At this point of time it will not sync with NTP server..

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

>> The service will start and stop...
>> At this point of time it will not sync with NTP server..

Actually, that is not accurate. The xntpd start script will examine the file /etc/rc.config.d/netdaemons and if the line:

export NTPDATE_SERVER=rolex.usg.edu

has a working NTP server listed, the time will 'jump' to the current time. If it is blank (export NTPDATE_SERVER=), then time will not be jumped when the script is run. Then on reboot, the server will not set time to an NTP server. Instead, the server will be adjusted slowly by xntpd.

As mentioned, jumping the time can be detrimental to some databases. If NTP is currently working (use ntpq -p to verify), then the time should be very close in which case, running the start/stop script should not have any effect on the time.