NTP Log Error Beginning in Slackware 13.1

tronayne · 08-04-2010, 08:43 AM

This is a new one to me.

Code:

cat /tmp/ntp.log
 3 Aug 17:07:23 ntpd[1615]: proto: precision = 0.619 usec
 3 Aug 17:07:23 ntpd[1615]: line 28 column 19 syntax error, unexpected T_EOC, expecting T_Ipv4_flag or T_Ipv6_flag or T_String
 3 Aug 17:07:23 ntpd[1615]: syntax error in /etc/ntp.conf line 28, column 19
 3 Aug 17:07:23 ntpd[1615]: ntp_io: estimated max descriptors: 1024, initial socket boundary: 16
 3 Aug 17:07:23 ntpd[1615]: Listen and drop on 0 v4wildcard 0.0.0.0 UDP 123

Line 28 is

Code:

multicastclient                 # listen on default 224.0.1.1

Never seen that error before, always just used the default /etc/ntp.conf file adding servers:

Code:

#server  pool.ntp.org
server  0.us.pool.ntp.org
server  1.us.pool.ntp.org
server  2.us.pool.ntp.org

Have I missed something all these years? Thing works just fine, syncs up, rolls pool servers, does all it's supposed to.

Didier Spaier · 08-04-2010, 11:36 AM

I noticed that line 27 (after adding three lines as you did) shows:

Code:

driftfile /etc/ntp/drift

But /etc/ntp/drift doesn't exist on my system.

May be "touch /etc/ntp/drift" and see what happens ?

tronayne · 08-05-2010, 07:27 AM

I've always "touched" /etc/ntp/drift on a new install -- NTPD is supposed to do that on its own, but... what the heck, save trouble.

What I've typically done (for, oh, about 20 years now) is

Code:

cat 0 > /etc/ntp/drift

and that seems to have dealt with a lot of nonsense on various servers of various vintage of various operating systems.

That multicastclient line has been sitting there in ntp.conf files since, uh, I dunno, a log time. Never seen the error before, just kind of wondering what's up with it.

MQMan · 08-06-2010, 09:10 PM

Just switched over to 13.1 today, and noticed exactly the same thing.

And no, it's got nothing to do with /etc/ntp/drift because I have that file, and I still get the error.

Cheers.

Richard Cranium · 08-07-2010, 04:02 AM

You should be able to see /usr/doc/ntp-4.2.6p1/html/confopt.html on your machine.

Quote:

multicastclient address [...]
Enable reception of multicast server messages to the multicast group address(es) (type m) specified. Upon receiving a message for the first time, the multicast client measures the nominal server propagation delay using a brief client/server exchange with the server, then enters the broadcast client mode, in which it synchronizes to succeeding multicast messages. Note that, in order to avoid accidental or malicious disruption in this mode, both the server and client should operate using symmetric key or public key authentication as described in the Authentication Options page.

I assume that older versions of ntpd didn't complain if you were missing the address.

phi11ip · 08-07-2010, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tronayne

This is a new one to me.

Line 28 is

Code:

multicastclient                 # listen on default 224.0.1.1

As it was a syntax error, then there could wrong with the spelling, something missing from the line or some other error. Maybe the "multicast" directive no longer knows the default - so I changed the line to:

Code:

multicastclient     224.0.1.1     # listen on default 224.0.1.1

The error message has disappeared and ntp seems to be working normally. Don't know if I've upset anything else though :-(

Regards
Phil