timestamps between computer and router -- email failed

A discussion with someone prompted me to look in my router log today,
(perhaps for the first time in 8 years ) and I tried to email the log
to myself. This gave rise to 3 questions.


A) The time that the log showed for sending the email was 4 minutes
later than the time on the computer clock (which I verified with a
satellite clock). That is, that time had not arrived yet.

An hour later I did something and the log time was 11 minutes later
than reality. And several hours later, the lot time was, I think, 16
minutes later. Is there some way I can use this feature to live
longer? Or twice? If not, what does it mean?


B) I tried to email the log to myself. The field SMTP Server / IP
Address had to be filled in, so I used cmd / ping to get my IP address
and Sent it, but never got it. I added the smtp server,
smtp.verizon.net, but there wasn't enough space in the box to include
that and the IP!!! I was one space short so I omitted the space
between the two values, sent it, and of course I never got it.

In all these tries I had my valid, full address in
the other box, called Email Address.

What am I doing wrong? It's the wrong IP address, isn't it?

I have a gmail account and the word gmail is shorter than the word
verizon, so that would fit but I have even less idea what IP goes with
the gmail smtp server, and surely that's not the remedy anyhow.


C) Later I sent an email from my laptop, wirelessly, and the log entry
says "SMTP: sending mail fail". Fail, even though it was sent
successfully.

It's a D-Link AirPlus G, 11 years old. Could that be the cause of
any of these things.

Thanks.

On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 01:06:11 -0500, Micky
wrote:


It's a D-Link AirPlus G, 11 years old. Could that be the cause of
any of these things.

Between 8 and 11 years old. I don't remember if I bought it used or
new. The firmware is almost 11 years old.

Micky wrote:
On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 01:06:11 -0500, Micky
wrote:

It's a D-Link AirPlus G, 11 years old. Could that be the cause of
any of these things.

Between 8 and 11 years old. I don't remember if I bought it used or
new. The firmware is almost 11 years old.

I have this problem too. The router quartz crystal clock
drifts like a *******.

If NTP is enabled in the router, and if the NTP does
first order corrections by "dribbling" out the corrections,
the time accuracy can be made to look better than it actually
is. Say the NTP consults an Internet source once a week.
On Windows, this might correct the clock just the one time
in that week. With a dribbling correction, a tiny correction
by a fixed amount might be applied every fifteen minutes. So
if the drift off-frequency is a manifest constant, the thing
can look like it is keeping perfect time. It's when the
order of drift is higher than first order, that such
"guessing" methods don't work.

Paul

to win7 & xp only; I don't subscribe the other groups

Micky wrote:
It's a D-Link AirPlus G, 11 years old.

There are various AirPlus G models. I examined a manual for the DI-524
log settings.

B) I tried to email the log to myself. The field SMTP Server / IP
Address had to be filled in, so I used cmd / ping to get my IP address
and Sent it, but never got it.

No. Wrong config.

I added the smtp server,
smtp.verizon.net, but there wasn't enough space in the box to include
that and the IP!!! I was one space short so I omitted the space
between the two values, sent it, and of course I never got it.

Just use smtp.verizon.net. No IP. But there is a problem with the
D-Link's inability to set a port. Apparently it assumes 25.

In all these tries I had my valid, address in
the other box, called Email Address.

Correct.

What am I doing wrong? It's the wrong IP address, isn't it?

Don't include the IP. The manual I saw doesn't treat the router like a
mail agent's configuration for server name and port and security; it
only allows smtp server name (or IP).

I have a gmail account and the word gmail is shorter than the word
verizon, so that would fit but I have even less idea what IP goes with
the gmail smtp server, and surely that's not the remedy anyhow.

Gmail also has a condition of security & security port.

C) Later I sent an email from my laptop, wirelessly, and the log entry
says "SMTP: sending mail fail". Fail, even though it was sent
successfully.

That meant that sending a log failed.



