NTP sync between CPAM gateway and server?

[charlie.brownell]

Hi,

   I was just trying to confirm if a time sync between the CPAM server and gateways was automatic or if there was a procedure involved. NTP is setup on the server, and the documentation mentions syncing their clocks, but did not see anything that explicitly said it was automatic or something had to be done.

thanks! 

[bsteiner]

The answer is sort of...  The CPAM and gateways do sync time but not the same as an NTP server would (mainly only at reboot).  The gateways will still tend to drift if you do not connect them to the NTP server as well and you will get strange anomalies like events happening in the past when your watching the event log.  If you are on CPAM 1.2 then you can go into the Set Gateway Address menu and add NTP through the CPAM interface (You shouldnt have to enter any other information, the CPAM only updates fields with information in them, any blank fields utilize the existing information).  Be careful to check your gateway IP Address if your gateways are on multiple networks before updating the NTP address with this method.  If you are on CPAM 1.3 there is a Set Gateway NTP function now (I believe for all gateways at once).  Both of these methods should be found by right clicking on the GW driver or the actual gateway on the hardware menu.

[Jonathan Harrison]

The problem with this really occurs when you attempt to locate archived video based on an event in CPAM.  The video lookup seems to trigger off the timestamp of the event in CPAM.  If there is a large enough drift in time you can see the problem.

Does anyone know of the recommended SOP to remedy this?  It looks like there should be a daily, weekly reboot of the GWs so that their time gets back in sync.  This can be a PITA if you have a lot of GWs to administer.  It really reduces the forensic functionality of the historical data in CPAM also.