ntp_decode(5)

NAME
ntp_decode - ntpd Event Messages and Status Words

INTRODUCTION
This page lists the status words, event messages and error codes used for ntpd reporting and monitoring. Status words are used to display the current status of the running program. There is one system status word and a peer status word for each association. There is a clock status word for each association that supports a reference clock. There is a flash code for each association which shows errors found in the last packet received (pkt) and during protocol processing (peer). These are commonly viewed using the ntpq program. Significant changes in program state are reported as events. There is one set of system events and a set of peer events for each association. In addition, there is a set of clock events for each association that supports a reference clock. Events are normally reported to the protostats monitoring file and optionally to the system log. In addition, if the trap facility is configured, events can be reported to a remote program that can page an administrator. This page also includes a description of the error messages produced by the Autokey protocol. These messages are normally sent to the cryptostats monitoring file. In the following tables the Code Field is the status or event code assigned and the Message Field a short string used for display and event reporting. The Description field contains a longer explanation of the status or event. Some messages include additional information useful for error diagnosis and performance assessment.

SYSTEM STATUS WORD
The system status word consists of four fields LI (0-1), Source (2-7), Count (8-11) and Code (12-15). It is reported in the first line of the rv display produced by the ntpq program.
Leap | Source | Count | Code
The Leap Field displays the system leap indicator bits coded as follows:
Code | Message | Description
0 | leap_none | normal synchronized state
1 | leap_add_sec | insert second after 23:59:59 of the current day
2 | leap_del_sec | delete second 23:59:59 of the current day
3 | leap_alarm | never synchronized
The Source Field displays the current synchronization source coded as follows:.
Code | Message | Description
0 | sync_unspec | not yet synchronized
1 | sync_pps | pulse-per-second signal (Cs, Ru, GPS, etc.)
2 | sync_lf_radio | VLF/LF radio (WWVB, DCF77, etc.)
3 | sync_hf_radio | MF/HF radio (WWV, etc.)
4 | sync_uhf_radio | VHF/UHF radio/satellite (GPS, Galileo, etc.)
5 | sync_local | local timecode (IRIG, LOCAL driver, etc.)
6 | sync_ntp | NTP
7 | sync_other | other (IEEE 1588, openntp, crony, etc.)
8 | sync_wristwatch | eyeball and wristwatch
9 | sync_telephone | telephone modem (ACTS, PTB, etc.)
The Count Field displays the number of events since the last time the code changed. Upon reaching 15, subsequent events with the same code are ignored. The Event Field displays the most recent event message coded as follows:
Code | Message | Description
00 | unspecified | unspecified
01 | freq_not_set | frequency file not available
02 | freq_set | frequency set from frequency file
03 | spike_detect | spike detected
04 | freq_mode | initial frequency training mode
05 | clock_sync | clock synchronized
06 | restart | program restart
07 | panic_stop | clock error more than 600 s
08 | no_system_peer | no system peer
09 | leap_armed | leap second armed from file or Autokey
0a | leap_disarmed | leap second disarmed
0b | leap_event | leap event
0c | clock_step | clock stepped
0d | kern | kernel information message
0e | TAI... | leapsecond values update from file
0f | stale leapsecond values | new NIST leapseconds file needed
10 | clockhop | spurious clock hop suppressed

