sntp

Query a public Network Time Protocol (NTP) server: stratum, offset, round-trip, ref-id, root delay/dispersion. Does not change the system clock.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does this tool measure?

It sends a Network Time Protocol (NTP) query (User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port 123) to the specified server and reports: stratum (clock accuracy level), offset (time difference between our server and the NTP server), round-trip delay, reference ID (the stratum-1 source the server syncs to), and root delay/dispersion (total accumulated error from the primary source).

What is NTP stratum?

Stratum describes the distance from the authoritative time source. Stratum 0 — atomic clocks, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers (not directly queried over Network Time Protocol (NTP)). Stratum 1 — servers directly connected to stratum-0 sources. Stratum 2 — servers that sync from stratum-1 (e.g. pool.ntp.org). Each hop adds potential drift. Stratum 16 means unsynchronised.

What is clock offset and what is acceptable?

Offset is the difference between the Network Time Protocol (NTP) server's time and the querying system's clock. A well-synced system should have offset under 1 ms. Offsets above 128 ms cause ntpd to refuse synchronisation by default (panic mode). For most applications, offsets under 100 ms are acceptable; Kerberos authentication requires clocks within 5 minutes.

What is the NTP pool?

pool.ntp.org is a large virtual cluster of volunteer time servers. Domain Name System (DNS) round-robin returns a different Internet Protocol (IP) address on each query, distributing load. For production use, add iburst in your ntp.conf and use 0.pool.ntp.org through 3.pool.ntp.org to maintain multiple server associations. Many cloud providers also offer their own Network Time Protocol (NTP) endpoints (169.254.169.123 on AWS).