IMS3000 drift fix question in the new year

[Jon Dent]

Last year I uploaded the IMS3000 clock drift fix from Dolby as we were getting very close to our 360 second limit. Is this something we will have to (potentially) do again this year or is that fix perpetual?

[Steve Guttag]

The "fix" just extends the adjustment range so it isn't really a fix. If you are needing to extend the range yearly, then I'd say that is a problem with the server's clock or intrinsic correction and should be addressed separately.

[Jon Dent]

Makes sense. Reason I asked in the first place is one of our servers is already at a 4 second offset and it's only the fourth day of the new year.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

If you have a TMS point the servers at the NTP in the TMS. If you don't have a TMS then it's pretty easy to build one out almost any ole PC using any of the several software solutions out there. All of your IMS's and the TMS will then stay the same...

[Jon Dent]

We have an NTP, which I set up using what I think was your cheat sheet. The system time on the servers is spot on every day. It's the secure clock that's drifted by 4 seconds on one if the units already.

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[Mark Gulbrandsen]

That's really odd!! The other clocks should follow the secure clock which is obviously seeing NTP. I wonder if that could be a firmware bug, or just a setting that needs to be clicked on. With all the servers I installed in past years the other clock(s) always locked to the secure clock.

[Jon Dent]

I'm so confused on these clocks... I was under the impression that the system clock was completely independent of the secure clock, and that you couldn't really see the secure clock itself, only its offset to the system time. Then on the first of the year the secure clock would sync itself to the system clock (or as close to it as it can get if the offset went out of budget)

And it was actually Leo's NTP sheet I followed.

Edit: I'm not sure if this is relevant, but it's an observation. The server in question is in our "theater 2". At the end of 2022 it had a 350 second offset. Theater 1 was only 30 seconds or so. Our previous servers were GDC SX-2000 (I think). They showed the same wildly different offsets as well (theater 1's was far less than theater 2). Could this be a power issue?

[Carsten Kurz]

Just make a note, or simply, a screenshot, and see how it develops on a monthly basis.

[Steve Guttag]

Remember, for the secure clock, the NTP does NOT set the clock. It sets an OFFSET. The show clock will change to it is correct but the secure clock will still be however fast/slow it was but with an offset so the keys work right. The Secure clock, normally resets at the beginning of the year. So, if you are accurate on 12/31...the secure clock should be accurate on 1/1 and then the game repeats.

[Jon Dent]

Thanks for the clarification.