--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:

There are various AirPlus G models. I examined a manual for the DI-524
log settings.

Just use smtp.verizon.net. No IP. But there is a problem with the
D-Link's inability to set a port. Apparently it assumes 25.

Another different D-Link router DIR-655 has much more comprehensive
settings for the email. From, To, smtp server, port, authentication,
user, pass, http://support.dlink.com/emulators/d...121/EMail.html



--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
I examined a manual for the DI-524 log settings.

Now I see a different configuration page for the email:

https://www.jinigram.com/questions/r...mmunity-answer
Follow these steps to configure Email Notification on your D-Link Di 524
Router.

That one would work.

Here's the other one:

http://www.dlink.com/-/media/Consume...nual_EN_UK.pdf
D-Link AirPlus G DI-524 (page 38 email)

That one would need something like a syslog to connect.

--
Mike Easter

Micky wrote on 2015/12/25:

A discussion with someone prompted me to look in my router log today,
(perhaps for the first time in 8 years ) and I tried to email the log
to myself. This gave rise to 3 questions.

A) The time that the log showed for sending the email was 4 minutes
later than the time on the computer clock (which I verified with a
satellite clock). That is, that time had not arrived yet.

An hour later I did something and the log time was 11 minutes later
than reality. And several hours later, the lot time was, I think, 16
minutes later. Is there some way I can use this feature to live
longer? Or twice? If not, what does it mean?

If by "log" you mean you are looking at the router's log then it looks
like your router's time is wrong.

If you are talking about the Date field that your e-mail client adds as
data to your message (and is the time you started composing the message,
not when you sent it) versus the timestamp(s) in the Received header(s)
then those will rarely match. E-mail clients insert the Date header as
you compose the message, so it gets added the moment you open the
new-mail compose window. It could sit in your Drafts folder for weeks
before you send it which means the Date header will be weeks older than
the timestamps in the Received headers (which the mail servers insert as
they transfer your message).

While you can use the NTP (network time protocol) service in Windows or
run a 3rd party atomic clock to synchronize your computer's time with a
time server, you can't do that in the router. Your computer is running
a general-purpose OS. Your router is running a special-purpose OS where
you cannot add processes to run there.

Some routers let you configure or enable an NTP option so it can stay in
sync with an NTP server. Some you have to manually specify the time.
Yours is so old or is a consumer-grade device that you probably have
neither option so you have to manually set the time.

http://support.dlink.com/emulators/dir655/121/Time.html

That is just one example of the config screen where you would have to
set the time. While you can configure the timezone, there is no setting
to enable/disable NTP or configure to which NTP server the router will
connect. That router doesn't have an NTP client running on its embedded
OS to sync its time.

B) I tried to email the log to myself. The field SMTP Server / IP
Address had to be filled in, so I used cmd / ping to get my IP address
and Sent it, but never got it.

Do actually have your own SMTP server listening for inbound connects
(and those connects can get past a firewall)?

I added the smtp server,
smtp.verizon.net, but there wasn't enough space in the box to include
that and the IP!!!

You don't understand DNS? You either specify a hostname and have a DNS
server return to your client the IP address for the target host or you
specify the IP address of the target host. You don't do both.

I was one space short so I omitted the space
between the two values, sent it, and of course I never got it.

Which means you specified an invalid hostname and an invalid IP address
of which you specify only ONE of those.

In all these tries I had my valid, full address in
the other box, called Email Address.

Still need to specify a valid SMTP server.

What am I doing wrong? It's the wrong IP address, isn't it?

Nope. It's you specifying both hostname and IP address. Humans like
names. Computers demand numbers. DNS translates between them.

I have a gmail account and the word gmail is shorter than the word
verizon, so that would fit but I have even less idea what IP goes with
the gmail smtp server, and surely that's not the remedy anyhow.

Decide which to use: the hostname for the SMTP server or the IP address
of the SMTP server, not both.

