You are supposed to be able to use the -N (--nice) option to ntpd but upstream ntp bug report shows it doesn't work:
http://bugs.ntp.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1230 Testing on 11.04 $ lsb_release -ds Ubuntu 11.04 $ uname -srv Linux 2.6.38-10-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 28 15:07:17 UTC 2011 $ ntpd --version ntpd - NTP daemon program - Ver. 4.2.6p2 $ apt-cache policy ntp | egrep 'Installed|Candidate' Installed: 1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1ubuntu5.1 Candidate: 1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1ubuntu5.1 WIthout -N $ (ps alx | head -1) ; (ps alx | grep ntpd) | grep -v grep F UID PID PPID PRI NI VSZ RSS WCHAN STAT TTY TIME COMMAND 5 117 1955 1 20 0 38864 2164 poll_s Ss ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/ntpd -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g -c /var/lib/ntp/ntp.conf.dhcp -u 117:126 With -N $ (ps alx | head -1) ; (ps alx | grep ntpd) | grep -v grepF UID PID PPID PRI NI VSZ RSS WCHAN STAT TTY TIME COMMAND 5 117 2915 1 20 0 38736 2096 poll_s Ss ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/ntpd -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g -N -c /var/lib/ntp/ntp.conf.dhcp -u 117:126 PRI = 20 and NI = 0 in both cases. If -N did anything NI would not be 0 ** Bug watch added: bugs.ntp.org/ #1230 http://bugs.ntp.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1230 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to ntp in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/229632 Title: ntpd should run niced To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ntp/+bug/229632/+subscriptions -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs
