NTP Sync Issues 1

[AvayaGuy1222]

This is an odd one. NTP servers (2) are configured on the active & standby CM servers. Both NTP servers however resolve to the same IP address. Yet the time is off by a couple of minutes. Here's the Network Time Sync page from the active server. CM 5.2.1

The * by LOCAL means that's where time is actively coming from, correct?

Remote Refid Stratum Type When Poll Reach Delay Offset Jitter
ntp.XXXXX. .STEP. 16 u - 1024 0 0.000 0.000 4000.00
xntp.XXXXX. .GPS .1 u 11 64 377 6.364 -90600. 12.006
xcmb-or-XXXXX LOCAL(0) 11 u 56 64 376 0.229 4748.15 1.131
*LOCAL(0) LOCAL(0) 10 l 26 64 377 0.000 0.000 0.001

I know stratum 16 basically means it's not getting time from any source, but it should be coming from the ntp. server.

We need to check these 2 NTP servers, but is there anything else in CM that could cause this? The only other item I see is that the 2 CM servers have not been interchanged in almost 2 years. If NTP is configured though, it should just keep running with that time, correct?

Thank you!

 

[AvayaTier3]

1. You need a reachable, reliable sync source
cat /etc/ntp.conf
cat /etc/ntp/step-tickers
cat /etc/ntp/drift (should be close to 0.0)

dadmin@DL360_A> /bin/cat /etc/ntp.conf
restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery
restrict 127.0.0.1
server 10.222.1.29
server 10.222.1.12
peer DL360_B-dup
server 127.127.1.0 # local clock
fudge 127.127.1.0 stratum 10
driftfile /var/lib/ntp/drift
dadmin@DL360_A> /bin/cat /etc/ntp/step-tickers
10.222.1.29
10.222.1.12
dadmin@DL360_A> /bin/cat /etc/ntp/drift
-4.21
-----------------------------------------------------
using dns

craft@s8300> /bin/ls -l /etc/ntp.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 89 Oct 9 2008 /etc/ntp.conf
craft@s8300> /bin/ls -l /diskroot/etc/ntp.conf
craft@s8300> /bin/ls -l /etc/resolv.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 72 Oct 9 2008 /etc/resolv.conf
craft@s8300> /bin/ls -l /diskroot/etc/resolv.conf
craft@s8300> /bin/cat /etc/ntp.conf
server 1.pool.ntp.org
server 2.pool.ntp.org
driftfile /etc/ntp/drift
craft@s8300> /bin/cat /etc/resolv.conf
domain thebancorp.com
nameserver 192.168.2.13
search thebancorp.com
craft@s8300> /bin/cat /etc/ntp/step-tickers
192.168.2.13
1.pool.ntp.org
2.pool.ntp.org
craft@s8300> /bin/cat /etc/ntp/drift
10.558
----------------------------------------------------------------
s8300 using dns + ramdisk

dadmin@s83> ls -l /diskroot/etc/ntp.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 100 Sep 25 2007 /diskroot/etc/ntp.conf
dadmin@s83> ls -l /diskroot/etc/resolv.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 49 Mar 13 2013 /diskroot/etc/resolv.conf
dadmin@s83> cat /etc/ntp.conf
server pool.ntp.org
server time.nist.gov
server north-america.pool.ntp.org
driftfile /etc/ntp/drift
dadmin@s83> cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 66.109.223.4
nameserver 66.109.223.44
dadmin@s83> cat /etc/ntp/step-tickers
pool.ntp.org
time.nist.gov
north-america.pool.ntp.org
dadmin@s83> cat /etc/ntp/drift
2.753
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
adjust clock

dadmin@S8300> /usr/sbin/ntpdate -d -q us.pool.ntp.org
10 Jan 06:35:09 ntpdate[26067]: ntpdate 4.2.0a@1.1190-r Thu Apr 20 11:28:37 EDT
2006 (1)
Looking for host us.pool.ntp.org and service ntp
host found : ntp.yoinks.net
transmit(70.86.250.6)
receive(70.86.250.6)
transmit(70.86.250.6)
receive(70.86.250.6)
transmit(70.86.250.6)
receive(70.86.250.6)
transmit(70.86.250.6)
receive(70.86.250.6)
transmit(70.86.250.6)
server 70.86.250.6, port 123
stratum 2, precision -20, leap 00, trust 000
refid [70.86.250.6], delay 0.11960, dispersion 0.00005
transmitted 4, in filter 4
reference time: d0d595aa.b78061b1 Mon, Jan 10 2011 6:26:50.716
originate timestamp: d0d5979e.c36b3aa8 Mon, Jan 10 2011 6:35:10.763
transmit timestamp: d0d5979e.b6f51266 Mon, Jan 10 2011 6:35:10.714
filter delay: 0.12029 0.11987 0.11978 0.11960
0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
filter offset: 0.001605 0.001343 0.001454 0.001454
0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
delay 0.11960, dispersion 0.00005
offset 0.001454

