Topic: NTP
Do Nion's support NTP?
- michel
- PDR Engineer
- Offline
Re: NTP
No, they don't directly. They keep in sync amongst themselves but they do not keep in sync from an external source; not automatically anyway.
However, via the telnet interface it is possible to set (as a one shot) the clock via an arbitrary ntp server with the command 'rdate'. "rdate -s <server ip>" will do a one time ntp transaction and set the internal lock.
Re: NTP
Since you are using an embedded Linux internally, does it support using a standard NTP distribution? If so, NTP is always(IMHO) preferred to setting it manually.
- michel
- PDR Engineer
- Offline
Re: NTP
Well there are a lot of things that 'could' run, however the resources are limited on the nion, and it's not running a multipurpose system software : it's running a single purpose one targetted at our applications. Having extra daemons running was not on the cards.
The fact that the nion were never designed to be anywhere near an internet connection made having NTP rather pointless, Very few installation will have a local zone 1 NTP server handy with a GPS to keep the nions in perfect sync 
Re: NTP
Access to a tier 1 time server or atomic clock no, but it would be quite easy to have a connection to a tier 2 or 3 server just to keep the system at the correct time, especially with the use of schedulers. Just a thought...
Re: NTP
Came across this little gadget, would be a great accessory to Nion installs should they support NTP. Just the ticket for isolated networks...
Re: NTP
We've just had another enquiry based on the problem of having scheduled events happening at the correct time when the clock drifts.
Are there any moves to allow for NTP support?
Is this something that could be achieved with ConMan?
Thanks.
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
- George Bernard Shaw
- George Bernard Shaw
Re: NTP
Ivorr mentioned to me once that he had NTP up and running on a NioNode, in fact it's already installed. I haven't checked into this myself, but since they are using a (more or less)commercial Linux distribution, NTP is a pretty common application to have installed. You'll probably have to configure a couple time servers, first by finding appropriate hosts(tier 2 is probably fine for your needs), and then edit the configuration file with their hostnames. It's usually /etc/ntpd.conf or something like that. Finally you'll have to modify the system boot scripts to make sure ntpd is started correctly. I don't know if Nions use SysV or BSD style bootscripts, but neither are rocket science.
Of course doing all that is fun and all, but is far into uncharted(unsupported) waters. I'm sure you aren't the only one who needs or will ever need Nions to keep correct time. I still (perhaps incorrectly)think that NTP is a (pretty lightweight)service that has a very beneficial application for these products.
Re: NTP
On second thought, and along the lines of keeping the NioNodes 'clean' of non-audio related processes, perhaps this is a good reason to look at a *nix based Conman software and/or an appliance product. The Conman host would utilize NTP as usual, and distribute time through the normal network communications already used among Nio/Conman nodes.
- michel
- PDR Engineer
- Offline
Re: NTP
Networked Nionodes already synchronize their clocks; you can specify one with highest priority using the web interface, and configure 'rdate' on that one to get it's time from a NTP server. 'rdate' is available on the nion, and is a better idea since it's a 'one shot' command line tool that is preferable to a process that leaves a permanent footprint on the system, for a purpose that is quite laudable, but frankly a bit unnecessary (correcting millisecond drifts etc)
Re: NTP
For a Linux dummy, is there any way to run a Python script from the NWare environment, so a use could hit a button to 'Sync Time'?
Or so other accessible way?
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
- George Bernard Shaw
- George Bernard Shaw