Force the initial synchronization using the -g flag in the NTP daemon. For Debian and derivatives, this is configured in /etc/default/ntp:
# cat /etc/default/ntp NTPD_OPTS='-g' Check the ntpd(8) man page for a detailed explanation:
-g
Normally,
ntpdexits with a message to the system log if the offset exceeds the panic threshold, which is 1000 s by default. This option allows the time to be set to any value without restriction; however, this can happen only once. If the threshold is exceeded after that,ntpdwill exit with a message to the system log. This option can be used with the-qand-xoptions.
Check your logs to see if this is the case.
Use the ntpq(1) utility to check the remote servers:
# ntpq ntpq> pe remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter ============================================================================== +213.194.159.3 81.19.96.148 3 u 798 1024 337 81.503 0.178 37.213 -mx.tjma.es 150.214.94.5 2 u 474 1024 375 54.353 -116.72 88.993 +m91-187-92-138. 78.46.108.116 3 u 830 1024 317 89.527 15.581 34.467 *www.clip.dia.fi 150.214.94.5 2 u 901 1024 377 45.648 -0.994 23.004 LOCAL(0) .LOCL. 10 l 207m 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 ntpq> as ind assid status conf reach auth condition last_event cnt =========================================================== 1 18026 9424 yes yes none candidate reachable 2 2 18027 931a yes yes none outlyer sys_peer 1 3 18028 9424 yes yes none candidate reachable 2 4 18029 961a yes yes none sys.peer sys_peer 1 5 18030 8043 yes no none reject unreachable 4 One additional check would be comparing the system clock and the hardware clock to see if they are synchronized. Read the hwclock(8) for this.