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I am trying to set up a local NTP server for our LAN. I am able run ntpdate server_ip to manually update the time. However, ntp daemon does not seem to be logging anything into syslog, and so I can't tell if any system ever synchronized.

driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
statistics loopstats peerstats clockstats
filegen loopstats file loopstats type day enable
filegen peerstats file peerstats type day enable
filegen clockstats file clockstats type day enable
logconfig =syncall +clockall
# Specify one or more NTP servers.
# more information.
server iburst minpoll 3 maxpoll 4
restrict -4 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer
restrict -6 default kod notrap nomodify nopeer
# might also be helpful.
# up blocking replies from your own upstream servers.
# Local users may interrogate the ntp server more closely.
#restrict ::1
# cryptographically authenticated.
#restrict mask notrust

# (Again, the address is an example only.)
disable auth

What might I be missing?

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up vote 2 down vote accepted

NTP is normally very quiet/silent in syslog. Things are going wrong if it shows up. If your hardware clock is working, it shouldn't need to modify your clock during startup. With the right settings it can replace ntpdate to set the clock on startup if required.

The logs you want to look at are the loopstats and peerstats files. Once running NTP should not need to synchronize the clock. It will adjust the tick timing very slightly to keep the clock synchronized. loopstats file provides your local state, while peerstats shows your state relative to the servers you are using. See the NTP Troubleshooting Guide for details on these files.

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Use "ntpq -p" when logged into the host to see which servers it has synchronized with. You can also use "ntpdc -c kerninfo" to see some other information. –  tgharold Sep 28 '13 at 3:49
@tgharold I was considering adding "ntpq -p" and "ntpdc -c peers" to my answer. Both will give you the current synchronization data. Add "-n" to the parameters of either command to skip the DNS lookup. –  BillThor Sep 28 '13 at 13:35
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