Windows and Linux script to monitor NTP offset value

NTP is a time synchronization protocol, which can be used to synchronize the system time from an external resource.

If you are a network, system or application administrator who managing a large number of servers and application environment, it is important that NTP is configured and running correctly. This is also a security concern that all servers in an application environment are running in same time with same CPU clock.

NTP offset value can be used for monitor the time differences between NTP server and client. I have complied Powershell and KornShell script to monitor NTP offset time and create alert if NTP offset value is larger than “60000”.

Script Details:

Get System defined NTP Servers.
Calculate NTP offset Value.
Check if offset is larger than 60000 miliseconds.
Send alert to HP Operation Manager.

Windows Servers NTP Offset Monitor

Before Running:

Check Powershell version on your server with $PSVersionTable . PS version must be minimum 3.
Change $path_ntp parameter on script that where you located your this script.
Alert rule created for HP Operation Manager. If you need change it to your as you wish.

Script Added Githup Repository. You can get it from this link.

#Requires -Version 3
###################################################
# Abdurrahim YILDIRIM #
###################################################
#C:\HPOOconfig\SystemControl\Ntp_Offset_Control.ps1

Set-StrictMode -Version 3
Function Get-NtpTime {

[CmdletBinding()]
[OutputType()]
Param (
[String]$Server = 'pool.ntp.org',
[Int]$MaxOffset = 1000000, # (Milliseconds) Throw exception if network time offset is larger
[Switch]$NoDns = $True # Do not attempt to lookup V3 secondary-server referenceIdentifier
)

# NTP Times are all UTC and are relative to midnight on 1/1/1900
$StartOfEpoch=New-Object DateTime(1900,1,1,0,0,0,[DateTimeKind]::Utc)

Function OffsetToLocal($Offset) {
# Convert milliseconds since midnight on 1/1/1900 to local time
$StartOfEpoch.AddMilliseconds($Offset).ToLocalTime()
}

# Construct a 48-byte client NTP time packet to send to the specified server
# (Request Header: [00=No Leap Warning; 011=Version 3; 011=Client Mode]; 00011011 = 0x1B)

[Byte[]]$NtpData = ,0 * 48
$NtpData[0] = 0x1B # NTP Request header in first byte

$Socket = New-Object Net.Sockets.Socket([Net.Sockets.AddressFamily]::InterNetwork,
[Net.Sockets.SocketType]::Dgram,
[Net.Sockets.ProtocolType]::Udp)
$Socket.SendTimeOut = 2000 # ms
$Socket.ReceiveTimeOut = 2000 # ms

Try {
$Socket.Connect($Server,123)
}
Catch {
Write-Error "Failed to connect to server $Server"
Throw
}

# NTP Transaction -------------------------------------------------------

$t1 = Get-Date # t1, Start time of transaction...

Try {
[Void]$Socket.Send($NtpData)
[Void]$Socket.Receive($NtpData)
}
Catch {
Write-Error "Failed to communicate with server $Server"
Throw
}

$t4 = Get-Date # End of NTP transaction time

# End of NTP Transaction ------------------------------------------------

$Socket.Shutdown("Both")
$Socket.Close()

# We now have an NTP response packet in $NtpData to decode. Start with the LI flag
# as this is used to indicate errors as well as leap-second information

# Check the Leap Indicator (LI) flag for an alarm condition - extract the flag
# from the first byte in the packet by masking and shifting

$LI = ($NtpData[0] -band 0xC0) -shr 6 # Leap Second indicator
If ($LI -eq 3) {
Throw 'Alarm condition from server (clock not synchronized)'
}

# Decode the 64-bit NTP times

# The NTP time is the number of seconds since 1/1/1900 and is split into an
# integer part (top 32 bits) and a fractional part, multipled by 2^32, in the
# bottom 32 bits.

# Convert Integer and Fractional parts of the (64-bit) t3 NTP time from the byte array
$IntPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[43..40],0)
$FracPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[47..44],0)

# Convert to Millseconds (convert fractional part by dividing value by 2^32)
$t3ms = $IntPart * 1000 + ($FracPart * 1000 / 0x100000000)

# Perform the same calculations for t2 (in bytes [32..39])
$IntPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[35..32],0)
$FracPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[39..36],0)
$t2ms = $IntPart * 1000 + ($FracPart * 1000 / 0x100000000)

# Calculate values for t1 and t4 as milliseconds since 1/1/1900 (NTP format)
$t1ms = ([TimeZoneInfo]::ConvertTimeToUtc($t1) - $StartOfEpoch).TotalMilliseconds
$t4ms = ([TimeZoneInfo]::ConvertTimeToUtc($t4) - $StartOfEpoch).TotalMilliseconds

