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TG582n - time synchronisation

jelv
Seasoned Hero
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TG582n - time synchronisation

A user on p.s.c-f has spotted in the router log that his router is synchonising time once an hour with the Plusnet ntp servers. E.g.
16:17:57  SNTP Synchronised to server: 212.159.6.9
17:17:57  SNTP Synchronised to server: 212.159.6.10
18:17:57  SNTP Synchronised to server: 212.159.13.49

This seems somewhat excessive - surely once a day would be sufficient!
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
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12 REPLIES 12
spraxyt
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

The TG585v7 and v8 do this once per hour too. Doesn't appear to cause any problems.
David
w23
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

Maybe checking and adjusting the clock this often allows the manufacturer to use really cheap components that don't keep time very well?
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
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Anotherone
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

You could try a Disconnect PPP Internet session and leave it running overnight say and see how well it keeps time  Wink
Does anyone know what the overnight usage with the 585v7 or v8  is if you stay connected but no PC's on etc midnight to 0800 ?
I thought someone posted a figure somewhere a while back and I thought it rather high compared to my meagre 61.02KB but my Voyager doesn't talk to time servers so this may have something to do with it.
jelv
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

The overnight usage will vary more for user/IP address than for router attached. If someone on an IP had been doing P2P and had a popular file available for download and then powered off the PC (or disconnected and a different user got the IP) that user/IP address would experience a lot of internet users trying to connect for a few hours which would push up the usage possibly in to the 100's of MB. The usage for an hourly ntp sync would probably be a few K per month!
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
prichardson
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

Odd,
I'm not sure why it does it this often. As with all Thomson/Technicolor units, all this can be programmed, including the NTP server and frequency.
At one per hour, you are talking around 100KB per month in total.
If you wish to change this to something like once every 24 hours, this can be done with the following command in telnet

:sntp config poll=1440

Note: I've not done any analysis on time drift on the unit, so not sure if the routers clock is susceptible to issues.
spraxyt
Resting Legend
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

I've changed that setting on my TG585v8 to 720 minutes (12 hours), will check for time drift.
I didn't 'saveall' so the modification will be lost on restart, but not anticipating needing that. The router has been up 19 days at the moment.
Uptime: 19 days, 3:32:59
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,116 / 8,704
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 444 / 8,726
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]: 743.25 / 12.78
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.5 / 20.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 18.0 / 31.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 26.0 / 7.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 8 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 11,380,480 / 65,549,200
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 1,281 / 55,614
HEC Errors (Up/Down): NA / 956,784
David
spraxyt
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

My TG585v8 router did one more hourly time sync after I changed the poll setting (not unexpected), hasn't done one since. 7 hours 30 minutes have passed since that time and router time remains spot on (compared with a radio controlled clock). Smiley
David
mattturner
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

Quote from: spraxyt
I didn't 'saveall' so the modification will be lost on restart, but not anticipating needing that.

Hi spraxyt,
Just in-case you wonder why this change isnt reverted on reboot, an equivalent 'saveall' command is run on the router every 60 seconds.
You can configure this by changing the autosave and autosave delay parameters which can be viewed by running the command
:system config
spraxyt
Resting Legend
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

Thanks Matt, another "magic" setting in the configuration parameters. Grin
As you said my router has autosave enabled and autosavedelay=60s.
Router time remains spot on 9 hours 30 minutes since the last sync in the early hours. I've now changed the polling interval to 1440 minutes (24 hours).
David
spraxyt
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

Time in my TG585v8 was still spot on 23hrs 59min after the last sync with ntp.plus.net. The time sync after 24 hours didn't include any adjustment notification.
If the TG582n behaves similarly can't see any reason why time syncs need to be done more frequently than once per day assuming it's unlikely that ntp.plus.net will fail to respond.
David
w23
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

even if it failed to respond it would likely update OK tomorrow by which time the clock would still be about right, what does it matter if it goes a few seconds adrift anyway?
I did once have a Buffalo router that had an NTP server feature so I allowed that to sync off the internet then synced my local PCs from the router but I assume we all sync our PCs direct off the internet nowadays.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
MJN
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Re: TG582n - time synchronisation

Quote from: spraxyt
[...] assuming it's unlikely that ntp.plus.net will fail to respond.

It ought to be - the time service appears to reside on the DNS servers so if none of them are responding there are arguably bigger concerns than clocks drifting.
Mathew