Why does NTP start/restart is getting failed?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • NTPD daemon start is failing with below error;
$ service ntpd start 
Starting ntpd: ntpd: illegal option -- - 
ntpd - NTP daemon program - Ver. 4.2.4p8 
USAGE:  ntpd [ -<flag> [<val>] | --<name>[{=| }<val>] ]... 
  Flg Arg Option-Name    Description 
   -4 no  ipv4           Force IPv4 DNS name resolution 
   -6 no  ipv6           Force IPv6 DNS name resolution 
   -a no  authreq        Require crypto authentication 
   -A no  authnoreq      Do not require crypto authentication 
   -b no  bcastsync      Allow us to sync to broadcast servers 
   -c Str configfile     configuration file name 
   -d no  debug-level    Increase output debug message level 
   -D Str set-debug-level Set the output debug message level 
   -f Str driftfile      frequency drift file name 
   -g no  panicgate      Allow the first adjustment to be Big 
   -i Str jaildir        Jail directory 
   -I Str interface      Listen on interface 
   -k Str keyfile        path to symmetric keys 
   -l Str logfile        path to the log file 
   -L no  novirtualips   Do not listen to virtual IPs 
   -n no  nofork         Do not fork 
   -N no  nice           Run at high priority 
   -p Str pidfile        path to the PID file 
   -P Num priority       Process priority 
   -q no  quit           Set the time and quit 
   -r Str propagationdelay Broadcast/propagation delay 
   -U Num updateinterval interval in seconds between scans for new or dropped interfaces 
   -s Str statsdir       Statistics file location 
   -t Str trustedkey     Trusted key number 
   -u Str user           Run as userid (or userid:groupid) 
   -v Str var            make ARG an ntp variable (RW) 
   -V Str dvar           make ARG an ntp variable (RW|DEF) 
   -x no  slew           Slew up to 600 seconds 
   -m no  mlock          Lock memory 
   -v opt version        Output version information and exit 
   -? no  help           Display usage information and exit 
   -! no  more-help      Extended usage information passed thru pager  

Options are specified by doubled hyphens and their name or by a single hyphen and the flag character. 

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

  • NTPD

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