Hello.

I think you are going to have to try syncing manually (rather than using 'service') so that you can at least see the error message.

Could you help me how i can start up it manually.
thank you.

Ok, wait. I re-read your post again...

You are starting the time server on the client machine, is that really what you want?
If you just want to sync your client to the server then you just have to do:

This is usually set up as a cron task, which you can run as often as you feel the need for (every hour is common...). Some distros (such as gentoo which I am using here) have an init script which basically sets this up for you. see if you have a service like 'ntp-client' or somesuch.

If I am again misunderstanding you and you really want to start the a time server then just do it like so:
I was suggesting this because generally service scripts will send errors and output to /dev/null, making it difficult to debug.

Hi,
It also didnot work for me out. So let me explain a bit about my netwrok topology may be that time it would be clear.
In my topology i have 1 server and 2 client computers preinstalled with Red hat 9.0. I want my client timers be sychnonized with server.
So for that reason i run this commands on server computer (i.e my serve is cahost).

[root@cahost root]# chkconfig ntpd on
[root@cahost root]# service ntpd start
ntpd: Synchronizing with time server: [FAILED]
Starting ntpd: [ OK ]
[root@cahost root]# ntpq -p
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
cahost 0.0.0.0 16 l - 1024 0 0.000 0.000 4000.00

root@cahost root]# vi /etc/ntp.config
#uncommented lines in ntp.config
server 127.0.0.1
driftfile /etc/ntp/drift

on my client machines
[root@hostb root]# chkconfig ntpd on
[root@hostb root]# service ntpd start
ntpd: Synchronizing with time server: [FAILED]
Starting ntpd: [ OK ]
[root@hostb root]# ntpq -p
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
192.168.0.4 0.0.0.0 16 u 96 1024 0 0.000 0.000 4000.00

so what is the problem i cannot understand.
my server ip is:192.168.0.4
my client 1:192.168.0.2
my client 2:192.168.0.3

Why it is not synchronized ?

thank you ...

For get to tell that these are the outputs when are run those commands which you provided. I run them on client machine.

[root@hostb root]# ntpdate -b 192.168.0.4
11 Aug 13:58:26 ntpdate[9173]: the NTP socket is in use, exiting
[root@hostb root]# ntpd -u ntp:ntp
ntpd: unknown option -u
usage: ntpd [ -abdgmnqx ] [ -c config_file ] [ -e e_delay ]
[ -f freq_file ] [ -k key_file ] [ -l log_file ]
[ -p pid_file ] [ -r broad_delay ] [ -s statdir ]
[ -t trust_key ] [ -v sys_var ] [ -V default_sysvar ]
[ -T chroot_dir ] [ -U server_user ]
[ -P fixed_process_priority ]

OK, well I think your problem here is that you are telling your server to sync time with itself (127.0.0.1).
You first need to setup your server to get the correct time from a publically accessible upper stratum time server such as pool.ntp.org

You may also be able to find a local mirror, have a look here:
http://www.pool.ntp.org/

I think after you change:
to
your server will sync fine, and your clients will be able to sync from your server...

Strange, we must have different versions...

So mine is -u and yours is -U.
In any event, it should not matter if you configure your server to use a valid timeserver to sync with.

Hi,
I did as you told and my server started synchronizing. So below is output

[root@cahost root]# ntpq -p
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
popuserv.org 192.53.103.103 2 u 1 64 1 401.797 -5.513 0.008

BUT the PROBLEM is my client machines are not synchronized with my server. How to solve this one.Below is output.

[root@hostb root]# ntpq -p
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
192.168.0.4 0.0.0.0 16 u 34 64 0 0.000 0.000 4000.00


I configured my iptabels on my server as below, maybe they are preventing from synchronization ? Could you have a look.

iptables -t nat -L -v -n
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING --source 192.168.0.0/24 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -t filter -A INPUT --source 192.168.0.0/24 --in-interface eth0 -j DROP
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD --source 192.168.0.0/24 --in-interface eth0 -j DROP

my server ip is: 192.168.0.4 (eth1)
my client 1 ip is: 192.168.0.2
my client 2 ip is: 192.168.0.3

I need to synchronize my clients with the server because i want my server to issue a certificates to clients. So my server acts as an Certificate Authority.

What does prevent my client machines to be synchronized with server ?.

thank you ...

Thank you very much.
I got them my client machines are also now being synchronized with my server.

Thank you very much. The problem was i had to wait until my clients contacted the server.