ntpMerlin ntpMerlin v3.x

[Vexira]

That’s a lot of effort. I am using AC86U, hope someone can test it out on your model.
I can put minsources up to the combined numbers of the following three source states.
Source state '*' = current best, '+' = combined, '-' = not combined
I thought state ^- is not good enough but then it still works even when I include those in minsources count.

the issue is when i enable an nts server the cloud flare one i just checked

 

[Vexira]

@Jack Yaz

Is it possible to show the ntp servers in the GUI ?

You can edit them with a command line tool like kitty SSH or PuTTY SSH tools.

And use the ntpmerlin command to hiring up the menu.

 

[spykos]

You can edit them with a command line tool like kitty SSH or PuTTY SSH tools.

And use the ntpmerlin command to hiring up the menu.

I meant a way to show in GUI an output similar to the output of ntpq -4np without using ntpmerlin or any other CLI command via SSH.

 

[Tomo]

Hello, i will dedicate this weekend to mount my new usb stick in the Ac86u and install enterware and ntpMerlin. Tips on basic settings to get started?
Thanks

 

[JGrana]

Some basic tips (IMHO):

1) Use amtm to do all the setup.
- First format the new usb stick
- setup a swap partition
- install Entware
2) Install ntpmerlin. After installing, I would recommend:
- change time server from the default ntpd to chrony (option t)
- change storage location to usb (option s)
- the default chrony.conf file is pretty good. Depending on what country you are in, you could add a few timeservers closer geographically to you. Here is a list:

List of Top Public Time Servers

List of Top Public Time Servers. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

gist.github.com

3) Consider a few more addons!
- scMerlin is always handy to have around
- if you plan on assigning IP addresses, YazDHCP is great

There are other addons as well. Research them and decide.

Last - if you like them, consider a donation to the developers for all their hard work:

Asuswrt-Merlin AddOn Developers Donation Links

AddOn developers create many useful scripts, WebUI addon pages, system extensions and useful utilities to enhance Asuswrt-Merlin supported routers. These "devs", like RMerlin, do this all voluntarily. This requires lots of time, effort, support of users, upkeep and maintenance. They do it for...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Tomo]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick and complete reply, i live in italy and i will probably need to add some servers.
I have always sent donations for the developers and i will not miss this time too, time to test everything

Thanks again

 

[L&LD]

I would suggest using a swap file instead of a swap partition. I would also suggest using amtm to properly format and prepare the USB drive for script use.

Keep in mind that in the link below, installing amtm is no longer required (you can skip those steps).

amtm Step-by-Step https://www.snbforums.com/threads/amtm-step-by-step-install-guide-l-ld.56237/#post-483421

 

[EmeraldDeer]

From Boston the best time is from Apple and Cloudflare, respectively. They are both substantially better than pool.ntp.org. Perhaps the same is true in Italy. Cloudflare supports NTS encrypted NTP. An nslookup of time.apple.com returns five servers, so I use all five.
Lines in chrony.conf

ntsdumpdir /opt/var/lib/chrony
pool time.apple.com iburst maxsources 5
pool time.cloudflare.com nts

I wrote a script to show all available information about chrony status from the command line

#!/bin/sh
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[91m\c"
chronyc -N authdata
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[96m\c"
chronyc selectdata
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[95m\c"
chronyc tracking
echo " "
chronyc ntpdata | head -27 | tail -26
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[93m\c"
chronyc sources
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[92m\c"
chronyc sourcestats
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[94m\c"
chronyc clients
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="

 

[chongnt]

From Boston the best time is from Apple and Cloudflare, respectively. They are both substantially better than pool.ntp.org. Perhaps the same is true in Italy. Cloudflare supports NTS encrypted NTP. An nslookup of time.apple.com returns five servers, so I use all five.
Lines in chrony.conf

ntsdumpdir /opt/var/lib/chrony
pool time.apple.com iburst maxsources 5
pool time.cloudflare.com nts

I wrote a script to show all available information about chrony status from the command line

#!/bin/sh
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[91m\c"
chronyc -N authdata
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[96m\c"
chronyc selectdata
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[95m\c"
chronyc tracking
echo " "
chronyc ntpdata | head -27 | tail -26
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[93m\c"
chronyc sources
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[92m\c"
chronyc sourcestats
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="
echo -e "\e[94m\c"
chronyc clients
echo -e "\e[0m\c"
echo "==============================================================================="

I also find apple ntp server to be very accurate. Apple NTP servers are listed here:

sping/ntp.go at master · benjojo/sping

Split ping, see what direction the loss or latency is on - benjojo/sping

github.com

By the way, nice script. Can add a couple more commands like chronyc serverstats and chronyc activity.

