My clock is off, so I would like to synchronize it using ntpdate. I tried several different NTP servers, but for some reason I always get the following error message:
$ sudo ntpdate ntp.ubuntu.com
4 Mar 12:27:35 ntpdate[1258]: no server suitable for synchronization found
$ sudo ntpdate pool.ntp.org
4 Mar 12:27:50 ntpdate[1267]: no server suitable for synchronization found
$ sudo ntpdate de.pool.ntp.org
4 Mar 12:28:01 ntpdate[1273]: no server suitable for synchronization found
$ sudo ntpdate us.pool.ntp.org
4 Mar 12:28:12 ntpdate[1276]: no server suitable for synchronization found
Related questions
I have looked through related questions, but none solve my problem:
- Unable to synchronize time using NTP - this guy gets a different error than I; his problem was a conflict with the
ntpddaemon. I do not have thentppackage (which includes thentpddaemon) installed at all. - How to force a clock update using ntp? - this guy's problem is that the
ntpdatecommand wouldn't properly work at boot time when he put it into his/etc/rc.local, and the problem was similarly a conflict with thentpddaemon that was running. Neither am I trying to runntpdateat boot time, nor (again) do I have thentpddaemon installed. - Unable to sync time using `ntpdate`, error: "no server suitable for synchronization found" - this is my error alright, but the accepted answer is basically "Use
ntpdinstead ofntpdate". Aaarggh...
Things I have tried
I installed the ntp package
...and tried using the ntpd daemon instead of the ntpdate utility. It won't sync my time either; the daemon starts fine, but my clock remains off. I even tried using the exact /etc/ntp.conf from the accepted answer in the latter post, and restarting the daemon. No go. Anyway, I don't want to use the daemon. I am perfectly aware that ntpdate is considered "deprecated", and it is advised to use ntpd -q instead. Also see here:
But since ntpd doesn't work for me either, the problem lies elsewhere. And I find that I would prefer not having to install any extra packages just for synchronizing the clock. ntpdate comes pre-installed with Ubuntu, and it should work just fine. So I uninstalled the ntp package again.
Maybe port 123 is blocked?
From this post:
...I got the idea that port 123 may be blocked from my computer / network at my work place. Indeed,
$ sudo nmap -p123 -sU -P0 localhost
...
PORT STATE SERVICE
123/udp closed ntp
...
$ sudo ufw allow 123/udp
Rules updated
Rules updated (v6)
$ sudo nmap -p123 -sU -P0 localhost
...
PORT STATE SERVICE
123/udp open ntp
...
But still:
$ sudo ntpdate ntp.ubuntu.com
4 Mar 13:06:16 ntpdate[4361]: no server suitable for synchronization found
Even with the -u option, which tells ntpdate to use an unprivileged port for syncing (instead of port 123) which is certainly not blocked from my work place:
$ sudo ntpdate -u ntp.ubuntu.com
4 Mar 13:06:28 ntpdate[4427]: no server suitable for synchronization found
Maybe the strata are too high?
Lastly, from this post over at serverfault:
...I thought that maybe the strata from the NTP servers are too high. They aren't, though. Let's see a little more debugging info:
$ sudo ntpdate -dv ntp.ubuntu.com
4 Mar 13:12:24 ntpdate[4523]: ntpdate [email protected] Wed Oct 9 19:08:07 UTC 2013 (1)
Looking for host ntp.ubuntu.com and service ntp
host found : golem.canonical.com
transmit(91.189.89.199)
transmit(91.189.94.4)
transmit(91.189.89.199)
transmit(91.189.94.4)
transmit(91.189.89.199)
transmit(91.189.94.4)
transmit(91.189.89.199)
transmit(91.189.94.4)
transmit(91.189.89.199)
transmit(91.189.94.4)
91.189.89.199: Server dropped: no data
91.189.94.4: Server dropped: no data
server 91.189.89.199, port 123
stratum 0, precision 0, leap 00, trust 000
refid [91.189.89.199], delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000
transmitted 4, in filter 4
reference time: 00000000.00000000 Mon, Jan 1 1900 1:00:00.000
originate timestamp: 00000000.00000000 Mon, Jan 1 1900 1:00:00.000
transmit timestamp: d6c041ae.e6166441 Tue, Mar 4 2014 13:12:30.898
filter delay: 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
filter offset: 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000
offset 0.000000
server 91.189.94.4, port 123
stratum 0, precision 0, leap 00, trust 000
refid [91.189.94.4], delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000
transmitted 4, in filter 4
reference time: 00000000.00000000 Mon, Jan 1 1900 1:00:00.000
originate timestamp: 00000000.00000000 Mon, Jan 1 1900 1:00:00.000
transmit timestamp: d6c041af.1948fc50 Tue, Mar 4 2014 13:12:31.098
filter delay: 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
filter offset: 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
delay 0.00000, dispersion 64.00000
offset 0.000000
4 Mar 13:12:33 ntpdate[4523]: no server suitable for synchronization found
Pfeeewww... this was a long one, sorry for that. I'm stumped. Any clues?
Update: additional infos
No matter whether an NTP server HOSTNAME figures in /etc/ntp.conf, and no matter whether the ntpd service is running or not, whenever I run sudo ntpdate -u HOSTNAME, I get no server suitable for synchronization found. Same thing when the ntpd service is not running and I omit the -u option. When the ntpd service is running and I omit the -u option, I instead get the NTP socket is in use, exiting.
Also:
$ timedatectl status
Local time: Wed 2014-03-05 13:11:54 CET
Universal time: Wed 2014-03-05 12:11:54 UTC
Timezone: Europe/Berlin (CET, +0100)
NTP enabled: yes
NTP synchronized: yes
RTC in local TZ: no
DST active: no
Last DST change: DST ended at
Sun 2013-10-27 02:59:59 CEST
Sun 2013-10-27 02:00:00 CET
Next DST change: DST begins (the clock jumps one hour forward) at
Sun 2014-03-30 01:59:59 CET
Sun 2014-03-30 03:00:00 CEST
But the UTC time is not correct here. Right now UTC time is 11:11, not 12:11.
And:
$ sudo hwclock --show
Wed 05 Mar 2014 01:11:56 PM CET -0.625627 seconds
