NTP error "CRITICAL: Dispersion too high"

[Andreas Ericsson]

Scott Whitney wrote:
> Here's my setup:
> 
> Nagios server (name: nagios)
> Mail server (name: mail)
> 
> Both nagios and mail do an ntpdate -u <server> on the same server via the
> cron.hourly.  Neither has a particular skew worth noting, and both succeed
> in the ntpdate -u operation.
> 

Use ntpd or xntpd instead. Using ntpdate is bound to get one or more 
daemons running on the server into trouble sooner or later.

> Every time check_ntp fires, I get:
> 
> 
> ***** Nagios  *****
> 
> Notification Type: PROBLEM
> 
> Service: ntp
> Host: Mail Machine
> State: CRITICAL
> 
> Date/Time: Tue Nov 2 13:52:33 CST 2004
> 
> Additional Info:
> 
> CRITICAL: Dispersion too high
> 
> 
> Any ideas?  Anyone?  Hello?  China?  Little help...
> 

Please refrain from sounding urgent on the list. It won't get you any 
help any faster, and I for one find it a bit rude.

Anyways...

It means you have too much jitter, i.e. you're checking a stratum 2 or 
less server, and it's higher stratum servers are not within 
synchronization threshold with each other, or fails to respond with 
logical timings (timing two is less than timing one (time can only move 
forward) and the difference is too great to be accounted to networking). 
This can happen when the higher stratum servers are out of sync or are 
located either on a network which bursts large and long-lasting 
packetstorms at irregular but frequent intervals or half way round the 
world.

On a side-note (to everyone);
All the troubles I've seen with the check_ntp has, inevitably, boiled 
down to out of sync systems, misconfigured ntp servers or the check_ntp 
plugin being asked to check an ntp server on the local host (which is 
completely useless and downright silly).
Please, please, please everyone. Make SURE (using manual testing with 
ntpq/ntpdc and ntpdate) that your ntp servers/refclocks/whatever are 
actually working properly before asking things about the check_ntp plugin.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson at op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Lead Developer


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