Aruba switch local time not sync'ed

[tigekala]

Hi

Am I the only one whose Aruba 2540- and 2620-series switches (firmware branch 16.02.0022m) can't keep their local time in sync when NTP protocol is used?

Configuration:

---

timesync ntp
no sntp
ntp unicast
ntp server x.x.x.x iburst
ntp enable

Statistics:

---

(config)# sh ntp statistics

 NTP Global statistics information

 NTP In Packets              : 515             
 NTP Out Packets             : 515             
 NTP Bad Version Packets     : 0               
 NTP Protocol Error Packets  : 0      

(config)# sh ntp status

 NTP Status Information

  NTP Status             : Enabled         NTP Mode        : Unicast         
  Synchronization Status : Synchronized    Peer Dispersion : 0.00000 sec     
  Stratum Number         : 4               Leap Direction  : 0               
  Reference Assoc ID     : 0               Clock Offset    : 8.31725 sec     
  Reference ID           : x.x.x.x         Root Delay      : 0.00246 sec     
  Precision              : 2**-18          Root Dispersion : 8.99180 sec     
  NTP Up Time            : 5d 17h 14m      Time Resolution : 819 nsec        
  Drift                  : 0.00000 sec/sec

  System Time            : Thu May  3 08:52:09 2018                
  Reference Time         : Thu May  3 07:16:20 2018

# sh ntp associations

                            NTP Associations Entries


 Remote          St   T    When   Poll  Reach    Delay    Offset   Dispersion
 --------------- ---- ---- ------ ----- -------- -------- -------- ----------
 x.x.x.x            3    u    495557 10    177      0.000    0.000    16.00000  

After 6 days it's already 8 seconds behind (real time vs. 'show time').

Or have I done something systematically wrong?

Thank You

Tigekala

[parnassus]

Can you provide the output of show ntp associations detail <IP ADDR> command (where <IP ADDR> should be changed with your NTP Server x.x.x.x IP address)?

Edit: what happen if you try ntp server x.x.x.x instead of ntp server x.x.x.x iburst?

[tigekala]

# show ntp associations detail x.x.x.x

NTP Association Information

IP Address : x.x.x.x            Peer Mode : Server
Status : Config,Sane,Master     Peer Poll Intvl : 17
Stratum : 3                     Root Delay : 0.00165 sec
Ref Assoc ID : 1                Root Dispersion : 0.05344 sec
Assoc Name : NTP Association 1  Reach : 1
Reference ID : 195.80.x.x       Delay : 0.00000 sec
Our Mode : Client               Offset : 0.00000 sec
Our Poll Intvl : 11             Precision : 2**0
Dispersion : 16.00000 sec
Association In Packets : 615
Association Out Packets : 615
Association Error Packets : 0
Origin Time : Mon Jan 1 02:00:00 1990
Receive Time : Mon Jan 1 02:00:00 1990
Transmit Time : Mon Jan 1 02:00:00 1990

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filter Delay = 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Filter Offset = 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000

Without 'iburst' it took minutes for switch to set its local time to smthing else than 01/01/90

Tigekala

[Vince-Whirlwind]

After 6 days it's already 8 seconds behind

It's syncing every 17 seconds.

[tigekala]

It's hard to call that syncing when switch'es local time differs almost 10 seconds from real time.

[Vince-Whirlwind]

The point is, it can't be drifting for 8 days as it is syncing every 17 seconds, so there must be a problem with the sync. (or the source is rubbish).

Personally, I like a single internal source for time, that way I can be sure that all the desktops and all the infrastructure are getting the same time from a local source on the LAN. Also, I don't need multiple devices connecting through my gateway to get NTP - it's more efficient to have just 1 and to have that device redistribute time.

If I have my own source, then I have a Stratum1 NTP server pool that only accepts NTP queries from a second, Stratum 2, server pool that all my other devices query for NTP.
If I have to get time off the internet, then I use an internal NTP server pool to go and get that time and treat that as my "Stratum2" NTP server pool, and have all my internal hosts query that.

[tigekala]

---

@Vince-Whirlwind wrote:

... so there must be a problem with the sync. (or the source is rubbish).

---

... although

1) NTP server x.x.x.x seems to feel OK:

ntpq -4 -p -n
remote         refid       st t when poll reach delay  offset jitter
==============================================================================
127.127.1.0   .LOCL.       13 l  65d   64     0 0.000  0.000  0.000
+195.80.xx.xx 195.80.zz.zz  2 u   18 1024   377 0.467 -0.149  0.629
*195.80.yy.yy 195.80.ww.ww  2 u  320  512   377 0.466  0.169  0.262

2) other devices which use x.x.x.x as a (S)NTP server are in sync

3) If I switch from NTP to SNTP then switches are in sync again

[tigekala · Accepted solution]

UPDATE: upgrade to 16.02.0026 solved the problem. Case closed.