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    NTP Not Working [SOLVED (totally)]

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • GertjanG
      Gertjan @beremonavabi
      last edited by Gertjan

      @beremonavabi said in NTP Not Working [SOLVED]:

      According to:

      http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/TroubleshootingNTP#Section_9.8.

      ntpd requires full bidirectional access to the privileged UDP port 123

      Yep.
      Part "9.8. Check the NTP port" also states :

      Bla bla bla bla ...
      If this is not possible, you may need to run ntpd on the firewall itself, so that it can have full unrestricted access to UDP port >123 in both directions, and then have it serve time to your internal clients. However, this may also be disallowed.

      Of course, our ntpd is running on the firewall pfSense with 'root' privileges, so it can snap to this "123" port, so it can send out requests , and receives the replies.

      I assume that's what kpa was referring to, above. So, for those of you who do have NTP synchronizing time correctly without having the WAN interface selected (apparently, most everyone), do you have a firewall rule opening port 123 to UDP traffic on your WAN?

      No way !!!!
      As seen above, the ntpd process can go outside anytime it wants to do so - connect itself as a "client" to a ntp "server". These connections are outbound.
      Firewall rules on the (WAN) interface are for inbound connection only.
      I have no (well, yes : one : an incoming VPN rule) firewall rules on WAN, so by default no initial connection comes in.
      NTP servers like fr.pool.ntp.org do not connect to my pfSEnse. It's my pfSense that connects to fr.pool.ntp.org.

      Also, according to:
      http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/TroubleshootingNTP#Section_9.9.
      there's supposed to be an ntp.conf file at /etc. I don't see that on my SG-4860. Does pfSense use that file for NTP?

      Yes, no ... this is FreeBSD.
      See your post number 4 here ( you !) told us were we (you !) can find this file ^^
      As you said yourself over there : the file is here : /var/etc/ntpd.conf

      No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
      Edit : and where are the logs ??

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • beremonavabiB
        beremonavabi
        last edited by

        One more attempt at figuring this out.

        I saw a bug report that was similar (though it involved CARP):

        https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/5548

        The response was:

        You're breaking NTP connectivity on the backup by sending the traffic using a CARP IP. It won't, and can't, receive those replies - they go to the primary. When WAN isn't bound, it's probably hitting NAT to a CARP IP because it has a private source IP. NAT it to the WAN IP in that case.

        The OP responded:

        Added the following NAT rules at the top of the Outbound manual rules list:
        
        Interfc Source Src Pt Dest Dest Pt NAT Addr NAT Pt Static Description 
        WAN1 This Fw udp/* * udp/123 WAN1 addr * NO NTP to WAN1 INTFC IP 
        

        and that fixed it.

        I was wondering if my restricting all outbound traffic to go through my VPN might be causing a similar problem here. So, I added the following outbound NAT rule (even though it ought to have been covered by my existing NAT rules and I've got "redirect-gateway def1; in my VPN client Custom Options to make sure the firewall, itself, can get out the default interface) which, I think, is an equivalent:

        0_1528665541541_20180610 -- pfSense NTP Fix Question.PNG

        It doesn't make any difference. NTP still won't start without the WAN being selected. Can anyone confirm that these situations might be equivalent and that the NAT rule I added makes some kind of sense?

        SG-4860, pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Can we see your full outbound NAT page?

          Steve

          beremonavabiB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • beremonavabiB
            beremonavabi @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 0_1528677965080_20180610 -- pfSense Firewall NAT Outbound.PNG

            SG-4860, pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Hmm, looks OK. And you're using manual mode there or hybrid?

              The the WAN the default gateway on your system?

              Is default gateway switching enabled?

              I could imagine NTP trying to use the VPN gateway and sourcing from something not NAT'd there. It should always use the default gateway though.

              Steve

              beremonavabiB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • beremonavabiB
                beremonavabi @stephenw10
                last edited by beremonavabi

                @stephenw10 said in NTP Not Working [SOLVED (mostly)]:

                Hmm, looks OK. And you're using manual mode there or hybrid?

                The the WAN the default gateway on your system?

                Is default gateway switching enabled?

                I could imagine NTP trying to use the VPN gateway and sourcing from something not NAT'd there. It should always use the default gateway though.

                Steve

                Manual mode and, yes, the WAN is the default gateway. Default gateway switching is OFF under System > Advanced > Miscellaneous.

                In normal operation, everything is on the VPN_LAN interface (192.168.20.0/24). My firewall rules for that are:

                0_1528726685370_20180611 -- pfSense Firewall Rules VPN_LAN.PNG

                The first two rules are special cases that are hardly ever used. The third rule sends local device traffic to other local devices out the default. And the last rule sends traffic to the outside world out via the VPN's Gateway Group. So, in general, everything to the outside world goes out over the VPN via that Gateway Group. But, I've got "redirect-gateway def1;" in my VPN client Custom Options to make sure the firewall, itself, can still get out the default gateway. I assume NTP falls under that and should get out via the WAN.