# Calculate the NTP Offset and Delay values
$Offset = (($t2ms - $t1ms) + ($t3ms-$t4ms))/2
$Delay = ($t4ms - $t1ms) - ($t3ms - $t2ms)

# Make sure the result looks sane...
If ([Math]::Abs($Offset) -gt $MaxOffset) {
# Network server time is too different from local time
Throw "Network time offset exceeds maximum ($($MaxOffset)ms)"
}

# Decode other useful parts of the received NTP time packet

# We already have the Leap Indicator (LI) flag. Now extract the remaining data
# flags (NTP Version, Server Mode) from the first byte by masking and shifting (dividing)

$LI_text = Switch ($LI) {
0 {'no warning'}
1 {'last minute has 61 seconds'}
2 {'last minute has 59 seconds'}
3 {'alarm condition (clock not synchronized)'}
}

$VN = ($NtpData[0] -band 0x38) -shr 3 # Server version number

$Mode = ($NtpData[0] -band 0x07) # Server mode (probably 'server')
$Mode_text = Switch ($Mode) {
0 {'reserved'}
1 {'symmetric active'}
2 {'symmetric passive'}
3 {'client'}
4 {'server'}
5 {'broadcast'}
6 {'reserved for NTP control message'}
7 {'reserved for private use'}
}

# Other NTP information (Stratum, PollInterval, Precision)

$Stratum = [UInt16]$NtpData[1] # Actually [UInt8] but we don't have one of those...
$Stratum_text = Switch ($Stratum) {
0 {'unspecified or unavailable'}
1 {'primary reference (e.g., radio clock)'}
{$_ -ge 2 -and $_ -le 15} {'secondary reference (via NTP or SNTP)'}
{$_ -ge 16} {'reserved'}
}

$PollInterval = $NtpData[2] # Poll interval - to neareast power of 2
$PollIntervalSeconds = [Math]::Pow(2, $PollInterval)

$PrecisionBits = $NtpData[3] # Precision in seconds to nearest power of 2
# ...this is a signed 8-bit int
If ($PrecisionBits -band 0x80) { # ? negative (top bit set)
[Int]$Precision = $PrecisionBits -bor 0xFFFFFFE0 # Sign extend
} else {
# ..this is unlikely - indicates a precision of less than 1 second
[Int]$Precision = $PrecisionBits # top bit clear - just use positive value
}
$PrecisionSeconds = [Math]::Pow(2, $Precision)

# Determine the format of the ReferenceIdentifier field and decode

If ($Stratum -le 1) {
# Response from Primary Server. RefId is ASCII string describing source
$ReferenceIdentifier = [String]([Char[]]$NtpData[12..15] -join '')
}
Else {

# Response from Secondary Server; determine server version and decode

Switch ($VN) {
3 {
# Version 3 Secondary Server, RefId = IPv4 address of reference source
$ReferenceIdentifier = $NtpData[12..15] -join '.'

If (-Not $NoDns) {
If ($DnsLookup = Resolve-DnsName $ReferenceIdentifier -QuickTimeout -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
$ReferenceIdentifier = "$ReferenceIdentifier <$($DnsLookup.NameHost)>"
}
}
Break
}

4 {
# Version 4 Secondary Server, RefId = low-order 32-bits of
# latest transmit time of reference source
$ReferenceIdentifier = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[15..12],0) * 1000 / 0x100000000
Break
}

Default {
# Unhandled NTP version...
$ReferenceIdentifier = $Null
}
}
}

# Calculate Root Delay and Root Dispersion values

$RootDelay = [BitConverter]::ToInt32($NtpData[7..4],0) / 0x10000
$RootDispersion = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[11..8],0) / 0x10000

# Finally, create output object and return

$NtpTimeObj = [PSCustomObject]@{
NtpServer = $Server
NtpTime = OffsetToLocal($t4ms + $Offset)
Offset = $Offset
OffsetSeconds = [Math]::Round($Offset/1000, 3)
Delay = $Delay
t1ms = $t1ms
t2ms = $t2ms
t3ms = $t3ms
t4ms = $t4ms
t1 = OffsetToLocal($t1ms)
t2 = OffsetToLocal($t2ms)
t3 = OffsetToLocal($t3ms)
t4 = OffsetToLocal($t4ms)
LI = $LI
LI_text = $LI_text
NtpVersionNumber = $VN
Mode = $Mode
Mode_text = $Mode_text
Stratum = $Stratum
Stratum_text = $Stratum_text
PollIntervalRaw = $PollInterval
PollInterval = New-Object TimeSpan(0,0,$PollIntervalSeconds)
Precision = $Precision
PrecisionSeconds = $PrecisionSeconds
ReferenceIdentifier = $ReferenceIdentifier
RootDelay = $RootDelay
RootDispersion = $RootDispersion
Raw = $NtpData # The undecoded bytes returned from the NTP server
}

