And the Time Is …
Charly's Column – ntpviz
The Network Time Protocol allows admins to keep time on their computers. Due to the way the system works, this timekeeping is only moderately successful. Charly uses the ntpviz statistics tool to visualize time fluctuation.
I recently browsed the NTPsec repository [1], a heavily reworked fork of the well-known Network Time Protocol daemon, ntpd
. The newcomer is looking to ditch legacy ballast and finally provide protection against Man-in-the-Middle attacks. NTPsec is not the topic today, but I would like to talk about a small tool that I found while browsing: ntpviz
. Among other things, the program visualizes the extent to which the time queried by the NTP server deviates from the local time (offset) and how strongly it fluctuates (jitter).
To get started, I cloned the Github repository and started the installation:
cd /usr/local git clone --depth 1 https://gitlab.com/NTPsec/ntpsec.git cd ntpsec ./buildprep ./waf configure --refclock=all && ./waf build && ./waf install
Then I created the directory where the statistics data will be stored:
mkdir /var/log/ntpstats
What's missing is /etc/ntp.conf
from Listing 1. Now I can start the NTP daemon. With the parameter -N
it runs with increased priority – this improves the accuracy:
ntpd -c /etc/ntp.conf -N
Listing 1
/etc/ntp.conf
Now, I have a day off – after all, ntpd
has to collect enough statistics. Typing
ntpviz @day/optionfile
was supposed to start the visualization, but it blew up in my face the first time I tried it. It turns out that Gnuplot has to be installed – a fact that slipped by me when checking the dependencies. After installing Gnuplot everything runs like clockwork: The www/day
subdirectory contains an HTML file with various graphs (Figure 1).
Infos
- NTPsec: https://gitlab.com/NTPsec/
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
News
-
Another New Linux Laptop has Arrived
Slimbook has released a monster of a Linux gaming laptop.
-
Mozilla VPN Now Available for Linux
The promised subscription-based VPN service from Mozilla is now available for the Linux platform.
-
Wayland and New App Menu Coming to KDE
The 2021 roadmap for the KDE desktop environment includes some exciting features and improvements.
-
Deepin 20.1 has Arrived
Debian-based Deepin 20.1 has been released with some interesting new features.
-
CloudLinux Commits Over 1 Million Dollars to CentOS Replacement
An open source, drop-in replacement for CentOS is on its way.
-
Linux Mint 20.1 Beta has Been Released
The first beta of Linux Mint, Ulyssa, is now available for downloading.
-
Manjaro Linux 20.2 has Been Unleashed
The latest iteration of Manjaro Linux has been released with a few interesting new features.
-
Patreon Project Looks to Bring Linux to Apple Silicon
Developer Hector Martin has created a patreon page to fund his work on developing a port of Linux for Apple Silicon Macs.
-
A New Chrome OS-Like Ubuntu Remix is Now Available
Ubuntu Web looks to be your Chrome OS alternative.
-
System76 Refreshes the Galago Pro Laptop
Linux hardware maker has revamped one of their most popular laptops.