ntpMerlin ntpMerlin - NTP Daemon for AsusWRT Merlin

[L&LD]

The reason why so far I haven't added ntpd to Asuswrt-Merlin (even tho the busybox applet is already there, it's just not used yet) is the fact that Asuswrt has a very outdated timezone database, meaning the wrong start/end date for DST in many countries. Don't you guys worry that this could cause ALL of your LAN devices to end up with the wrong time if you failed to manually set the correct start/end DST dates?

It's right there in my old M&M Config from 2015!

Buried down there and probably not in the correct order as I would do things today, but it is there.

 

[RMerlin]

It's right there in my old M&M Config from 2015!

Buried down there and probably not in the correct order as I would do things today, but it is there.

I cannot implement a feature based on users needing to read a forum guide on how to configure their router however. It needs to be as failsafe as possible under default conditions - and for many users this means relying on the DST settings used by default.

 

[L&LD]

I cannot implement a feature based on users needing to read a forum guide on how to configure their router however. It needs to be as failsafe as possible under default conditions - and for many users this means relying on the DST settings used by default.

Apologies RMerlin, I think my post above was misunderstood. I wasn't asking for anything to be implemented or seemingly giving a good reason to.

I was just responding to the 'Don't you guys worry...' part of your post I quoted above.

I may not always understand (initially) why you make certain decisions for your firmware releases, but I certainly do in this case. And I'm always certain that your decision is the only one that counts too.

 

[EmeraldDeer]

Only way to know for sure would be the set the wrong DST period on the router, then see what the clients get from the router's ntpd daemon.

I just set my router to Pacific. I am in Eastern. Syslog entries are three hours early.

The NTP client does not go off by three hours.

There is a reminder about my locale setting, but I do not know where that would be set.

 

[Jack Yaz]

I cannot implement a feature based on users needing to read a forum guide on how to configure their router however. It needs to be as failsafe as possible under default conditions - and for many users this means relying on the DST settings used by default.

Formatting aside, I'm making DST more visible in the script's menu:

 

[RMerlin]

just set my router to Pacific. I am in Eastern. Syslog entries are three hours early.

The NTP client does not go off by three hours.

Thanks for testing it. That means I might consider adding basic ntpd support in the future.

I have no plan to make it as full-featured as this project however, so end users will always have the choice to go with a very basic ntpd service, or a more advanced one such as this one.

There is a reminder about my locale setting, but I do not know where that would be set.

That is a poorly translated label unfortunately, highly confusing. I never checked what triggers it, but I suspect it's the webui comparing its timezone with that provided by the browser.

Formatting aside, I'm making DST more visible in the script's menu:

All good, and I would expect people advanced enough to go with a third party solution such as yours to also have the technical know-how to make sure that this is accurately configured on their end.

 

[cmkelley]

Even if the router's own clock doesn't store it internally in GMT?

Actually, NTP doesn't even use UTC. NTP sends seconds since 1900-01-01 00:00:00 h as as 64-bit number; the first 32 bits are seconds, the second 32 bits are fractions of a second. NTP time rolls over 2036, but already has a mechanism to deal with this. Unix time rolls over in 2038, which, depending on the implementation of Unix, may or may not have a mechanism to deal with it. The 2030's will be fun.

More than you ever wanted to know about NTP time lives at: https://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/y2k.html (the website of the person who developed NTP).

 

[GoNz0]

Any chance of you adding a restart to the menu please?

 

[RMerlin]

NTP sends seconds since 1900-01-01 00:00:00 h as as 64-bit number; the first 32 bits are seconds, the second 32 bits are fractions of a second.

Thanks for the info.

 

[EmeraldDeer]

Actually, NTP doesn't even use UTC. NTP sends seconds since 1900-01-01 00:00:00 h as as 64-bit number; the first 32 bits are seconds, the second 32 bits are fractions of a second. NTP time rolls over 2036, but already has a mechanism to deal with this. Unix time rolls over in 2038, which, depending on the implementation of Unix, may or may not have a mechanism to deal with it. The 2030's will be fun.

More than you ever wanted to know about NTP time lives at: https://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/y2k.html (the website of the person who developed NTP).

So NTP servers are sending in a format which is the number of seconds since 1900 began. Number of seconds from what perspective? Los Angeles? Boston? UTC

 

[L&LD]

So NTP servers are sending in a format which is the number of seconds since 1900 began. Number of seconds from what perspective? Los Angeles? Boston? UTC

That is answered in the link you've quoted.

