Three Years On & Still No Time Sync!

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  • pangus
    Hot Shot
    • Nov 2013
    • 10

    Three Years On & Still No Time Sync!

    I have been battling with this issue for about three years now! BT don't seem to be able to fix it and I have tried everything.

    The basic issue is, no matter what I do (believe me when I say I have tried everything), I cannot get the phones to show the same time as our internal PCs. I do understand (I have worked this out myself) that the 9611G phone units themselves cannot show the absolute live time as they are not continuously polling the system, but I believe they are polling at around 30 second intervals so therefore I would never expect them to show anything more than 30 seconds adrift. However, if you press the 'Phone' button on the 9611G it refreshes and updates to whatever the system time is on IP Office. If I watch my PC clock, when the second hand hits the 12, and I continuously press the phone button, it does not change. After a reboot of the IPoffice server, it is about 20 seconds slow, and then drifts out by about 5 - 10 seconds per day, until it is about 3 - 4 minutes out and I have to reboot the system all over again.

    IP Office is set to sync its time to Voicemail Pro server and that server is set to sync with our internal DC (I have also tried syncing to several external time sources several times). No matter what I do, despite the fact that the time under 'Resources' in the application 'System Status' shows last poll as successful, no components in this system show a time which actually agrees with anything else within the system. Also, (and this is the main issue), the time drifts gradually until the phones show about 3 - 4 minutes difference as our systems, people start complaining and I start the whole correction cycle again, hence the real issue.

    Absolutely stumped, completely fed up with messing around with this. Constantly revisiting this issue to try and put it to bed and getting nowhere. The other thing to point out is that NOTHING ELSE on our network has ever had an issue with setting its time with our DC time server. NAS units, you name it, everything is absolutely fine, so this is nothing to do with firewalls or anything else internal which is preventing this from working. The Avaya shows everything is working fine and syncs are apparently successful, yet the time is quite simply always wrong! The Avaya Phone system has NEVER been successfully synced to anything and none of the components sync to each other.

    PS I have just updated both units (IP Office and VMP server) to the latest software versions as at April 2015. These updates were supplied to me by BT. The BT engineer did not think it would do any good because he knows of at least one other customer with exactly the same issue who's updates had also not worked. He was right, it's still doesn't work.

    Details in Control Unit properties are:

    IP 500 V2 8.1 (95)
    ICM32 V2/PRIS U 8.1 (95)
    PHONE2 8.1 (95)
    PHONE8 8.1 (95)
    Last edited by pangus; 05-14-2015, 07:35 AM. Reason: Add details
  • mlombardi1
    Legend
    • Sep 2010
    • 534

    #2
    Use the SNTPSRVR parameter in the 46xxsettings.txt file to direct the phones directly to your DC. I agree the IPO doesn't handle time sync well, among other things...
    Meridian IT - Senior Engineer

    Comment

    • pangus
      Hot Shot
      • Nov 2013
      • 10

      #3
      Thanks, where is this file please?

      Comment

      • mlombardi1
        Legend
        • Sep 2010
        • 534

        #4
        It's located in the IP Office\Manager directory on the VM Pro server. The phones download this file at each boot for auxiliary settings. Read through it carefully.
        Meridian IT - Senior Engineer

        Comment

        • pangus
          Hot Shot
          • Nov 2013
          • 10

          #5
          OK thanks. Do you know which template file I need? You seemed to indicate 46xx but I have the 9611G using H323

          Comment

          • mlombardi1
            Legend
            • Sep 2010
            • 534

            #6
            All Avaya IP endpoints use 46xxsettings.txt. I know the name is misleading. It started with the 4600 series endpoints and was carried over.

            When an IP phone boots, it looks for an HTTP or HTTPS file server to download firmware and the settings file. I think the IPO itself can act as this, but I usually configure the VM Pro server as the HTTP source. Assuming your phones are addressed via DHCP, look to see what is in the HTTPSRVR parameter in the option 242 scope.

