Event Messages and Status Words

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 the following tables the Event 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.

The system status word consists of four fields LI (0-1), Source (2-7), Count (8-11) and Event (12-15). It is reported in the first line of the rv display produced by the ntpq program.

The Leap Field displays the system leap indicator bits coded as follows:

The Source Field displays the current synchronization source coded as follows:

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:

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.

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 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:

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:

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:

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.

The Count Field displays the number of events since the last clockvar command, while the Event Field displays the most recent event message coded as follows:

When the clock driver sets the code to a new value, a clock_alarm (11) peer event is reported.

The flash status word is displayed by the ntpq program rv command. It consists of a number of bits coded in hexadecimal as follows:

The "Tag" field is the name the source code uses for the status bit. Not all bits are in use, but have been kept for backwards compatibility.

Refid codes are used in kiss-o'-death (KoD) packets, the reference identifier field in ntpq and ntpmon billboard displays and log messages. They consist of a string of four zero-padded ASCII characters. In practice they are informal and tend to change with time and implementation. Following is the current list:

The 4 or 6 in the 4th position indicates that the DNS or NTS-KE resulted in an IPv4 or IPv6 address.