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wilhil
Asked: 2012-06-09 06:50:48 +0800 CST

Where does ntpdate get its settings from and what is the "no servers can be used" error about?

  • 772

When I run ntpdate on its own, I get the following output:

8 Jun 15:47:46 ntpdate[31251]: no servers can be used, exiting

If I run it with the -q ntp.ubuntu.com switch, it seems to query just fine.

I have been hunting through many files and the most relevant one I have found is /etc/default/ntpdate, however, even with NTPDATE_USE_CONF set to no, I just can't understand/see how this error is occurring

Any ideas?

Update--

It appears that ntpdate-debianworks fine and is the actual command that makes use of /etc/default/ntpdate, but this doesn't answer the main question and I still can't find it...

server

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    After mucking around for most of the day, I have come to the following conclusion:

    ntpdate-debian is the version to use if you want to use a config script, and in that case, you would edit the /etc/default/ntpdate file.

    ntpdate cannot be used without arguments nor does it have a config file. If you want to use this to update, you have to state the ntp server in an argument, such as ntpdate ntp.ubuntu.com.  

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  2. NTPDATE_USE_NTP_CONF refers to /etc/ntp.conf file as defined:

    Set to "yes" to take the server list from /etc/ntp.conf, from package ntp, so you only have to keep it in one place.

    Your error seems to be something temporary.

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