I have found that attempting to change the stratum of a server in the client side ntp.conf with a

fudge <server_ip> stratum <number_less_than_16>

does not work.

However, if you can access the ntp.conf on the server (the machine running ntpd) and add the following lines

server 127.127.1.0
fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 8

it is able to fudge itself (127.127.1.0 is the local ntpd server address, 8 is a number less than 16) (remember to restart ntpd).

You can then successfully run ntpdate on the client (ntpdate <server_ip>).

NTP increases the stratum for each level in the hierarchy - a NTP server pulling time from a "stratum 1" server would advertise itself as "stratum 2" to its clients.

A stratum value of "16" is reserved for unsynchronized servers meaning that your internal NTP server at 192.168.92.82 thinks not to have a reliable timesource (i.e. not synchronizing to a higher-level stratum server).

You would need to do some debugging there - if it is a Linux server using ntpd, look at the output of ntpq peers for clues for possible reasons

Well, the error message does say it quite clearly: "stratum too high". In essence your ntpdate is telling you that your time server is too far down the hierarchy to be reliable. There is a line the printout that shows it:

stratum 16, precision -19, leap 11, trust 000

I have no idea how you got there, but a stratum 16 time server is 15 levels removed from the stratum 1 servers, and that is a lot. You might want to try and find out why that is the case. In our company network, most machines synchronize to the linux gateways, which are connected to stratum 3 servers (which makes them stratum 4) or the domain controllers (same). You'd have to have a really complicated network setup to reach stratum 16.

Try running ntpdate tock.usno.navy.mil That is a stratum 1 NTP server ran by the US Naval Observitory. See if you can sync to that, then move forward from that. By any chance is your firewall / router a PFsense box running OpenNTPD?

You can add the -d if you like.

There may be a line which starts with restrict default just delete it and restart the service... now run ntpq and then pe

here is my before and after...

# Permit time synchronization with our time source, but do not
# permit the source to query or modify the service on this system.
restrict default ignore

and the result is ....

[root@jump ~]# ntpq
ntpq> pe
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 grom.polpo.org  .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 skavoovie.net   .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 hydrogen.consta .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 lttlesis.deekay .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
ntpq> pe
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 grom.polpo.org  .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 skavoovie.net   .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 hydrogen.consta .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 lttlesis.deekay .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
ntpq> pe
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 grom.polpo.org  .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 skavoovie.net   .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 hydrogen.consta .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
 lttlesis.deekay .INIT.          16 u    -   64    0    0.000    0.000   0.000
ntpq> 

now when i comment out that line... (or ANY line that may start with restrict default).. I get...

# Permit time synchronization with our time source, but do not
# permit the source to query or modify the service on this system.
#restrict default ignore



[root@jump ~]# service ntpd restart
Shutting down ntpd: [  OK  ]
Starting ntpd: [  OK  ]
[root@jump ~]# ntpd
[root@jump ~]# ntpq 
ntpq> pe
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
*wiggum.whackert 216.218.254.202  2 u    3   64    1   29.797   24.402   1.088
 76.73.0.4       130.173.91.58    2 u    2   64    1   59.319   23.059   8.816
 eterna.binary.n 216.229.0.179    2 u    1   64    1   67.785   31.427   0.233
 shed.galexander 204.163.51.41    3 u    -   64    1   21.291   21.746   9.525


ntpq> pe
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
*wiggum.whackert 216.218.254.202  2 u   31   64    1   29.797   24.402   1.088
 76.73.0.4       130.173.91.58    2 u   30   64    1   59.319   23.059   8.816
 eterna.binary.n 216.229.0.179    2 u   29   64    1   67.785   31.427   0.233
 shed.galexander 204.163.51.41    3 u   28   64    1   21.291   21.746   9.525
ntpq> pe
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
*wiggum.whackert 216.218.254.202  2 u   33   64    1   29.797   24.402   1.088
 76.73.0.4       130.173.91.58    2 u   32   64    1   59.319   23.059   8.816
 eterna.binary.n 216.229.0.179    2 u   31   64    1   67.785   31.427   0.233
 shed.galexander 204.163.51.41    3 u   30   64    1   21.291   21.746   9.525

And THAT was the solution to MY problem !!!