10 Jan 06:35:10 ntpdate[26067]: adjust time server 70.86.250.6 offset 0.001454 s
ec
dadmin@S8300> /usr/sbin/ntpdate -d -q 149.20.54.20
10 Jan 06:37:29 ntpdate[26203]: ntpdate 4.2.0a@1.1190-r Thu Apr 20 11:28:37 EDT
2006 (1)
Looking for host 149.20.54.20 and service ntp
host found : packman-ha.isc.org
transmit(149.20.54.20)
receive(149.20.54.20)
transmit(149.20.54.20)
receive(149.20.54.20)
transmit(149.20.54.20)
receive(149.20.54.20)
transmit(149.20.54.20)
receive(149.20.54.20)
transmit(149.20.54.20)
server 149.20.54.20, port 123
stratum 2, precision -20, leap 00, trust 000
refid [149.20.54.20], delay 0.08589, dispersion 0.00716
transmitted 4, in filter 4
reference time: d0d5976b.aa737be2 Mon, Jan 10 2011 6:34:19.665
originate timestamp: d0d5982a.2176b916 Mon, Jan 10 2011 6:37:30.130
transmit timestamp: d0d5982a.1b934699 Mon, Jan 10 2011 6:37:30.107
filter delay: 0.11436 0.09282 0.08589 0.11726
0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
filter offset: -0.02045 -0.00332 -0.00683 -0.02285
0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
delay 0.08589, dispersion 0.00716
offset -0.006835

10 Jan 06:37:30 ntpdate[26203]: adjust time server 149.20.54.20 offset -0.006835 sec




A great teacher, does not provide answers, but methods to teach others "How and where to find the answers"

bsh

40 years Bell, AT&T, Lucent, Avaya
Tier 3 for 30 years and counting
[URL unfurl="true"]http://bshtele.com[/url]

 

[AvayaGuy1222]

Thanks bsh. The drift on my server says 74.740 (you say needs to be as close to 0.0 as possible). Another system, same release, same overall WAN, says -1.478. It however is using the correct NTP server (same as the "broken" one but it's actively using the NTP server defined).

Remote Refid Stratum Type When Poll Reach Delay Offset Jitter
*ntp.XXXXX. .GPS. 1 u 63 512 377 19.352 -0.346 0.046
LOCAL(0) LOCAL(0) 10 l 56 64 377 0.000 0.000 0.001

So I think either something is really wrong on my "broken" CM, or something is going on with traffic between CM & the NTP source (network, firewall, etc). Need to have that examined.

Thank you again!

 

[kyle555]

For the purposes of this discussion, how does a duplex server pair factor in?

When I had to troubleshoot this once or twice, I believe I noticed that each server in the pair syncs off one another at a low stratum which I can only guess is because it is more important for those 2 servers to be in sync for the purposes of duplex operation than it is for them to have a proper time source.

Is it necessary to consider that relationship in troubleshooting?

 

[AvayaGuy1222]

I've seen numerous times that one server syncs from an external source, and then the duplex server syncs from the other server. I do believe the stratum according to the duplex server is lower than that of the server which is referencing an external NTP source. Not sure if that helps!

 

[AvayaGuy1222]

Well I think I fixed it. Strange, two NTP servers were defined. primary was time.xxxx and secondary was ntp.xxxx. Both names resolved to the same IP address. I removed the secondary (ntp.xxxx) name and the time corrected itself & the network time sync page updated. Furthermore, the primary server is the time.xxxx but in the network time sync page the "remote" lists ntp.xxxx, not time.xxxx. Where does the "remote" information come from? It looks like it is resolving a name somewhere, but it's odd that it does that & does not list "time.xxxx".

Then I added a new secondary ntp server and in the network time sync, the secondary has the * and the primary has a + symbol. What does * and/or + mean on this page?

I'm glad it's working now, but very strange that it stopped working.

Thanks!

 

[AvayaTier3]

DNS nameserver is stored in /etc/resolv.conf

If not defined, static IP must be used for ntp.conf file

Sometimes the drift file needs to be corrected to 0.0 and ntpd service needs to be stopped
and started to get the server time to sync. You can modify the drift to 0.0 using vi but
must be logged in as root or sroot. root can also stop and start services. A reboot will
restart services, and using web pages allows sudo in the background to stop and start ntpd.

Check your drift file again and see if it is much closer to "0" now.

/sbin/service ntpd status
/sbin/service ntpd stop
/sbin/service ntpd start


A great teacher, does not provide answers, but methods to teach others "How and where to find the answers"

bsh

40 years Bell, AT&T, Lucent, Avaya
Tier 3 for 30 years and counting
[URL unfurl="true"]http://bshtele.com[/url]

 

[AvayaGuy1222]

Good morning. The drift file now reads 21.075. Much better than the 74.740 that it was at yesterday. Thank you again for your help on this one.