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    NTP is wrong by almost 3 minutes.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • P
      pfBasic Banned
      last edited by

      OK thanks, here are the graphs and status. I'm also looking at the NTP widget on my pfsense dashboard, it does match up with my desktop clock and they have been for well over 24 hours since I first noticed this.

      01.jpg
      01.jpg_thumb
      02.jpg
      02.jpg_thumb

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      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
        last edited by

        Other than not having 377 on your active server.. That all looks up and up.. Means your dropping packets to that server.. Also that your poll time is higher then your 256 setting.. Would point to having trouble talking to that server.

        376 points to you have dropped the last packet, you will see reach cycle down to 177 until that no answer cycles through the 8 bit buffer..

        So your saying this time is 3 minutes off??  Your ref ID is nist and your syncing off a stratum 1.. I find it very unlikely that time is off by 3 minutes from these servers..  Your currently showing offset of .033 millisecons.. or .000033 Seconds..

        Where are you think pfsense time is off?  The web gui status page?  The time shown there??

        edit: One thing I would suggest is you find some closer servers to sync off of..  Your delay is 70 some ms..  Look here for stratum 1's that are closer to you..  Find something in your state or region, etc.

        http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/StratumOneTimeServers

        Pay attention to their rules - some don't like to be queried unless your providing time for large number of clients, etc.  There is also the stratum 2 list
        http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/StratumTwoTimeServers

        Which are also fine to use..

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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        • P
          pfBasic Banned
          last edited by

          Well this is what I noticed. I actually noticed it because my desktops time was off from my cellphones time, so then I went into pfsense and compared pfsense time to government time servers.

          Maybe this isn't a valid comparison, but I don't see why this much of a difference would be showing?

          01.jpg
          01.jpg_thumb

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          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
            last edited by

            is your ntp widget counting.. Or is it stuck there?

            I just added the widget, and then called up that nist page in another window and put them side by side and they show exact same time

            I assume that page is pulling time from the ntp server and pfsense time.. But its a browser thing - maybe its pulling time from your local machine?  Clearly what you posted is that the time is insync with its source only off by a few ms..

            Off the top not sure would could account for the difference other than browser stuck not refreshing, etc.?

            If you want to do a live check to see if pfsense clock is off you could use ntpdate in test mode with the -d and point it to the IP of any ntp server you want to check it against

            example

            
            [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local.lan]/root: ntpdate -d 192.168.9.32
            21 Dec 14:06:02 ntpdate[45505]: ntpdate 4.2.8p8@1.3265-o Fri Jun 10 15:40:54 UTC 2016 (1)
            transmit(192.168.9.32)
            receive(192.168.9.32)
            transmit(192.168.9.32)
            receive(192.168.9.32)
            transmit(192.168.9.32)
            receive(192.168.9.32)
            transmit(192.168.9.32)
            receive(192.168.9.32)
            server 192.168.9.32, port 123
            stratum 1, precision -20, leap 00, trust 000
            refid [PPS], delay 0.02609, dispersion 0.00006
            transmitted 4, in filter 4
            reference time:    dc055f21.f87dc034  Wed, Dec 21 2016 14:05:53.970
            originate timestamp: dc055f30.d2941d7d  Wed, Dec 21 2016 14:06:08.822
            transmit timestamp:  dc055f30.d28388c7  Wed, Dec 21 2016 14:06:08.822
            filter delay:  0.02675  0.02632  0.02617  0.02609
                     0.00000  0.00000  0.00000  0.00000
            filter offset: -0.00018 -0.00018 -0.00009 -0.00007
                     0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
            delay 0.02609, dispersion 0.00006
            offset -0.000070
            
            21 Dec 14:06:08 ntpdate[45505]: adjust time server 192.168.9.32 offset -0.000070 sec
            [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local.lan]/root:
            
            

            21 Dec 14:06:08 ntpdate[45505]: adjust time server 192.168.9.32 offset -0.000070 sec

            so you see there my pfsense says its off by 70 us from my ntp server..

            timediff.jpg
            timediff.jpg_thumb

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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            • P
              pfBasic Banned
              last edited by

              ok thanks ill run that check, and no it isn't stuck, all three of the times pulled up in webpages on that screenshot were counting seconds.

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              • P
                pfBasic Banned
                last edited by

                I ran ti twice, here is the output, I noticed at the end of the first run, after it gives me the offset time it says "325 sec", whats taht about?

                ntpdate -d time.nist.gov
                21 Dec 12:27:10 ntpdate[90838]: ntpdate 4.2.8p8@1.3265-o Tue Jul 19 16:25:10 UTC                                                                                                                                                              2016 (1)
                transmit(128.138.141.172)
                receive(128.138.141.172)
                transmit(128.138.141.172)
                receive(128.138.141.172)
                transmit(128.138.141.172)
                receive(128.138.141.172)
                transmit(128.138.141.172)
                receive(128.138.141.172)
                server 128.138.141.172, port 123
                stratum 1, precision -29, leap 00, trust 000
                refid [NIST], delay 0.09991, dispersion 0.00021
                transmitted 4, in filter 4
                reference time:    dc0563c9.00000000  Wed, Dec 21 2016 12:25:45.000
                originate timestamp: dc056424.63b52a21  Wed, Dec 21 2016 12:27:16.389
                transmit timestamp:  dc056424.5befb402  Wed, Dec 21 2016 12:27:16.359
                filter delay:  0.09991  0.09993  0.10071  0.10135
                         0.00000  0.00000  0.00000  0.00000
                filter offset: -0.00832 -0.00838 -0.00796 -0.00751
                         0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
                delay 0.09991, dispersion 0.00021
                offset -0.008325
                