# Set the default display properties for the returned object
[String[]]$DefaultProperties = 'NtpServer', 'NtpTime', 'OffsetSeconds', 'NtpVersionNumber',
'Mode_text', 'Stratum', 'ReferenceIdentifier'

# Create the PSStandardMembers.DefaultDisplayPropertySet member
$ddps = New-Object Management.Automation.PSPropertySet('DefaultDisplayPropertySet', $DefaultProperties)

# Attach default display property set and output object
$PSStandardMembers = [Management.Automation.PSMemberInfo[]]$ddps
$NtpTimeObj | Add-Member -MemberType MemberSet -Name PSStandardMembers -Value $PSStandardMembers -PassThru
}
$Servername = $env:computername
$path_ntp = "C:\HPOOconfig\SystemControl\ntp_offset_control"
$NTPserver = w32tm /query /source|%{ $_.Split(',')[0]; }
$NTPValue = Get-NtpTime $NTPserver
$OffsetValue = $NTPValue.OffsetSeconds
if ($OffsetValue -lt '-60000' -or $OffsetValue -gt '60000' -or !$OffsetValue)
{
Write-Host("NTP offset high: $OffsetValue")
if (Test-Path $path_ntp)
{
Write-Host("Aler Dublicated")
}
else
{
opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Critical msg_text=" $servername NTP Offset Problem " node="$servername"
echo $null >> $path_ntp
}
}
else
{
if (Test-Path $path_ntp)
{
opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Normal msg_text=" $servername NTP Offset Fixed" node="$servername"
del $path_ntp
}

}

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#Requires -Version 3

###################################################

# Abdurrahim YILDIRIM #

###################################################

#C:\HPOOconfig\SystemControl\Ntp_Offset_Control.ps1

Set-StrictMode -Version 3

Function Get-NtpTime {

[CmdletBinding()]

[OutputType()]

Param (

[String]$Server = 'pool.ntp.org',

[Int]$MaxOffset = 1000000, # (Milliseconds) Throw exception if network time offset is larger

[Switch]$NoDns = $True # Do not attempt to lookup V3 secondary-server referenceIdentifier

)

# NTP Times are all UTC and are relative to midnight on 1/1/1900

$StartOfEpoch=New-Object DateTime(1900,1,1,0,0,0,[DateTimeKind]::Utc)

Function OffsetToLocal($Offset) {

# Convert milliseconds since midnight on 1/1/1900 to local time

$StartOfEpoch.AddMilliseconds($Offset).ToLocalTime()

}

# Construct a 48-byte client NTP time packet to send to the specified server

# (Request Header: [00=No Leap Warning; 011=Version 3; 011=Client Mode]; 00011011 = 0x1B)

[Byte[]]$NtpData = ,0 * 48

$NtpData[0] = 0x1B # NTP Request header in first byte

$Socket = New-Object Net.Sockets.Socket([Net.Sockets.AddressFamily]::InterNetwork,

[Net.Sockets.SocketType]::Dgram,

[Net.Sockets.ProtocolType]::Udp)

$Socket.SendTimeOut = 2000 # ms

$Socket.ReceiveTimeOut = 2000 # ms

Try {

$Socket.Connect($Server,123)

}

Catch {

Write-Error "Failed to connect to server $Server"

Throw

}

# NTP Transaction -------------------------------------------------------

$t1 = Get-Date # t1, Start time of transaction...

Try {

[Void]$Socket.Send($NtpData)

[Void]$Socket.Receive($NtpData)

}

Catch {

Write-Error "Failed to communicate with server $Server"

Throw

}

$t4 = Get-Date # End of NTP transaction time

# End of NTP Transaction ------------------------------------------------

$Socket.Shutdown("Both")

$Socket.Close()

# We now have an NTP response packet in $NtpData to decode. Start with the LI flag

# as this is used to indicate errors as well as leap-second information

# Check the Leap Indicator (LI) flag for an alarm condition - extract the flag

# from the first byte in the packet by masking and shifting

$LI = ($NtpData[0] -band 0xC0) -shr 6 # Leap Second indicator

If ($LI -eq 3) {

Throw 'Alarm condition from server (clock not synchronized)'