 

[heysoundude]

I would suggest using a swap file instead of a swap partition. I would also suggest using amtm to properly format and prepare the USB drive for script use.

zram? is that even possible? (probably a question for @RMerlin or Asus)

 

[L&LD]

zram? ??

 

[XIII]

zram? ??

zram: Compressed RAM-based block devices — The Linux Kernel documentation

 

[JGrana]

I would suggest using a swap file instead of a swap partition. I would also suggest using amtm to properly format and prepare the USB drive for script use.

Keep in mind that in the link below, installing amtm is no longer required (you can skip those steps).

amtm Step-by-Step https://www.snbforums.com/threads/amtm-step-by-step-install-guide-l-ld.56237/#post-483421

Sorry, @L&LD is correct. I should have said swap file!
(Old Unix habits stay around too long ;-)

 

[KMO]

Just installed the LTS fork on my RT-N66U for the first time last week, been messing with that, and now installed ntpMerlin.

Working fine with ntpd. Nice little package!

It seems chrony is not available in Entware for MIPS, and trying to select it confuses ntpMerlin a bit, but just toggling back worked.

Getting one UI glitch though - the "Version information: check" and "Update stats" buttons do not complete. Both just twirl the progress indicator seemingly indefinitely. Tested in Firefox and Brave.

The update stats button is working - if you refresh the page after a while you can see the new entry in the stats that was triggered, it's just that the page doesn't update itself.

Edit: a smaller UI glitch - it never fills in "Stats last updated:". I can see a date in /jffs/addons/ntpmerlin.d/ntpstatstext.js, but it doesn't reach the web UI.

 

[heysoundude]

zram: Compressed RAM-based block devices — The Linux Kernel documentation

thats the stuff...but still no reply from our fearless (and very busy) leader.
It probably is better on machines with >512MB RAM...if it is even possible on our routers
I wonder if it's possible on jffs/nvram/both? those are relatively tiny and could possibly benefit from some compression, unless they already are

 

[ColinTaylor]

zram has been discussed in the past, for example here. I think the general consensus was that even if it could be enabled it would offer little benefit given the limited amount of RAM available. It might be more feasible on the more recent routers but in any case it wouldn't be applicable to jffs or nvram in any way.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

zram has been discussed in the past, for example here. I think the general consensus was that even if it could be enabled it would offer little benefit given the limited amount of RAM available. It might be more feasible on the more recent routers but in any case it wouldn't be applicable to jffs or nvram in any way.

I agree the help would be minimal over a normal swap file. And the router would take a CPU performance hit for the sake of the ZRAM. The CPUs already suffer enough with what ever the router process or user scripts that bog it down. Not to mention the higher potential for data corruption on router power loss.

 

[Jack Yaz]

Just installed the LTS fork on my RT-N66U for the first time last week, been messing with that, and now installed ntpMerlin.

Working fine with ntpd. Nice little package!

It seems chrony is not available in Entware for MIPS, and trying to select it confuses ntpMerlin a bit, but just toggling back worked.

Getting one UI glitch though - the "Version information: check" and "Update stats" buttons do not complete. Both just twirl the progress indicator seemingly indefinitely. Tested in Firefox and Brave.

The update stats button is working - if you refresh the page after a while you can see the new entry in the stats that was triggered, it's just that the page doesn't update itself.

Edit: a smaller UI glitch - it never fills in "Stats last updated:". I can see a date in /jffs/addons/ntpmerlin.d/ntpstatstext.js, but it doesn't reach the web UI.

this is an issue in the fork's webui, i believe, it doesn't seem to like ajax's way of cachebusting which adds a "?timestamp" to the end of the URL. One for @john9527 ?

 

[john9527]

this is an issue in the fork's webui, i believe, it doesn't seem to like ajax's way of cachebusting which adds a "?timestamp" to the end of the URL. One for @john9527 ?

The ajax functions should be the same....is there any error posted in the browser console?

 

[Jack Yaz]

The ajax functions should be the same....is there any error posted in the browser console?

@dave14305 tracked it to this previously https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...ab-showing-in-guest-network.73397/post-699875