I'm going out on a limb here after so much discussion relative to adding a NTP server to the mesh for field operations (http://www.broadband-hamnet.org/hsmm-mesh-forums/view-postlist/forum-4-applications/topic-1151-ntp-server.html) but I've been working on it for a few weeks and have had partial success. By partial, I mean that I've constructed a DNS server that connects to a LAN node and responds only to NTP queries from attached mesh nodes with an advertised NTP server address. The NTP server does not seem to respond (or isn't being queried) afterwards however.

This entire venture has been a learning experience for me as I'm not a certified Microsoft Software Engineer (lol) and have had to read an awful lot of DNS and NTP standards as well as try to understand the typical network process that takes place. The code is written in C++ on an Arduino Uno (with an Ethernet shield) and was responding to the hosting mesh node but the node wasn't reflecting any time change from those responses. The DNS Server is built on a separate Arduino for the time being.

It occurs to me that the reason for problems might be (very well) that I don't have things configured properly on the mesh itself so I've attached a printout showing the DNS response packet and the Arduino sketch code for the NTP server along with the mesh node configuration screens. Hopefully someone here is more familiar with typical network protocol and can point me to the solution. Being so close and yet falling short is driving me crazy!

Attachments
 DNS response packets.png [109 KB]
 Screenshot 1.png [17 KB]
 Screenshot 2.png [16 KB]

Fixed... it turns out that the ntpclient wouldn't accept an update from my server since the variation from Jan 1, 2000 was too great. I changed the switches in /etc/init.d/ntpclient from adjtimex(2) [-l] to Trusted Server [-t] to prevent RFC-4330 crosschecks. Then, for the time being I changed the target to the Lan address since it is, after all, a closed network. All the clocks updated immediately upon reboot.

#!/bin/sh /etc/rc.common

START=70 start() {

{

while ! ping -c1 kb1tkm-ntp.local.mesh >/dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 60; done

/usr/sbin/ntpclient -s -t -h kb1tkm-ntp.local.mesh >/dev/null 2>&1;

} &

} stop()

{ killall ntpclient }

I decided to merely run the NTP server as an advertised service temporarily as I'm working now to integrate the DNS and NTP servers onto one piece of hardware. Once that is finished, changing the target NTP server name in this script will no longer be necessary.

Yes, the (original) intention was to make the NTP server plug-n-play at any port by including a DNS server on the same Arduino. I had so much difficulty with that since I was learning too much in too short a period of time (NTP, DNS, IP protocols), that out of frustration, I placed the completed (and wonderfully functional) NTP server on one node and pointed all my other nodes to its address. It allowed me to move on to more pressing issues since I dairy farm and it's Spring. I can email you the Arduino sketch if you wish to play with it.

As it turned out, somewhere along the way I probably had the entire thing working... DNS & NTP but since the nodes wouldn't lock on due to too extreme a time/date difference, I assumed the worst and got more and more frustrated with my efforts. Now that I know that the NTP server works (after loosening the restraints on the ntpclient properties) I'll retry some of my earlier revisions and report back any victories.

I've been a ham since '54, but am new to HSMM and need help!

I'm trying to get two routers going to use the N3FJM (?) Field Day software and cannot get Windows file sharing to work no matter what I do.

The routers work fine between each other.

I suspected that port forwarding had to be set up but was unsuccessful.

I read that SMB port 445   & TCP 139 needed to be set up.

The laptops share fine using the local WI-FI without the routers.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Bo Barry   W4GHV     Harrisburg, NC