                21 Dec 12:27:16 ntpdate[90838]: adjust time server 128.138.141.172 offset -0.008   sec  325 sec  
                ``` 
                
                

                ntpdate -d time.nist.gov
                21 Dec 12:32:39 ntpdate[16340]: ntpdate 4.2.8p8@1.3265-o Tue Jul 19 16:25:10 UTC                                                                                                                                                              2016 (1)
                transmit(129.6.15.30)
                receive(129.6.15.30)
                transmit(129.6.15.30)
                transmit(129.6.15.30)
                receive(129.6.15.30)
                transmit(129.6.15.30)
                transmit(129.6.15.30)
                server 129.6.15.30, port 123
                stratum 1, precision -29, leap 00, trust 000
                refid [ACTS], delay 0.15990, dispersion 24.00020
                transmitted 4, in filter 4
                reference time:    dc056561.1ebacc2a  Wed, Dec 21 2016 12:32:33.120
                originate timestamp: dc05656b.6a52fae8  Wed, Dec 21 2016 12:32:43.415
                transmit timestamp:  dc05656d.512dbb90  Wed, Dec 21 2016 12:32:45.317
                filter delay:  0.15997  0.00000  0.15990  0.00000
                        0.00000  0.00000  0.00000  0.00000
                filter offset: 0.030677 0.000000 0.031073 0.000000
                        0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
                delay 0.15990, dispersion 24.00020
                offset 0.031073

                21 Dec 12:32:47 ntpdate[16340]: adjust time server 129.6.15.30 offset 0.031073 s                                                                                                                                                            ec

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                • johnpozJ
                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  Not sure, don't think ever seen anything like that before.

                  You can see it sends 4 queries, and shows your offset from all 4 off them

                  filter offset: -0.00832 -0.00838 -0.00796 -0.00751

                  So not sure where that odd 325 display would come from??

                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                  • P
                    pfBasic Banned
                    last edited by

                    Any guesses as to why I am seeing such a big difference?

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                    • KOMK
                      KOM
                      last edited by

                      Grasping at straws, but is the hardware clock on the unit itself correct?

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                      • P
                        pfBasic Banned
                        last edited by

                        I dont know, how could I check that?

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                        • KOMK
                          KOM
                          last edited by

                          If it's a PC of some type then I would look in the BIOS.  If it's something else then I don't know.

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                          • dennypageD
                            dennypage
                            last edited by

                            I hate to ask stupid questions, but there are some basics…

                            1. Ignoring the NTP widget for the moment, what is shown as the current date/time in the System Information widget? Does it agree or disagree with www.time.gov?

                            2. Have you cleared your browser's cache?

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                            • w0wW
                              w0w
                              last edited by

                              To eliminate all possible browser cache problems just go to    Diagnostics ->Command Prompt
                              type "date" without quotes and wait for the answer.
                              Or do the same in shell…

                              I don't think it's related to any cache just because in logs we already have

                              "21 Dec 12:27:16 ntpdate[90838]: adjust time server 128.138.141.172 offset -0.008  sec  325 sec"

                              To check what hardware clocks you have run
                              dmesg | grep timer

                              and/or

                              sysctl kern.timecounter

                              You should see all possible timers and counters found and/or used by system. You can also change it to desired, tuning kern.timecounter.hardware.
                              Read https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/faq/troubleshoot.html

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                              • P
                                pfBasic Banned
                                last edited by

                                Thanks all, the System Information Widget was also wrong.

                                w0w's suggestion seems to have fixed system time.

                                : dmesg | grep Timecounter
                                Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
                                Timecounter "HPET" frequency 14318180 Hz quality 950
                                Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 900
                                Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
                                Timecounter "TSC-low" frequency 1546529202 Hz quality 1000
                                
                                
                                : sysctl kern.timecounter.hardware=HPET
                                kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low -> HPET
                                
                                

                                So now System time matches time.gov, however NTP time remains the same although I don't know if this will fix itself given a little time? I restarted the service but the NTP offset remains the same.

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                                • A
                                  AR15USR
                                  last edited by

                                  I'm seeing the same issue with the NTP time being off by 5mins. Never noticed that till now. My system clock matches the NIST time though.

                                  Running 'date' from the command prompt returns the system time which is correct to the NIST time. The NTP widget is 5 mins off


                                  2.6.0-RELEASE

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                                  • A
                                    AR15USR
                                    last edited by

                                    I just polled the ntp server pool I'm using (pool.ntp.org) and it is off by the same 5 mins.

                                    sntp 0.pool.ntp.org

                                    When I poll nist it shows the same 5 minute discrepancy

                                    sntp 128.138.141.172


                                    2.6.0-RELEASE

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                                    • A
                                      AR15USR
                                      last edited by

                                      If anyone is interested I switched my ntp servers from ntp.org to the NIST servers and the discrepancy has resolved itself..


                                      2.6.0-RELEASE

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                                      • P
                                        pfBasic Banned
                                        last edited by

                                        That is interesting.

                                        I have been using time.nist.gov for a few days now and my NTP time is still off by a few minutes. System time now matches up but NTP has not resolved itself, I restarted the service over a day ago and it is still off by a few minutes.

                                        Anyone know what the root problem is here, especially now that I am apparently not the only one seeing some issues with time?

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                                        • A
                                          AR15USR
                                          last edited by

                                          I'm sure you do, but just to check you do have your machines set to use your pfsense as the ntp time server?


                                          2.6.0-RELEASE

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                                          • P
                                            pfBasic Banned
                                            last edited by

                                            Some of them are and some aren't what I'm looking at is that the NTP time widget on my pfSense box is not syncing up with time.gov, even though it is using NIST for NTP. My system clock is synced up.

                                            Also, my machines that are using pfsense for time match the incorrect pfsense time widget exactly.

                                            My machines that are not using pfsense for time (cellphone, laptop) match time.gov exactly.

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