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    Time drift/system clock too fast on a PFSense VM

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Virtualization
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    • B
      briancanfixit
      last edited by

      My pfSense VM's clock is running too fast for NTP to handle +11.5% or about +7 seconds every minute.

      I can fix this temporarily, by switching my kern.timecounter.hardware to ACPI-Fast:

      sysctl kern.timecounter.hardware="ACPI-fast"

      but this does not persist after a reboot.

      So, how can I make this setting stick between reboots and upgrades?

      What I have tried that has not worked:
      1)
      Adding the following to /etc/sysctl.conf
      kern.timecounter.hardware=ACPI-fast
      kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality=100
      2)
      Adding the following to /boot/loader.conf.local
      kern.timecounter.hardware="ACPI-fast"

      What I am trying next in my /boot/loader.conf.local
      kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality="100"

      Output that may help:

      sysctl kern.timecounter

      kern.timecounter.tsc_shift: 1
      kern.timecounter.smp_tsc_adjust: 0
      kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 0
      kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1
      kern.timecounter.fast_gettime: 1
      kern.timecounter.tick: 1
      kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) ACPI-fast(900) i8254(0) dummy(-1000000)
      kern.timecounter.hardware: ACPI-fast
      kern.timecounter.alloweddeviation: 5
      kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
      kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
      kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 1247112000
      kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 326644757
      kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
      kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
      kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
      kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 4671981
      kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
      kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
      kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
      kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 15941
      kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535

      sysctl kern.hz

      kern.hz: 1000

      edit:
      I have looked at a similar post form 2012, but they did not find a way to resolve this:
      https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=50994

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

        What hardware is your host, what hypervisor?

        I have been running pfsense on esxi for long time, and have never seen any issues with the clock drifting..  Mine is set to HPET..

        [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local.lan]/: sysctl kern.timecounter                     
        kern.timecounter.tsc_shift: 1                                                         
        kern.timecounter.smp_tsc_adjust: 0                                                   
        kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 0                                                           
        kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1                                                     
        kern.timecounter.fast_gettime: 1                                                     
        kern.timecounter.tick: 1                                                             
        kern.timecounter.choice: TSC(-100) ACPI-fast(900) i8254(0) HPET(950) dummy(-1000000) 
        kern.timecounter.hardware: HPET                                                       
        kern.timecounter.alloweddeviation: 5                                                 
        kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0                                                     
        kern.timecounter.tc.TSC.quality: -100                                                 
        kern.timecounter.tc.TSC.frequency: 1497506000                                         
        kern.timecounter.tc.TSC.counter: 2212931071                                           
        kern.timecounter.tc.TSC.mask: 4294967295                                             
        kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900                                           
        kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545                                     
        kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 5082544                                       
        kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215                                         
        kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0                                                 
        kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182                                         
        kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 1662                                               
        kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535                                                 
        kern.timecounter.tc.HPET.quality: 950                                                 
        kern.timecounter.tc.HPET.frequency: 14318180                                         
        kern.timecounter.tc.HPET.counter: 4259615338                                         
        kern.timecounter.tc.HPET.mask: 4294967295                                             
        [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local.lan]/:

        [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local.lan]/: sysctl kern.hz
        kern.hz: 100
        [2.3.2-RELEASE][root@pfsense.local.lan]/:

        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 2.7.2, 24.11

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • B
          briancanfixit
          last edited by

          VMware ESXi, but it's in a hosted so not much I can change on the back-end.

          The issue is that I am not able to set sysctl values on the PFsense box… I can change them using a similar method for other BSD systems, but not this one.. so not sure what I need to change for the change to be persistent and survive upgrades.

          I can set the variable once it is running, but not at boot  :-(

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

            I also run under ESXi and my timecounter.hardware is also HPET like John's.  I wonder who/why it get set differently on your end.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • B
              briancanfixit
              last edited by

              No clue, it should detect the best timer, but it is not.
              In this case it's best to set the quality manually, but not sure how to do this with pfSense…

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

                Try add the following to /boot/loader.conf.local
                kern.timecounter.hardware=ACPI-fast

                If it does not work then you can use an own shell script.

                Something like

                
#!/bin/sh

sysctl kern.timecounter.hardware="ACPI-fast"

                Just put it into /usr/local/etc/rc.d change rights to 0755 and reboot

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • B
                  briancanfixit
                  last edited by

                  Damn, I tried the first one already.
                  On my FreedBSD 10.3 system editing the /etc/sysctl.conf worked to change the timecounter.

                  Not sure what needs to be set to make this change permanent…
                  I added the script in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/fixtime, as w0w suggested, the permissions are set correctly and I can execute the script by running it, which works, but it did not get launched on reboot.

                  so.. I'm still stuck.

                  There must be something special pfsense is doing that freeBSD is not doing. I do see other threads in FreeBSD about this issue, and they are resolved with editing the /etc/sysctl.conf kern.timecounter.hardware... it's even in the manual
                  https://www.freebsd.org/doc/faq/book.html

                  Is there a pfSense manual for sysctl changes to the timecounter?

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • D
                    doktornotor Banned
                    last edited by

                    No idea what are you doing with /boot/loader.conf.local, works just fine here. Use the Shellcmd package if it doesn't work for you.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • B
                      briancanfixit
                      last edited by

                      [solved] I got it, it is done in the GUI:
                      System -> Advanced
                      System Tunables
                      New
                      Tunable kern.timecounter.hardware
                      Value ACPI-fast
                      Description

                      So, basically most stuff that you would put in /etc/sysctl.conf or /boot/loader.conf.local goes in the GUI…

                      Here is a link related to the issue:
                      https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Further_Enhancements_3

                      Enabling Speedstep: To get it up and running you need to do a few things:

                      Set the timecounter to use the i8254 device with

                      sysctl kern.timecounter.hardware=i8254

                      To make this setting permanent add it to the system tunables table in the webgui:System: Advanced: System Tunables:

                      Enable powerd in the webgui in System: Advanced: Miscellaneous:

                      To force it to use EST rather than throttling or p4tcc add the following lines to loader.conf.local

                      hint.p4tcc.0.disabled=1
                      hint.acpi_throttle.0.disabled=1

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • B
                        briancanfixit
                        last edited by

                        I've tried in in two separate esxi 6 environments, built a fresh pfsense VM in each, and neither one lets you change this setting via /boot/loader.conf.local. Are you saying that they change to the file then rebooting worked for you to force a specific timecounter, or are you saying that the time did not drift?

                        pfsense versions 2.3.2 and 2.3.2_p1

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

                          I think the script should be not just /usr/local/etc/rc.d/fixtime but
                          /usr/local/etc/rc.d/fixtime.sh
                          I have two scripts that are working fine on startup.
                          May be its needed full path to sysctl to be added.
                          /sbin/sysctl kern.timecounter.hardware="ACPI-fast"

                          Anyway I glad you have solved it, but it looks a little bit strange that nothing works as it should just for you. I think the devil is in the details.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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