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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 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?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • KOMK
              KOM
              last edited by

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

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 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.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • 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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                                    • w0wW
                                      w0w
                                      last edited by

                                      I just successfully tested time.nist.gov sync without any issue.
                                      Please provide the output of
                                      more /var/etc/ntpd.conf

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                                      • S
                                        shinzo
                                        last edited by

                                        I was having the same problem, running on 2.4 i would select to run NTP on the Lan side and it would never sync.  If i manually sync'ed then it would work.

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                                        • stan-qazS
                                          stan-qaz
                                          last edited by

                                          Some of the NTP tools included with pfSense can be a big help in figuring out what is going wrong. The place to start is likely ntpq:

                                          [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.home]/root: ntpq -p
                                               remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
                                          ==============================================================================
                                          *pi-v1.home      .GPS0.           1 u   12   64  377    0.420   -0.034   0.008
                                          +hp400.home      172.16.0.4       2 u   44   64  377    0.412    5.662   0.782
                                          +ntp.cox.net     .GPS.            1 u   14   64  377   51.577    1.667   0.452
                                          

                                          The above shows that I am syncing with my Pi while my hp server and Cox Cable NTP servers are available as fallbacks.

                                          The first column is the sync status and is covered in the http://www.ntp.org/ documentation. If you are not selecting servers and syncing to one of them you have a starting place to look for your problem.

                                          I'd go look at at least the quick start at ntp.org and select either a pool or at least three servers to sync to before going on to look for other issues.

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                                          • dennypageD
                                            dennypage
                                            last edited by

                                            I finally got around to having a look at the code for the NTP widget. The "Server Time" field is created using some cute dynamic update code that plays games between the http server (aka pfSense) time and the http client browser time. The approach was likely state of the art… in 2003 when it was last updated. Seriously, the code lists compatibility as IE 4.x/5.0, Netscape 4.x/6.0, and Mozilla 1.0.

                                            The short version is that this code is badly need of replacing, and until it is replaced the Server Time field in the NTP widget should simply be ignored.

                                            One more "as time permits" activity. :)

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