Using a UNIX PC to verify the time stamp from the Time Server is present and the Time Server is synchronized to its reference
The NTPdate command can be used to verify that not only is the time stamp from the NTP Server is present, but also verifies that the NTP Time Server is time synced. If the Time Server is not synchronized, the NTPQ command will respond without the NTP date and the last value is 4000. Also, if the Time Server is not synced and it is the only NTP reference available, it will never have an "*", no matter how many queries are issued to the Time Server. The time will only be set once as the NTP daemon is no longer running.
To run the ntpdate command, stop the NTP daemon and run the ntpdate command. The command is:
ntpdate xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Where x is the IP address for the Time Server)
Once the command has been run, the Daemon can be restarted with the "restart" command.
Another utility that can also be used is ntpq command. If the ntpq command responds with no NTP data, verify the Time Server reported in this command is time synced to its reference. The Time Server should have a front panel Sync LED providing the status of Time Sync as "Synced", if the Time Server is not synchronized, this device may have a reception, wiring or hardware issue.