How to set NTP server on polisy?

[Rich]

Hi everyone, the subject line pretty much describes it, i'm trying to figure out how to manually set an NTP server either somewhere in PG2/PG3 or ISY on Polisy. It's currently trying to go somewhere that is geo blocked on a firewall. Thanks!

[Bumbershoot]

I assume the clock on your Polisy is beginning to drift...  Since your Polisy runs FreeBSD, the ntpd service should be running by default (it is on mine).  ntpd is both a client and server, so you could just edit /etc/ntp.conf to have it point to a server location that's not blocked by your firewall.  Also, commercial network switches provide NTP services, so if you've got one of those you can get to (your internet provider, for example), you should be able to use it.

I don't know how UDI would respond to a support ticket for something like this.  If you can find a local NTP server that you that you can ping, then UDI might help you edit ntp.conf.  This might become an ongoing support issue for them, as local NTP servers can come and go.  

Also, UDI might take a dim view of users trying to edit system files...  It's your property, but they provide support.  I'd ask them in a ticket: support@universal-devices.com

 

[Rich]

Thanks, super helpful, there is an option in ntp.conf to choose a random pool in a random country (which is the default and doesn't seem to be that random :), or choose a random pool in a specific country, and changing to that seems to have sorted it. And the clock didn't seem to be drifting, just the errors were getting annoying. thanks for the help!

[Geddy]

9 hours ago, Rich said:

And the clock didn't seem to be drifting, just the errors were getting annoying.

What sort of errors were you getting? Haven’t heard of any NTP issues on the Polisy. 

[Rich]

Firewall errors as it was blocking the outbound connection to the NTP server Polisy had randomly chosen for me. 

[Geddy]

@Rich okay, good to know.  Glad you got it sorted out for your situation.  
 

One question I would have is what happens when the underlying source code updates….do you think it would change the file you edited and cause the errors again? 
 

Glad it works now though. 

[Rich]

it looks like a standard OS conf file (but i clearly dont know FreeBSD all that well, and spent most of the 5 mins it took to update it trying to remember how to use VI to edit the thing without destroying it :)) but if it gets overwritten in an update its not life ending, i'll just update it again.
 

[Goose66]

12 hours ago, Rich said:

Firewall errors as it was blocking the outbound connection to the NTP server Polisy had randomly chosen for me. 

I had AT&T Fiber at my last home and had painstakingly gone through all my devices and set the timeserver to be my Ubiquiti EdgeRouter since outbound NTP seemed blocked. Then my EdgeRouter died and I spun up the AT&T gateway in router mode at the same address, but it would not serve time to local devices. Then I moved (completed a week ago) and now have Spectrum with an Orbi mesh Wi-fi system/router and have painstakingly gone back through and set all my devices to sync with their default timeservers over the Internet.

Just one man's story. I wish timeserver was part of DHCP protocol.

EDIT: After a quick Google I guess I should say I wish NTP timeserver was supported from DHCP by consumer-level devices like my Orbi and/or I knew how to set it up for Windows, RPis, and FreeBSD machines.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Goose66

[gdb]

DHCP Option 42 allows you to tell clients what NTP server to use. pool.ntp.org is a good choice if you don’t have a local device to serve that purpose. If you do have a local device, then point it at pool.ntp.org, and set option 42 to tell everything on your network to look at your local device so that you are only making outside requests from one device.