Reolink NTP

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mrattray

Young grasshopper
Apr 16, 2022
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I know that this forum recommends avoiding Reolink. That said I have some for the non critical locations. I have been trying to sync them to the local lan. The Dahua seem to be working and holding time but not the Reolink. They do not have access to internet and Reolink says that they must. Not sure I believe them. I have downloaded Nettime and tried to point them to it. I have entered the server IP address as well as the 0.nettime.pool.ntp.org address. Has anyone had any success with syncing of Reolink. Attached is an image with 3 screens. The left if you look closely has the Dahua time, the middle the Reolink and the right the computer

On another note I finally got my remote access working. I had to purchase a new router to get it configured. Was using Netgear and it didn't play well.
 

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it looks like your Dahua cam is also going out to the internet for its time source as you are using "0.nettime.pool.ntp.org" as your NTP server. You need to point that to the IP address of your local NTP server. I dont see anywhere on the Reolink screenshot to do that so perhaps its hardcoded?

Be sure to allow UDP port 123 on any firewall that you are running on your local NTP server.

If there is no way to connfigure manual NTP address, you could block the reolink cameras from accessing the internet via your router firewall, for everything BUT allow UDP port 123 so that they can reach out and grap accurate time.
 
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The IP address I previously sent on the Dahua was only for testing. I corrected it to my local IP of 192.168.1.100. This is the server IP and updates the time on the Dahua.
The Reolink has a drop-down for "custom" and I enter the 192.168.1.100 and the update fails to work. Curious if anyone has had any luck as it seems like it should work. See attached

May need to open port but don't really want to or now how. Likely another learning experience.
 

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Also the cameras are on a separate LAN so likely can't get to internet regardless. They are on one of 2 NIC interfaces
 
mrattray said:
Also the cameras are on a separate LAN so likely can't get to internet regardless. They are on one of 2 NIC interfaces
Click to expand...

Definately important info there, I cant say i've followed any of your other threads where this kind of info may have been stated :)

I'm going to assume that this PC is a BI PC because that is a common setup that people use for BI and keeing cameras on a isolated network

mrattray said:
The IP address I previously sent on the Dahua was only for testing. I corrected it to my local IP of 192.168.1.100. This is the server IP and updates the time on the Dahua.
The Reolink has a drop-down for "custom" and I enter the 192.168.1.100 and the update fails to work. Curious if anyone has had any luck as it seems like it should work. See attached
Click to expand...
A Question that i have is:

Is the ip address of 192.168.1.100 the IP address of the NIC that sits in the subnet your cameras reside in? Or is this the other NIC that you would access the PC on from your LAN where your other devices reside? If 192.168.1.100 is the LAN NIC of the PC then I'm not sure if that would work. I'm not a Windows guy so someone may be able to correct me if im wrong, but im not sure that a Windows PC will automatially route between interfaces by default. If thats the case then it wouldnt work. In other words, make sure that you are putting the IP address assigned to the NIC that resides in your 'camera' subnet (if you haven't already).

I would be sure that you are actually successfully polling your PC with your Dahua camera (if not already done) by setting the time wrong manually on the camera. Then changing the config to use the PC as NTP server and wait for it to correct itself. This test will prove that your NTP server is listening and accessable on UDP port 123. If that fails then you need to figure out why with that device first (since we all know here from experience that this does work with Dahua cams).

If it does work, with that knowledge your Reolink should also work. If not then perhaps you have come across a bug in their firmware.

As a belt and braces approach you could install wireshark on the PC and capture traffic on your 'camera' NIC to see if the Reolink NTP traffic is hitting the NIC.
 
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just another thought that popped into my head as I've never used the 'nettime' application, I use Windows built-in NTP server. Are there any config settings for that application that will confirm which port is being used for NTP? I just assumed UDP 123 as thats standard port for it.
 
The camera LAN is on the 192.168.1.100 series. The Dahau cameras update time when synced to that IP address. I did it with them all and watched the time change to sync. Using the "custom" on the Reolink just provides a failed message.

The cameras can't cross over to access the internet without a router so Reolink direct updates through a port seem out. Haven't trying windows built in server but it looks a bit complicated and I am not sure why it would work if syncing to the local IP address doesn't.

Thanks. If anyone has had any success I would love to hear. Otherwise I will take a loss and return to Reolink and get what I can. Everything seems to be a problem with them
 
I have an old Reolink that I pressed back into service for a very non-critical application, watching the habits of a ground hog, that is using my BI server running NetTime. Works fine, the time sync at least does, but this is a six year old POS and I'm sure that newer models have much newer firmware.
 
Thanks. I set the "custom" feature of the NTP dropdown and point it to the IP address that works for the Dahua cams and no go. Reolink support is not help either. They just say it won't work without connecting to internet. Are you doing anything different?
 
No, not at all. The cameras are on 10.105.7.x for their network and isolated from the Internet that way. The machine connects through the second NIC to 192.168.x.x for Internet access and remoting in. Each NIC only has one address entry and the camera NIC has bogus gateway and DNS entries as do all the cameras.
 
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Sounds just like what I am doing but no go for me. Funny it clearly works on Dahua and Reolink tells me it can't update without direct internet access. I asked them what the "custom " feature is for and expect to get more bs tomorrow from them. They clearly have no clue what they are talking about. It is too bad because otherwise they work well for the non critical areas.
 
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Reolink does a lot of things inside their firmware that lets you think you're actually setting things while the firmware just ignores/over rides your settings.
 
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mrattray said:
Otherwise I will take a loss and return to Reolink and get what I can. Everything seems to be a problem with them
Click to expand...
You've displayed a lot more patience than I would have. Returning it/them is a good choice, IMO.
 
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