}

# Decode the 64-bit NTP times

# The NTP time is the number of seconds since 1/1/1900 and is split into an

# integer part (top 32 bits) and a fractional part, multipled by 2^32, in the

# bottom 32 bits.

# Convert Integer and Fractional parts of the (64-bit) t3 NTP time from the byte array

$IntPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[43..40],0)

$FracPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[47..44],0)

# Convert to Millseconds (convert fractional part by dividing value by 2^32)

$t3ms = $IntPart * 1000 + ($FracPart * 1000 / 0x100000000)

# Perform the same calculations for t2 (in bytes [32..39])

$IntPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[35..32],0)

$FracPart = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[39..36],0)

$t2ms = $IntPart * 1000 + ($FracPart * 1000 / 0x100000000)

# Calculate values for t1 and t4 as milliseconds since 1/1/1900 (NTP format)

$t1ms = ([TimeZoneInfo]::ConvertTimeToUtc($t1) - $StartOfEpoch).TotalMilliseconds

$t4ms = ([TimeZoneInfo]::ConvertTimeToUtc($t4) - $StartOfEpoch).TotalMilliseconds

# Calculate the NTP Offset and Delay values

$Offset = (($t2ms - $t1ms) + ($t3ms-$t4ms))/2

$Delay = ($t4ms - $t1ms) - ($t3ms - $t2ms)

# Make sure the result looks sane...

If ([Math]::Abs($Offset) -gt $MaxOffset) {

# Network server time is too different from local time

Throw "Network time offset exceeds maximum ($($MaxOffset)ms)"

}

# Decode other useful parts of the received NTP time packet

# We already have the Leap Indicator (LI) flag. Now extract the remaining data

# flags (NTP Version, Server Mode) from the first byte by masking and shifting (dividing)

$LI_text = Switch ($LI) {

0 {'no warning'}

1 {'last minute has 61 seconds'}

2 {'last minute has 59 seconds'}

3 {'alarm condition (clock not synchronized)'}

}

$VN = ($NtpData[0] -band 0x38) -shr 3 # Server version number

$Mode = ($NtpData[0] -band 0x07) # Server mode (probably 'server')

$Mode_text = Switch ($Mode) {

0 {'reserved'}

1 {'symmetric active'}

2 {'symmetric passive'}

3 {'client'}

4 {'server'}

5 {'broadcast'}

6 {'reserved for NTP control message'}

7 {'reserved for private use'}

}

# Other NTP information (Stratum, PollInterval, Precision)

$Stratum = [UInt16]$NtpData[1] # Actually [UInt8] but we don't have one of those...

$Stratum_text = Switch ($Stratum) {

0 {'unspecified or unavailable'}

1 {'primary reference (e.g., radio clock)'}

{$_ -ge 2 -and $_ -le 15} {'secondary reference (via NTP or SNTP)'}

{$_ -ge 16} {'reserved'}

}

$PollInterval = $NtpData[2] # Poll interval - to neareast power of 2

$PollIntervalSeconds = [Math]::Pow(2, $PollInterval)

$PrecisionBits = $NtpData[3] # Precision in seconds to nearest power of 2

# ...this is a signed 8-bit int

If ($PrecisionBits -band 0x80) { # ? negative (top bit set)

[Int]$Precision = $PrecisionBits -bor 0xFFFFFFE0 # Sign extend

} else {

# ..this is unlikely - indicates a precision of less than 1 second

[Int]$Precision = $PrecisionBits # top bit clear - just use positive value

}

$PrecisionSeconds = [Math]::Pow(2, $Precision)

# Determine the format of the ReferenceIdentifier field and decode

If ($Stratum -le 1) {

# Response from Primary Server. RefId is ASCII string describing source

$ReferenceIdentifier = [String]([Char[]]$NtpData[12..15] -join '')

}

Else {

# Response from Secondary Server; determine server version and decode

Switch ($VN) {

3 {

# Version 3 Secondary Server, RefId = IPv4 address of reference source

$ReferenceIdentifier = $NtpData[12..15] -join '.'

If (-Not $NoDns) {

If ($DnsLookup = Resolve-DnsName $ReferenceIdentifier -QuickTimeout -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {

$ReferenceIdentifier = "$ReferenceIdentifier <$($DnsLookup.NameHost)>"

}

Break

}

4 {

# Version 4 Secondary Server, RefId = low-order 32-bits of

# latest transmit time of reference source

$ReferenceIdentifier = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[15..12],0) * 1000 / 0x100000000

Break

}

Default {

# Unhandled NTP version...

$ReferenceIdentifier = $Null

}

# Calculate Root Delay and Root Dispersion values

$RootDelay = [BitConverter]::ToInt32($NtpData[7..4],0) / 0x10000

$RootDispersion = [BitConverter]::ToUInt32($NtpData[11..8],0) / 0x10000

# Finally, create output object and return

$NtpTimeObj = [PSCustomObject]@{

NtpServer = $Server

NtpTime = OffsetToLocal($t4ms + $Offset)