                That special Outbound NAT rule with "This Firewall", above, was just a desperate stab at trying to make sure that NTP traffic could get out the WAN and not get stuck by the VPN. But, it didn't work. Assuming I wrote that rule correctly, it doesn't look like that's the issue.

                I wonder if it could be a DNS issue (not being able to resolve the NTP pool names to addresses -- though why adding the WAN to the NTP listening interfaces would "fix" that, I don't know). I'm using DNS Resolver in NON-Forwarding mode. It's active for all my local LAN-type interfaces (not WAN) and sends everything out via the VPNx_WAN interfaces (again, not WAN). I wonder if I should add the WAN to the Outgoing Network Interfaces:

                0_1528727693395_20180611 -- pfSense General DNS Resolver Options.PNG

                SG-4860, pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

                beremonavabiB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • beremonavabiB
                  beremonavabi @beremonavabi
                  last edited by

                  @beremonavabi
                  It doesn't look like it's a DNS issue, either. I stuck the actual IP address for a public DNS server

                  http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/PublicTimeServer000011

                  in and removed the WAN interface. Same problem: NTP doesn't start. Put the WAN back in the list and all was well.

                  SG-4860, pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • beremonavabiB
                    beremonavabi
                    last edited by

                    Still not working without WAN selected in Settings > NTP. For posterity, here's some information on my gateways:

                    0_1529520307659_20180620 -- pfSense System Routing Gateways.PNG

                    RW_VPN is my VPN server, VPNx_WAN are my two VPN clients, IPv6 is off so all the IPV6 gateways are disabled, and I've scribbled over my WAN_DHCP addresses for privacy purposes.

                    I've also got a Gateway Group:

                    0_1529529092017_20180620 -- pfSense System Routing Gateway Groups.PNG

                    SG-4860, pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • johnpozJ
                      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                      last edited by

                      See that other thread on how dicked up the other guys setup was to why it wasn't working.. A clue to why yours isn't working is prob in there as well.

                      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

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by johnpoz

                        @beremonavabi said in NTP Not Working [SOLVED (mostly)]:

                        RW_VPN is my VPN server

                        Huh? Why would you vpn server your running on pfsense be setup as a gateway?

                        Looks like he is shooting himself in the foot same way other guy was... Manual mode outbound nat and not natting what the ntp is trying to use as the source IP, etc.

                        And for what reason are you using manual for your outbound nat?

                        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

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • GertjanG
                          Gertjan
                          last edited by Gertjan

                          Just thinking and typing out loud :

                          Is this not just another case of trying to pass everything through the VPN tunnel ?

                          Knowing that the ntp deamon probably starts before the VPN server, it will work for a while : the WAN connections works, (NAT) rules are fine.
                          Then the VPN server starts, the gateways are shot in the back and reconstructed, so that all traffic goes out of the VPN, the new "WAN".
                          Our ntp isn't informed, and is locked out.

                          Something like that ?

                          No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                          Edit : and where are the logs ??

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • jimpJ
                            jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                            last edited by

                            Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab. Add rule to top.

                            • Disabled: Unchecked
                            • Do not NAT: Unchecked
                            • Interface: WAN (make one of these rules for each WAN)
                            • Protocol: any
                            • Source: This Firewall (self)
                            • Destination: any
                            • Not: Unchecked
                            • Translation Address: Interface Address
                            • Port or Range: Blank
                            • Description: NAT anything out from the firewall itself

                            Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                            Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                            Do not Chat/PM for help!

                            beremonavabiB PTZ-MP 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 8
                            • beremonavabiB
                              beremonavabi @jimp
                              last edited by

                              @jimp said in NTP Not Working [SOLVED (mostly)]:

                              Firewall > NAT, Outbound tab. Add rule to top.

                              Disabled: Unchecked
                              Do not NAT: Unchecked
                              Interface: WAN (make one of these rules for each WAN)
                              Protocol: any
                              Source: This Firewall (self)
                              Destination: any
                              Not: Unchecked
                              Translation Address: Interface Address
                              Port or Range: Blank
                              Description: NAT anything out from the firewall itself

                              Yay! Thanks, jimp. That got it. I had to reboot the pfSense box before it would work, though. I'd tried something similar a couple of weeks ago, but it was limited to UDP on port 123, was at the end of my list of outbound NAT rules, and, probably most importantly, I didn't reboot the box.

                              SG-4860, pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • jimpJ
                                jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                                last edited by

                                You probably didn't need to reboot, just clear the states table (Diagnostics > States, Reset States tab)

                                Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                                Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                                Do not Chat/PM for help!

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                                • PTZ-MP
                                  PTZ-M @jimp
                                  last edited by

                                  @jimp This rule does not work for me. Rather, it works, but before the first reboot of PfSense.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • jimpJ
                                    jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                                    last edited by

                                    Then you have a different issue than the OP of this thread. Start a new thread with details about your own setup.

                                    Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                                    Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                                    Do not Chat/PM for help!

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