PEER STATUS WORD
The peer status word consists of four fields: Status (0-4), Select (5-7), Count (8-11) and Code (12-15). It is reported in the first line of the rv associd display produced by the ntpq program.
Status | Select | Count | Code
The Status Field displays the peer status code bits in hexadecimal; each bit is an independent flag. (Note this field is 5 bits wide, and combines with the the 3-bit-wide Select Field to create the first full byte of the peer status word.) The meaning of each bit in the Status Field is listed in the following table:
Code | Message | Description
08 | bcst | broadcast association
10 | reach | host reachable
20 | authenb | authentication enabled
40 | auth | authentication ok
80 | config | persistent association
The Select Field displays the current selection status. (The T Field in the following table gives the corresponding tally codes used in the ntpq peers display.) The values are coded as follows:
Code | Message | T | Description
0 | sel_reject |  | discarded as not valid (TEST10-TEST13)
1 | sel_falsetick | x | discarded by intersection algorithm
2 | sel_excess | . | discarded by table overflow (not used)
3 | sel_outlyer | - | discarded by the cluster algorithm
4 | sel_candidate | + | included by the combine algorithm
5 | sel_backup | # | backup (more than tos maxclock sources)
6 | sel_sys.peer | * | system peer
7 | sel_pps.peer | o | PPS peer (when the prefer peer is valid)
The Count Field displays the number of events since the last time the code changed. Upon reaching 15, subsequent events with the same code are ignored. The Event Field displays the most recent event message coded as follows:
Code | Message | Description
01 | mobilize | association mobilized
02 | demobilize | association demobilized
03 | unreachable | server unreachable
04 | reachable | server reachable
05 | restart | association restart
06 | no_reply | no server found (ntpdate mode)
07 | rate_exceeded | rate exceeded (kiss code RATE)
08 | access_denied | access denied (kiss code DENY)
09 | leap_armed | leap armed from server LI code
0a | sys_peer | become system peer
0b | clock_event | see clock status word
0c | bad_auth | authentication failure
0d | popcorn | popcorn spike suppressor
0e | interleave_mode | entering interleave mode
0f | interleave_error | interleave error (recovered)
10 | TAI... | leapsecond values update from server

CLOCK STATUS WORD
The clock status word consists of four fields: Unused (0-7), Count (8-11) and Code (12-15). It is reported in the first line of the clockvar associd display produced by the ntpq program.
Unused | Count | Code
The Count Field displays the number of events since the last lockvar command, while the Event Field displays the most recent event message coded as follows:
Code | Message | Description
00 | clk_unspe | nominal
01 | clk_noreply | no reply to poll
02 | clk_badformat | bad timecode format
03 | clk_fault | hardware or software fault
04 | clk_bad_signal | signal loss
05 | clk_bad_date | bad date format
06 | clk_bad_time | bad time format
When the clock driver sets the code to a new value, a clock_alarm (11) peer event is reported.

FLASH STATUS WORD
The flash status word is displayed by the ntpq program rv command. It consists of a number of bits coded in hexadecimal as follows:
Code | Tag | Message | Description
0001 | TEST1 | pkt_dup | duplicate packet
0002 | TEST2 | pkt_bogus | bogus packet
0004 | TEST3 | pkt_unsync | protocol unsynchronized
0008 | TEST4 | pkt_denied | access denied
0010 | TEST5 | pkt_auth | bad authentication
0020 | TEST6 | pkt_stratum | bad synch or stratum
0040 | TEST7 | pkt_header | bad header
0080 | TEST8 | pkt_autokey | bad autokey
0100 | TEST9 | pkt_crypto | bad crypto
0200 | TEST10 | peer_stratum | peer bad synch or stratum
0400 | TEST11 | peer_dist | peer distance exceeded
0800 | TEST12 | peer_loop | peer synchronization loop
1000 | TEST13 | peer_unreach | peer unreachable

KISS CODES
Kiss codes are used in kiss-o'-death (koD) packets, billboard displays and log messages. They consist of a string of four zero-padded ASCII charactes. In practice they are informal and tend to change with time and implementation. Some of these codes can appear in the reference identifier field in ntpq billboards. Following is the current list:
Code | Description
ACST | manycast server
AUTH | authentication error
AUTO | Autokey sequence error
BCST | broadcast server
CRYPT | Autokey protocol error
DENY | access denied by server
INIT | association initialized
MCST | multicast server
RATE | rate exceeded
TIME | association timeout
STEP | step time change

CRYPTO MESSAGES
These messages are sent to the cryptostats file when an error is detected in the Autokey protocol.
Code | Message | Description
01 | bad_format | bad extension field format or length
02 | bad_timestamp | bad timestamp
03 | bad_filestamp | bad filestamp
04 | bad_public_key | bad or missing public key
05 | bad_digest | unsupported digest type
06 | bad_identity | unsupported identity type
07 | bad_siglength | bad signature length
08 | bad signature | extension field signature not verified
09 | cert_not_verified | certificate signature not verified
0a | cert_expired | host certificate expired
0b | bad_cookie | bad or missing cookie
0c | bad_leapseconds | bad or missing leapseconds values
0d | cert_missing | bad or missing certificate
0e | bad_group_key | bad or missing group key
0f | proto_error | protocol error

SEE ALSO
ntpq(8), ntp_mon(5) The official HTML documentation. This file was automatically generated from HTML source.