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Solved fanvil x4's not updating time from ntp server

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Shawn

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fanvil x4 with up to date 3cx firmware 2.4.0.5572 with pbx at 15.5.15502.6

i'm not sure how but my x4's are setup with my domain controller as the ntp server (phone settings > time / date) but none of them are updating the time as they should. after a few days they time on the phones is not correct. if i reboot the phone, it acquires the correct time.

the update interval was set to 60 (seconds?) so i thought perhaps that's too often and that's why it's not working properly, so i change it to the max allowed 3600 (seconds) but they still do not update as they should

has anyone experienced this? does anyone know how the phone gets my dc ip as it's ntp server

my dc is setup as a ntp server and works fine with all other devices on the network.

i'll try changing the ntp ip in the phone to a public ntp server or perhaps i'll run a packet trace to see if i can find anything but in the meantime, any help is appreciated.

thanks
 
Having the same issue, so +1.
 
FYI, I don't think I had this problem in the past and the only thing that has changed is that I updated the X4 with the latest 3CX firmware.
 
Anyone from 3CX able to weigh in on this?
 
So it appears it is updating initially since a reboot brings it it sync. Have you checked with Fanvil? Ultimately any phone firmware issues are the responsibility of the manufacturer, 3CX supported just means it's been tested with 3CX although apparently not in this edge case. Have you tried wiresharking to see if the phone actually tries to update at the expected intervals?
 
thank you for your reply cobaltit, i'll have to run a trace and see what i find.

AndreyP, are you using default or custom templates?

shawn
 
Generally the 3CX template will instruct the phones to use the server defined in the PBX Settings / Parameter / "TIME_NTP_SERVER" . By default that value should be set to "pool.ntp.org"
Depending on the device however if a domain controller is located which can provide the time then some phones will auto select that as the source as it is considered a safer choice.
A packet capture will show what ntp server the device is using and if it updates in the correct time intervals.
 
i've run quite a few packet captures with various ntp severs (internal ntp servers and public ntp servers) and have verified that ntp is working correctly with all tested servers, however it seems to only check the time at boot up or when the ntp settings are changed.

i have not seen any communication attempt to ntp servers other than at boot or config changes. The Resync period is set to 60 seconds which is defined as how often the time is updated from the ntp server (screen shot attached)

any ideas?
 
If there are no attempts then it sounds squarely like a Fanvil issue. Not sure if 3CX cares enough to escalate to Fanvil on your behalf but you'd probably have better luck going direct.
 
so after further testing, i have found this to be an issue with firmware 2.4.0.5572 which seems to be 3cx only since fanvil does not have this version on their firmware download site, they have 2.4.0.5487 and 2.4.0.5680 but nothing in between.

i tested with an older fanvil firmware 2.3.2.4638 and ntp works as it should although the resync is defined in minutes rather than seconds conflicting the text in the flyover prompt

i tested with 3cx 2.4.0.5572 and there is no ntp communication from the phone other than at first boot and if any time update configuration parameters are changed. this is true no matter what the resync parameter is set at

i also tested with fanvil's latest firmware 2.8.1.6317 which is dated 12/29/18. this version works as it should and the resync parameter is defined in seconds as is stated in the definition.

my test involves the following:
1. update to firmware being tested
2. verify ntp settings and resync setting
3. start packet capture using the phone packet capture mechanism
4. end catpure (about 1.5 hours on average)
5. analyze pcap with wireshark
6. check first and last packet arrival time to ensure the resync time was covered
7. check pcap for ntp protocol to see if any ntp calls were made

after 3 days of chasing packets on the wire, i'm fairly certain that there is an issue with the noted firmware.

my only choices are either 3cx investigates this finding and provides their findings and perhaps a fix, or i have to update all my fanivl x4 phones to a non-3cx firmware that can keep track of the time
 
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I'd run the latest Fanvil firmware if that solves your time issue. 3CX firmware is generally going to be a little behind as they have to test it before giving it their stamp of approval. If you are a partner I'd open a ticket with 3CX to test or if you work with a partner I'd ask them to. @YiannisH_3CX may also be able to make the support/dev people aware of the issue. I'd also let Fanvil support know and maybe they will be proactive and send the current 3CX version with fix over for them to test.

Thanks for the effort in troubleshooting. Refreshing change from the typical 'free lunch' crowd in here.
 
Please note that we have tested this with the Fanvil firmware we are currently testing for V16 and it is resolved. It will be become available with the release of V16.
 
I just checked and could not find a planned release date for V16. Is there a planned release date?

I probably won't update to 16 until it's been tested for some time, so I guess my only choice is to update to the latest fanvil firmware.

Is there a way to drop the fanvil firmware into 3cx so I can perform a mass update?

Has this been a known issue? I wish I would have seen that somewhere so that I could have gone straight to the solution and not spend all this time trying to figure out why my phones can't keep time.

@cobaltit, sure thing and thank you for all of your expertise in all of these threads on this forum. I guess we all help out to the best of our abilities and knowledge.
 
As V16 is still in Alpha and being tested i cannot provide an ETA for the release time. We will not rush a release if we feel the build is not ready.
Please note that this was not a known issue as this is the first report we had about this occurring. The phones we checked were not syncing their time at the set intervals but none showed the wrong time after a period of time. We confirmed that the new firmware syncs the time regularly so you should not face this issue.
 
is there a way to inject the fanvil firmware into 3cx so i don't have to manually update each phone and be able to use the mass update built in to the 3cx platform?
 
Probably the same hack as for the grandstream. Copy the new firmware over the existing firmware file (keeping the old file name)
 
is there a way to inject the fanvil firmware into 3cx so i don't have to manually update each phone and be able to use the mass update built in to the 3cx platform?
Please note that we have released the new Fanvil firmware for V15.5. They should appear in your updates soon. Upgrade your phones to the new firmware and let us know if that fixes the issue.
 
thank you for the latest release on 15.5. it is now available on my pbx. i will test a couple of phones over the weekend and will report my findings.
 
i tested 2.8.0.6251 with one phone for a few days and it worked as it should with time updates via my internal ntp server at the configured intervals which have a unit of seconds.

i then did a mass update on about 25 phones and all went well except for one which is on a different subnet. moved that one to the voip subnet and it updated as normal. so far everything seems to be normal and ntp time updates are back to normal

thank you @YiannisH_3CX for pushing the latest 3cx firmware through to approval.

and also, thank you to everyone for your help
 
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