            Also be sure "Enable Time Server" is enabled in Manager: File > Preferences

            Enable Time Server: Default = On.
            This setting allows Manager to respond to RFC868 Time requests from systems. It will provide the system with both the UTC time value and the local time value of the PC on which it is running.
            Meridian IT - Senior Engineer

            Comment

            • pangus
              Hot Shot
              • Nov 2013
              • 10

              #7
              Sorry, I just cannot find this file or the folders you refer to. I am using the Windows based 'Voice Server File Access' interface. Search takes an absolute age. Can you point me to the location from the root folder?

              Comment

              • mlombardi1
                Legend
                • Sep 2010
                • 534

                #8
                C:\Program Files (x86)\Avaya\IP Office\Manager
                Meridian IT - Senior Engineer

                Comment

                • pangus
                  Hot Shot
                  • Nov 2013
                  • 10

                  #9
                  OK, I thought you meant on the actual server itself. So, this is on my local PC. If I edit this file how is it going to update everyone's phones? When I load IPoffice Manager, it reads this file, yes? So if I then save the config and reboot the system, it should update everyone?

                  Thanks again

                  Comment

                  • mlombardi1
                    Legend
                    • Sep 2010
                    • 534

                    #10
                    The directory and files must be on the Windows VM Pro server. PCs are not in the equation here. The phones are directed to the server for HTTP either via DHCP or static assignment. Again, the IPO might be able to act as an HTTP server but I typically use the VM server in tandem with an HTTP client to open 80/443 to requests.

                    If this sounds foreign to you, I suggest having Avaya or a BP do this.
                    Meridian IT - Senior Engineer

                    Comment

                    • pangus
                      Hot Shot
                      • Nov 2013
                      • 10

                      #11
                      The VM Pro server is a Linux server, this is why I am getting confused! I am the administrator so I have the IP Office admin console etc.

                      Comment

                      • pangus
                        Hot Shot
                        • Nov 2013
                        • 10

                        #12
                        I have checked all the settings and it appears the HTTP server is set as the IP Office server, so I am confused about where the phones are reading the 46xxsettings from. The 242 scope is set within our DC, which is dishing out the DHCP phone IPs. The string value held within the setting is MCIPADD=192.168.30.1,MCPORT=1719,HTTPSRVR=192.168. 30.1,VLANTEST=0

                        192.168.30.1 is our IP Office server.

                        The IP office server has SNTP enabled and is set to take its setting from the VM Pro server, which is 192.168.30.2

                        I always thought (I had forgotten this but it is something which I vaguely remember) the settings for the phones was read in to the config from the text file held on my workstation in C:\Program Files\Avaya\IP Office\Manager and uploaded each time it is saved when the config is changed. That was my understanding. If this is the case then I probably just need to reboot the phone system because I have edited the 46xxsettings.txt file and changed the line as you suggested to be 192.168.30.2, the VM Pro server which is set to get its time from the DC.
                        Last edited by pangus; 04-27-2015, 09:52 AM.

                        Comment

                        • thiel2
                          Genius
                          • Apr 2013
                          • 365

                          #13
                          Check the settings on the IP Office V2 for "Phone File Server Type" on the System tab of the System section. The most common setting is "Memory Card", which means that the file lives on the IPO 500 itself.

                          Next, browse to http://<ip address of the IP Office>/44xxsettings.txt. See if it begins with "Auto Generated Settings", which means that the file doesn't even really exist, but is generated by the IPO every time it is requested. Copy and past that text into Notepad. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Avaya\Manager\46xxsettings.txt to see a complete, commented file. Now follow the flow for your phone type, and you will see that you can add the settings to the section starting with "Non Auto Generated".

                          Once you have your modified file, name it 44xxsettings.txt and use the Embedded File Manager to upload to the Memory card, in the Primary folder. Now this is the file that will be delivered to the phones.

                          Comment

                          • pangus
                            Hot Shot
                            • Nov 2013
                            • 10

                            #14
                            Thanks. You mean rename to 46xxsettings not 44xxsettings?

                            Comment

                            • mlombardi1
                              Legend
                              • Sep 2010
                              • 534

                              #15
                              Sounds like you have a UC module instead of a real VM Pro server. Yikes.
                              Meridian IT - Senior Engineer

                              Comment

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