xref: /netbsd/usr.sbin/timed/timed/timed.8 (revision bf9ec67e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: timed.8,v 1.9 2001/04/05 11:53:11 wiz Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)timed.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
35.\"
36.Dd May 11, 1993
37.Dt TIMED 8
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm timed
41.Nd time server daemon
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Op Fl M
45.Op Fl t
46.Op Fl d
47.Op Fl i Ar network
48.Op Fl n Ar network
49.Op Fl F Ar host1 host2 ...
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51This
52is a time server daemon and is normally invoked
53at boot time from the
54.Xr rc 8
55file.
56It synchronizes the host's time with the time of other
57machines in a local area network running
58.Nm "" .
59These time servers will slow down the clocks of some machines
60and speed up the clocks of others to bring them to the average network time.
61The average network time is computed from measurements of clock differences
62using the
63.Tn ICMP
64timestamp request message.
65.Pp
66The service provided by
67.Nm
68is based  on a master-slave
69scheme.
70When
71.Nm
72is started on a machine, it asks the master for the network time
73and sets the host's clock to that time.
74After that, it accepts synchronization messages periodically sent by
75the master and calls
76.Xr adjtime 2
77to perform the needed corrections on the host's clock.
78.Pp
79It also communicates with
80.Xr date 1
81in order to set the date globally,
82and with
83.Xr timedc 8 ,
84a timed control program.
85If the machine running the master crashes, then the slaves will elect
86a new master from among slaves running with the
87.Fl M
88flag.
89A
90.Nm
91running without the
92.Fl M
93or
94.Fl F
95flags will remain a slave.
96The
97.Fl t
98flag enables
99.Nm
100to trace the messages it receives in the
101file
102.Pa /var/log/timed.log .
103Tracing can be turned on or off by the program
104.Xr timedc 8 .
105The
106.Fl d
107flag is for debugging the daemon.
108It causes the program to not put itself into the background.
109Normally
110.Nm
111checks for a master time server on each network to which
112it is connected, except as modified by the options described below.
113It will request synchronization service from the first master server
114located.
115If permitted by the
116.Fl M
117flag, it will provide synchronization service on any attached networks
118on which no current master server was detected.
119Such a server propagates the time computed by the top-level master.
120The
121.Fl n
122flag, followed by the name of a network which the host is connected to
123(see
124.Xr networks 5 ) ,
125overrides the default choice of the
126network addresses made by the program.
127Each time the
128.Fl n
129flag appears, that network name is added to a list of valid networks.
130All other networks are ignored.
131The
132.Fl i
133flag, followed by the name of a network to which the host is connected
134(see
135.Xr networks 5 ) ,
136overrides the default choice of the network addresses made by the program.
137Each time the
138.Fl i
139flag appears, that network name is added to a list of networks to ignore.
140All other networks are used by the time daemon.
141The
142.Fl n
143and
144.Fl i
145flags are meaningless if used together.
146.Pp
147.Nm
148checks for a master time server on each network to which
149it is connected, except as modified by the
150.Fl n
151and
152.Fl i
153options described above.
154If it finds masters on more than one network, it chooses one network
155on which to be a "slave," and then periodically checks the other
156networks to see if the masters there have disappeared.
157.Pp
158One way to synchronize a group of machines is to use an NTP daemon to
159synchronize the clock of one machine to a distant standard or a radio
160receiver and
161.Fl F Ar hostname
162to tell its timed daemon to trust only itself.
163.Pp
164Messages printed by the kernel on the system console occur with
165interrupts disabled.
166This means that the clock stops while they are printing.
167A machine with many disk or network hardware problems and consequent
168messages cannot keep good time by itself.  Each message typically causes
169the clock to lose a dozen milliseconds.  A time daemon can
170correct the result.
171.Pp
172Messages in the system log about machines that failed to respond
173usually indicate machines that crashed or were turned off.
174Complaints about machines that failed to respond to initial time
175settings are often associated with
176.Dq multi-homed
177machines that looked for time masters on more than one network and eventually
178chose to become a slave on the other network.
179.Sh WARNINGS
180If two or more time daemons, whether
181.Nm "" ,
182.Xr ntpd 8 ,
183try to adjust the same clock, temporal chaos will result.
184If both
185.Nm
186and another time daemon are run on the same machine,
187ensure that the
188.Fl F
189flag is used, so that
190.Nm
191never attempts to adjust the local clock.
192.Pp
193The protocol is based on UDP/IP broadcasts.  All machines within
194the range of a broadcast that are using the TSP protocol must cooperate.
195There cannot be more than a single administrative domain using the
196.Fl F
197flag among all machines reached by a broadcast packet.
198Failure to follow this rule is usually indicated by complaints concerning
199.Dq untrusted
200machines in the system log.
201.Sh FILES
202.Bl -tag -width /var/log/timed.masterlog -compact
203.It Pa /var/log/timed.log
204tracing file for timed
205.It Pa /var/log/timed.masterlog
206log file for master timed
207.El
208.Sh SEE ALSO
209.Xr date 1 ,
210.Xr adjtime 2 ,
211.Xr gettimeofday 2 ,
212.Xr icmp 4 ,
213.Xr timedc 8
214.Rs
215.%T "TSP: The Time Synchronization Protocol for UNIX 4.3BSD"
216.%A R. Gusella
217.%A S. Zatti
218.Re
219.Sh HISTORY
220The
221.Nm
222daemon appeared in
223.Bx 4.3 .
224