NetTime running and responding (per the log), but time is not updating on the camera.

bogeywins

n3wb
Oct 10, 2022
8
1
United States
As my title says, on my dedicated BI server, I have NetTime running and responding (per the log), but time is not updating on the camera. I've restarted everything, made sure my UDP rule is correct (obviously it is if it's responding to the camera), but the camera is not updating. I even disabled Windows Firewall. What else can I be missing here? Attached a photo of my settings. I'm stumped!
 

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A screen shot on the time setting screen fom the camera.
How much is the time wrong by on the camera
 
A screen shot on the time setting screen fom the camera.
How much is the time wrong by on the camera
By one hour. It's interesting, because I'm in Mountain time zone, which it was set to. But, if it's set to Central, then the time advances an hour and is correct. AKA, it's not using DST currently, it would seem. But isn't the entire point of using NetTime to not have to touch those, as it should be referencing NetTime for the time? Attached screenshot. .250 is the correct static IP for the server BI and NetTime are both running on.
 

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You still need to set DST. NTP servers send the time as UTC. It's up to the client to make whatever local adjustments to that.
Thanks. So, realistically I can set it to a date around when it should fall around every year and there may just be a small window where it's off by an hour, it would seem?
 
And because there are different ways to account for time zones (UTC and GMT, maybe others) or the time zone the camera was hard coded for, sometimes you get weird things.

Before I got into real cameras, I had 4 identical cheap IP cams. Each one needed a different time zone in order to show the correct time coming from the NTP server.

If your camera was working and now it started getting off, then you probably need to do a factory reset.

And don't set DST to a day that will change, switch it to the week because DST is now the same Sunday of March and November every year...
 
And because there are different ways to account for time zones (UTC and GMT, maybe others) or the time zone the camera was hard coded for, sometimes you get weird things.

Before I got into real cameras, I had 4 identical cheap IP cams. Each one needed a different time zone in order to show the correct time coming from the NTP server.

If your camera was working and now it started getting off, then you probably need to do a factory reset.

And don't set DST to a day that will change, switch it to the week because DST is now the same Sunday of March and November every year...
Ahhh, I didn't see that was an option! Easy enough, thank you for the help.
 
Depends on the camera but most now have a setting to do it on the week and time as we do it in the US.

For Dahua: System > General > Date & Time tab > DST by week.
 
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Depends on the camera but most now have a setting to do it on the week and time as we do it in the US.

For Dahua: System > General > Date & Time tab > DST by week.
I have all Amcrest, but got that figured out now. Thanks again. So, that said, what's the purpose of running NTP on this server if it doesn't automatically adjust for DST?
 
I have all Amcrest, but got that figured out now. Thanks again. So, that said, what's the purpose of running NTP on this server if it doesn't automatically adjust for DST?

It is to keep your cameras from talking to the internet. As stated, NetTime issue the time in UTC so it is up to every device to then adjust for DST. Would be nice if that could be changed in NetTime, but it must not be a priority.
 
It is to keep your cameras from talking to the internet. As stated, NetTime issue the time in UTC so it is up to every device to then adjust for DST. Would be nice if that could be changed in NetTime, but it must not be a priority.
Understood, in that case I'm glad I went ahead and did this. Thank you all for the help.
 
Now if you are one of those people that want to take the risk of DoS attacks and other things and uses P2P and QR codes to make life simple to see your cameras (but at the risk of security vulnerabilities), then I wouldn't screw around with NetTime LOL as your cameras are already talking to the internet, so just pull time from it LOL.
 
Now if you are one of those people that want to take the risk of DoS attacks and other things and uses P2P and QR codes to make life simple to see your cameras (but at the risk of security vulnerabilities), then I wouldn't screw around with NetTime LOL as your cameras are already talking to the internet, so just pull time from it LOL.
Nope, I RDP into the server which is the simplest way I could think of doing it, as my network and router are also sitting on a VPN.
 
The other purpose of an NTP server for your cameras is so that they all display the same, and correct, time. This can be an important factor if the video is ever needed for legal purposes.
 
I'm trying to remember if the Windows Defender firewall needs to be opened for this program to work?
 
I'm trying to remember if the Windows Defender firewall needs to be opened for this program to work?

For NTP to sync with time servers, you'll need firewall exceptions on your internet facing network adapter. If you have two network adapters (NIC) in your BI server, and the camera facing NIC is set as private. I believe the ports would already be open, allowing the cameras to sync NTP to BI
 
In Win10-Pro when I open up the "Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security" popup I'm not sure what the best approach is. I don't see any rule for Nettime. I guess I will try the "New Rule Wizard" and see what happens.