Offset = $Offset

OffsetSeconds = [Math]::Round($Offset/1000, 3)

Delay = $Delay

t1ms = $t1ms

t2ms = $t2ms

t3ms = $t3ms

t4ms = $t4ms

t1 = OffsetToLocal($t1ms)

t2 = OffsetToLocal($t2ms)

t3 = OffsetToLocal($t3ms)

t4 = OffsetToLocal($t4ms)

LI = $LI

LI_text = $LI_text

NtpVersionNumber = $VN

Mode = $Mode

Mode_text = $Mode_text

Stratum = $Stratum

Stratum_text = $Stratum_text

PollIntervalRaw = $PollInterval

PollInterval = New-Object TimeSpan(0,0,$PollIntervalSeconds)

Precision = $Precision

PrecisionSeconds = $PrecisionSeconds

ReferenceIdentifier = $ReferenceIdentifier

RootDelay = $RootDelay

RootDispersion = $RootDispersion

Raw = $NtpData # The undecoded bytes returned from the NTP server

}

# Set the default display properties for the returned object

[String[]]$DefaultProperties = 'NtpServer', 'NtpTime', 'OffsetSeconds', 'NtpVersionNumber',

'Mode_text', 'Stratum', 'ReferenceIdentifier'

# Create the PSStandardMembers.DefaultDisplayPropertySet member

$ddps = New-Object Management.Automation.PSPropertySet('DefaultDisplayPropertySet', $DefaultProperties)

# Attach default display property set and output object

$PSStandardMembers = [Management.Automation.PSMemberInfo[]]$ddps

$NtpTimeObj | Add-Member -MemberType MemberSet -Name PSStandardMembers -Value $PSStandardMembers -PassThru

}

$Servername = $env:computername

$path_ntp = "C:\HPOOconfig\SystemControl\ntp_offset_control"

$NTPserver = w32tm /query /source|%{ $_.Split(',')[0]; }

$NTPValue = Get-NtpTime $NTPserver

$OffsetValue = $NTPValue.OffsetSeconds

if ($OffsetValue -lt '-60000' -or $OffsetValue -gt '60000' -or !$OffsetValue)

{

Write-Host("NTP offset high: $OffsetValue")

if (Test-Path $path_ntp)

{

Write-Host("Aler Dublicated")

}

else

{

opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Critical msg_text=" $servername NTP Offset Problem " node="$servername"

echo $null >> $path_ntp

}

else

{

if (Test-Path $path_ntp)

{

opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Normal msg_text=" $servername NTP Offset Fixed" node="$servername"

del $path_ntp

}

Linux NTP Offset Monitor

Change Script_Path where you located script.

#!/bin/ksh
Offset=`ntpq -p |grep -e '*'|awk '{print $9}'`
Offset=${Offset%.*}
Script_Path=/unixadmin/controlfile
if [ "$Offset" -lt "-60000" ] || [ "$Offset" -gt 60000 ] || [ -z "$Offset" ]
then
if [ ! -f $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical ]
then
/opt/OV/bin/opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Critical msg_text="`hostname` NTP Offset Problem !!! " node=`hostname`
touch $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical
fi
else
if [ -f $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical ]
then
/opt/OV/bin/opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Normal msg_text="`hostname` NTP Offset Fixed. !!! " node=`hostname`
rm -rf $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical
fi
fi

#!/bin/ksh

Offset=`ntpq -p |grep -e '*'|awk '{print $9}'`

Offset=${Offset%.*}

Script_Path=/unixadmin/controlfile

if [ "$Offset" -lt "-60000" ] || [ "$Offset" -gt 60000 ] || [ -z "$Offset" ]

then

if [ ! -f $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical ]

then

/opt/OV/bin/opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Critical msg_text="`hostname` NTP Offset Problem !!! " node=`hostname`

touch $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical

else

if [ -f $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical ]

then

/opt/OV/bin/opcmsg a=Offset o=Offset severity=Normal msg_text="`hostname` NTP Offset Fixed. !!! " node=`hostname`

rm -rf $Script_Path/ntp_offset_critical

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Abdurrahim

I'm a System Engineer with extensive experience and administration skills and works for Interbank Card Center Of Turkey.I provide hardware and software support for the following Unix/Linux and Windows platforms.(Oracle Solaris,HP-UX, Linux, IBM-AIX, Windows Servers)

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