 

[Centrifuge]

I did this:

1. Go to Administration tab and click the NTP link.

View attachment 16810

2. On the NTP website, do some research and find the NTP server that is closest to you location:

3. For example, in North America, these are the servers that are available:
View attachment 16807

4. Use a IP geolocation finder site such as: https://tools.keycdn.com/geo. Plug in one of the servers and look at the map to see if any of them are closest to your location.

5. Choose the server that is closest to you and enter it under the NTP server space (delete ntp.pool.org and replace it with you server-see pic above)

View attachment 16808

6. Then SSH into your router and got to your ntpMerlin menu. Pick option 8 from your AMTM menu:

 5  open     Skynet                    v6.8.4
 6  open     Stubby DNS                v1.1.1
 7  install  YazFi enhanced guest WiFi
 8  open     ntpMerlin                 v1.1.1

7. Once in ntpMerlin menu, choose option 3:

1.    Generate updated ntpMerlin graphs now

2.    Toggle redirect of all NTP traffic to ntpMerlin
      (currently Enabled)

3.    Edit ntpMerlin config

u.    Check for updates
uf.   Update ntpMerlin with latest version (force update)

e.    Exit ntpMerlin

z.    Uninstall ntpMerlin

8. Pick option 1 (nano):

1.    nano (recommended for beginners)
2.    vi

e.    Exit to main menu

9. When the window opens op, I deleted all the other servers and only left (added) there the server I chose:

# replace the following time servers to the ones close to you
# see http://twiki.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers
server 0.pool.ntp.org iburst

10. Then to save your changes, type Ctrl+X and Enter

11. Then enter this command:

/opt/etc/init.d/S77ntpd restart

12. Then go to your NTP Daemon tab (Under Tools), hit Refresh (at the bottom) and.........I am hoping that soon you will have a more stabilized graph like the one shown below.
View attachment 16809

You can actually tell from the graph when I made the same changes.

Hope this helps.

I followed those directions, but just have one local ntp server:

# replace the following time servers to the ones close to you
# see http://twiki.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers
server ntproundtop.hawaii.edu iburst

I was just wondering the jitter graph seems to be flatlined or no data, is that the correct behavior, or do I need a second server? I made the change as you can see around 2200<

 

[L&LD]

I followed those directions, but just have one local ntp server:

# replace the following time servers to the ones close to you
# see http://twiki.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers
server ntproundtop.hawaii.edu iburst

I was just wondering the jitter graph seems to be flatlined or no data, is that the correct behavior, or do I need a second server? I made the change as you can see around 2200<

No images showing.

 

[Centrifuge]

No images showing.

Fixed, I hope.

 

[L&LD]

Fixed, I hope.

Thanks, the graphs are now showing.

I think you may just have to wait for a few hours until the second graph gets some data (maybe it has to do with the Max jitter being so high compared to what it is now).

I also have just one entry and the graphs are populated now after 24 hrs.

 

[Centrifuge]

Thanks, we'll see then.. Just that Jitter is at 0.0, it should be something?.. I'll give it some time.

 

[Marin]

Thanks, we'll see then.. Just that Jitter is at 0.0, it should be something?.. I'll give it some time.

You can Refresh your screen when you access the GUI (using button at the bottom of screen). Graphs will not stay the same and there will be fluctuations from time to time. The goal would be to have graphs with no major fluctuations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cmkelley]

Thanks for the info.

I've always been fascinated with time.

Thanks, the graphs are now showing.

I think you may just have to wait for a few hours until the second graph gets some data (maybe it has to do with the Max jitter being so high compared to what it is now).

I also have just one entry and the graphs are populated now after 24 hrs.

FWIW, I've never had anything show on the jitter graph with this version. I did running kvic's scripts on an RT-3200 when I didn't have my own time server. It's never really been an issue for me, but I know my jitter isn't flatlined at 0. I also have only one server listed in my router ntp.conf.

 

[Jack Yaz]

I've always been fascinated with time.

FWIW, I've never had anything show on the jitter graph with this version. I did running kvic's scripts on an RT-3200 when I didn't have my own time server. It's never really been an issue for me, but I know my jitter isn't flatlined at 0. I also have only one server listed in my router ntp.conf.

I wonder if the single server is to blame, 4 servers below

 

[Jack Yaz]

Looks like we currently graph sys_jitter and not clk_jitter - I'm unsure of the difference