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originateTimestamp equals 0 in returned packet

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#3 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
45/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
javascript, node.js
Domain
networking

Research direction

Start in index.js at NTP.createPacket and reproduce the issue with the example shown in the report. Compare the constructed packet with the RFC 2030 behavior cited, then verify that the returned timestamps make the roundtrip delay and system clock offset usable.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Running the slightly modified example

const ntp = require('..');

ntp(function(err, response){
  if(err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(response);
});

originateTimestamp === 0 is returned which renders roundtrip delay d and system clock offset t unusable.

Packet {
  leapIndicator: 0,
  version: 4,
  mode: 4,
  stratum: 2,
  pollInterval: 6,
  precision: 233,
  referenceIdentifier: <Buffer c0 35 67 6c>,
  referenceTimestamp: 1577013057260.7312,
  originateTimestamp: 0,
  receiveTimestamp: 1577013390216.6448,
  transmitTimestamp: 1577013390216.6702,
  rootDelay: <Buffer 00 00 01 d5>,
  rootDispersion: <Buffer 00 00 07 07>,
  destinationTimestamp: 1577013390262,
  time: 2019-12-22T11:16:30.216Z,
  d: 1577013390261.9746,
  t: 788506695085.6575
}

According to https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2030#section-6

In unicast and anycast modes, the Receive Timestamp and Transmit Timestamp
fields are set to the time of day when the message is sent and the
Originate Timestamp field is copied unchanged from the Transmit
Timestamp field of the request. It is important that this field be
copied intact, as a NTP client uses it to avoid replays. In multicast
mode, the Originate Timestamp and Receive Timestamp fields are set to
0 and the Transmit Timestamp field is set to the time of day when the
message is sent.

I suppose that client and server operate in unicast/ anycast mode. If this is the case I would like to change:

--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ NTP.prototype.time = function (callback) {
 NTP.createPacket = function () {
   const packet = new Packet();
   packet.mode = Packet.MODES.CLIENT;
-  packet.originateTimestamp = Date.now();
+  packet.transmitTimestamp = Date.now();
   return packet.toBuffer();
 };
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
28
Forks
8
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

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