SNTP & DATE_TIME & SERVER ADDRESS configuration and behavior

[Induthings]

Dear All,

I'm implementing a SNTP sync over Ethernet and found the following issues:

1- CONFIG_DATE_TIME_AUTO_UPDATE must be disabled to get a NTP time sync scheduling:

void date_time_core_init(void)
{
if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DATE_TIME_AUTO_UPDATE) && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_LTE_LINK_CONTROL)) {
lte_lc_register_handler(date_time_lte_ind_handler);
}

if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DATE_TIME_AUTO_UPDATE)) {
date_time_core_schedule_update(false);
}
}

2- date_time_ntp.c module uses a predefined servers and is not related with SNTP config (CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SNTP_INIT_SERVER)

#define UIO_NTP "ntp.uio.no"
#define GOOGLE_NTP "time.google.com"

#define NTP_PORT 123

static const char * const servers[] = {
UIO_NTP,
GOOGLE_NTP
};

 

00> [00:00:00.395,538] <inf> eth_w5500: W5500 Initialized
00> [00:00:00.430,755] <dbg> date_time: date_time_core_schedule_update: New periodic date time update in: 300 seconds
00> [00:00:00.430,786] <inf> net_config: Initializing network
00> [00:00:00.430,847] <inf> net_config: IPv4 address: 192.168.0.10
00> [00:00:03.547,973] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): li 0
00> [00:00:03.548,004] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): vn 3
00> [00:00:03.548,034] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): mode 4
00> [00:00:03.548,034] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): stratum: 1
00> [00:00:03.548,065] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): poll: 0
00> [00:00:03.548,065] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): precision: e9
00> [00:00:03.548,065] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): root_delay: 0
00> [00:00:03.548,095] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): root_dispersion: 43170a00
00> [00:00:03.548,095] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): ref_id: 4c434f4c
00> [00:00:03.548,126] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): ref_tm_s: 4bba3de7
00> [00:00:03.548,126] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): ref_tm_f: 589e51e8
00> [00:00:03.548,156] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): orig_tm_s: 837eaa83
00> [00:00:03.548,187] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): orig_tm_f: 0
00> [00:00:03.548,187] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): rx_tm_s: f6d83de7
00> [00:00:03.548,217] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): rx_tm_f: ed467ac4
00> [00:00:03.548,217] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): tx_tm_s: f6d83de7
00> [00:00:03.548,217] <dbg> net_sntp: sntp_pkt_dump: (0x20001b10): tx_tm_f: 4db27ac4

00> [00:05:00.430,847] <dbg> date_time: date_time_update_thread: Updating date time UTC...
00> [00:05:00.430,847] <dbg> date_time: date_time_core_current_check: Date time never set
00> [00:05:00.430,877] <dbg> date_time: date_time_update_thread: Getting time from NTP server
00> [00:05:00.430,938] <wrn> date_time: getaddrinfo, error: -2
00> [00:05:00.430,938] <dbg> date_time: date_time_ntp_get: Did not get time from NTP server ntp.uio.no, error -2
00> [00:05:00.430,999] <wrn> date_time: getaddrinfo, error: -2
00> [00:05:00.431,030] <dbg> date_time: date_time_ntp_get: Did not get time from NTP server time.google.com, error -2
00> [00:05:00.431,030] <wrn> date_time: Did not get time from any NTP server
00> [00:05:00.431,060] <dbg> date_time: date_time_update_thread: Did not get time from any time source
00> [00:05:00.431,060] <dbg> date_time: date_time_core_schedule_update: New periodic date time update in: 300 seconds

# Network address config
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SETTINGS=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_NEED_IPV4=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_MY_IPV4_ADDR="192.168.0.10"
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_PEER_IPV4_ADDR="192.168.0.110"
CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS_SOCKOPT_TLS=y
CONFIG_NET_LOG=y
CONFIG_NET_UDP=y
CONFIG_NET_TCP=y

# CLOCK
CONFIG_POSIX_CLOCK=y
CONFIG_POSIX_API=y
CONFIG_DATE_TIME=y
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_AUTO_UPDATE=n
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_NTP=y
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS=300
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_TOO_OLD_SECONDS=60
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_THREAD_STACK_SIZE=1024
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

# SNTP
CONFIG_SNTP=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_CLOCK_SNTP_INIT=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SNTP_INIT_TIMEOUT=5000
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SNTP_INIT_SERVER="192.168.0.110"
CONFIG_SNTP_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

# Network address config
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SETTINGS=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_NEED_IPV4=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_MY_IPV4_ADDR="192.168.0.10"
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_PEER_IPV4_ADDR="192.168.0.110"
CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS_SOCKOPT_TLS=y
CONFIG_NET_LOG=y
CONFIG_NET_UDP=y
CONFIG_NET_TCP=y

# CLOCK
CONFIG_POSIX_CLOCK=y
CONFIG_POSIX_API=y
CONFIG_DATE_TIME=y
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_AUTO_UPDATE=n
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_NTP=y
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS=300
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_TOO_OLD_SECONDS=60
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_THREAD_STACK_SIZE=1024
CONFIG_DATE_TIME_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

# SNTP
CONFIG_SNTP=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_CLOCK_SNTP_INIT=y
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SNTP_INIT_TIMEOUT=5000
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SNTP_INIT_SERVER="192.168.0.110"
CONFIG_SNTP_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

I will appreciate your comments

[Øyvind]

Hello, 
What device are you using with the nRF Connect SDK and what version of the nRF Connect SDK?

You are referring to the device W5500 which is not a device from Nordic Semiconductor. Please elaborate more. 

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[Induthings]

Dear Øyvind,

nRF Connect SDK 2.1.0. This issue is not related to W5500, is related to SNTP core.

Thanks in advance, kind regards

[Øyvind]

As the SNTP is part of the Zephyr OS I suggest to contact the Zephyr Community on Discord to get answers. 

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[Induthings]

Thanks, is not easy to know in which space we must to report an issue. 

[Øyvind]

Understood, however, the nRF Connect SDK builds on the Zephyr RTOS which again is based on community driven development. It is combination of software developed by Nordic Semiconductor and open source projects, hosted as Git repositories in the nrfconnect GitHub organization. This allows customers to develop develop applications for nRF52, nRF53, nRF70, and nRF91 Series devices

More information can be found in the nRF Connect SDK introduction.

[Induthings]

Dear Sir. 

date_time_ntp.c and date_time_code.c are part of sdk-nrf, could you please tell me how to report these issues ?

Thanks, regards

[Øyvind]

Hello, 

Induthings said:

date_time_ntp.c and date_time_code.c are part of sdk-nrf

Yes, this is correct, these files are part of the Date Time library, which is written for the nRF9160. These uses the SNTP of the Zephyr.os

In your case I would recommend using the SNTP library from Zephyr 

Kind regards,

Øyvind

[Induthings]

I see, date & time core is part of nRF Connect SDK and it's only support SNTP update by modem. If we have an Ethernet interface, we must to implement manually the automatic update using SNTP Zephyr low level  support. Thanks

[Øyvind]

Could you elaborate more on what you are trying to achieve? What devices are you using in your project?

[Induthings]

basically update the  internal clock/calendar through SNTP over Ethernet (W5500). I think date_time could be support it, use  parametrized sntp server addresses, and align it with Zephyr SNTP configs like "CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SNTP_INIT_SERVER". Thanks, best regards