NTP, NTPD, and NTPD_SYNCED ???

[Jeffrey Young]

Ok, so while we all have been stuck huddled in our home during this time, I have been playing around learning the more finer points of getting my router to do varies nifty things just because I can, and because I am bored.

I have been doing a lot of searching here and on Google for how to play around with time (like I don't have plenty of it now). I have seen a few scripts on the wiki that talk about 'ntpclient', however, that command seems to be depreciated in favour of the Busybox ntp/d command. Thing is, there does not seem to be any good, and simple language, articles as to what is the difference between NTP and NTPD. I am assuming one is the client, and one is the server. Yet, the help for each is identical. On the web, Busybox speaks about the /etc/config/system file - which does not exist on merlin.

Lastly, the -S option to each (from other posts here) is pointed to /sbin/ntpd_synced and it runs every 11 minutes. I am assuming this is part of the server side of ntp or ntpd.

This all started out with just wanting to set the time, which I think I can do by simply using

ntp -q -t -p time.nrc.ca

Yet I read another post that tells me that ntp will not set the time, but ntpd will.

Someone want to un-confuse me about what the three actually do (ntp, ntpd, ntpd_synced).

Thanks

 

[dave14305]

I’ll take the easy part. ntpd_synced is a utility to inform the rest of the firmware that ntp has successfully synced the time and to take actions on services that require a restart once the router has a valid clock.

 

[dave14305]

ntp and ntpd both link to busybox, so I assume ntp is just an alias for ntpd.

 

[Jeffrey Young]

I’ll take the easy part. ntpd_synced is a utility to inform the rest of the firmware that ntp has successfully synced the time and to take actions on services that require a restart once the router has a valid clock.

That is good to know ...... Also seems to be very important. Thanks

 

[EmeraldDeer]

Ok, so while we all have been stuck huddled in our home during this time, I have been playing around learning the more finer points of getting my router to do varies nifty things just because I can, and because I am bored.

I have been doing a lot of searching here and on Google for how to play around with time (like I don't have plenty of it now). I have seen a few scripts on the wiki that talk about 'ntpclient', however, that command seems to be depreciated in favour of the Busybox ntp/d command. Thing is, there does not seem to be any good, and simple language, articles as to what is the difference between NTP and NTPD. I am assuming one is the client, and one is the server. Yet, the help for each is identical. On the web, Busybox speaks about the /etc/config/system file - which does not exist on merlin.

Lastly, the -S option to each (from other posts here) is pointed to /sbin/ntpd_synced and it runs every 11 minutes. I am assuming this is part of the server side of ntp or ntpd.

This all started out with just wanting to set the time, which I think I can do by simply using

ntp -q -t -p time.nrc.ca

Yet I read another post that tells me that ntp will not set the time, but ntpd will.

Someone want to un-confuse me about what the three actually do (ntp, ntpd, ntpd_synced).

Thanks

I cannot definitively answer your questions and do not see the point in doing so.

Busybox compiles stripped down versions into one binary which responds based on the link name by which it is called. The idea is to minimize resource requirements on modest hardware such as in home routers.

The point of adding a feature to the firmware is that it is only configured minimally through the GUI, resulting in superior reliability as opposed to people fiddling around in the dark with it.

The firmware NTP has both an NTP client "/usr/sbin/ntp -> ../../bin/busybox" and an NTP server "/usr/sbin/ntpd -> ../../bin/busybox". Both are contained within the busybox binary. I do not know what "/sbin/ntpd_synced -> rc" is. I suspect that it is related to providing synchronization status to other router services and not part of client or server.

An NTP client synchronizes just the device it runs on while an NTP server can also provide synchronization to other devices. Providing NTP service to the devices on your network from the router is good form because only one device is polling multiple internet time servers. Otherwise, all your devices could add up to dozens of servers being polled.

For those who want to tinker with the full version of NTPD there is the addon ntpMerlin.