C) Later I sent an email from my laptop, wirelessly, and the log entry
says "SMTP: sending mail fail". Fail, even though it was sent
successfully.

The log entry for WHICH client you used for sending?

It's a D-Link AirPlus G, 11 years old.

Airplus G is a model name, not a model number. You will have to go to
D-Link's site to search their support for the actual model number
printed on the label on the router.

http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DI-713P

That's for a model name "AirPlus" with model number DI-713P. Unless I
missed it through a quick scan of its manual and also search on "time",
that router has no means of changing its internal clock.

Some routers have an NTP option to keep their clocks in sync. One user
in a forum noted in a 6-year old post the following settings:

Automatic Time Configuration
Enable NTP Server : Yes
NTP Server Used : ntp1.dlink.com

Without your actual model *number*, no one can go online to D-Link's
site to read the manual for you. Of course, you could read the manual.
If it doesn't mention automatic time, NTP, or clock settings then there
aren't any in that router. You could replace the firmware in the router
with someone else's, like dd-wrt, that may give you time settings (I've
never done that) but you will still need the actual model *number* of
your router. "d-link airplus g" won't find anything at:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

Replacing the firmware code is like reprogramming a brain: only perform
on hardware you can afford to lose. The patient doesn't always survive
the brain reprogramming.

Could that be the cause of any of these things.

Looks like the cause is you trying to specify both hostname and IP
address of the same target host.

The clock of the router is only for timestamping its logs, if logging is
enabled. It is not used when your computer makes connections to other
hosts. The timestamp (or time specified within the data) of the packet
is what gets used. The router just passes on the packets. The router's
clock is irrelevant to your network use.

[Default] On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 10:52:36 -0800, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Mike Easter
wrote:

Mike Easter wrote:
I examined a manual for the DI-524 log settings.

Now I see a different configuration page for the email:

https://www.jinigram.com/questions/r...mmunity-answer
Follow these steps to configure Email Notification on your D-Link Di 524
Router.

That one would work.

Thanks a lot. Except for your link below, this makes clear why I
coudln't send email. I only have hardware config C and it goes up to
D and E, so I have the two fields I referred to, but not Enable
Authentification or Password, and I don't have a whole section of
Tools called Email Settings either. No wonder it won't work.

Now if I upgraded my firmware, I might have all that, but I'm scared.
I did find under Tools / Firmware, a very clear way to upgrade, just
navigate to the file on my HDD and click.

Here's the other one:

http://www.dlink.com/-/media/Consume...nual_EN_UK.pdf
D-Link AirPlus G DI-524 (page 38 email)

Now this looks just like my screen, except it has a box for Subject.

But it doesn't have a box for password, and I don't see how I can send
email without providing my password.

That one would need something like a syslog to connect.

And the manual shows a box for Syslog Server IP address (suffix) where
we know it starts with 192.168.0.

It has boxes to enable and disable that field, but I don't have that
field at all but I do have the same 5 checkboxes for categories
System Activity
Debug info
Attacks
Dropped Packets
Notice

Micky wrote:
Mike Easter wrote:

I examined a manual for the DI-524 log settings.

http://www.dlink.com/-/media/Consume...nual_EN_UK.pdf
D-Link AirPlus G DI-524 (page 38 email)

Now this looks just like my screen, except it has a box for Subject.

Exactly what is the modelno of your router? It likely is printed on the
front and also on the home page of the webpage configurator.

But it doesn't have a box for password, and I don't see how I can send
email without providing my password.

That one would need something like a syslog to connect.

And the manual shows a box for Syslog Server IP address (suffix) where
we know it starts with 192.168.0.

It has boxes to enable and disable that field, but I don't have that
field at all but I do have the same 5 checkboxes for categories
System Activity
Debug info
Attacks
Dropped Packets
Notice

There are different strategies for collecting logs, but you have to say
exactly what your router is besides just saying AirPlus G.


--
Mike Easter

[Default] On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 15:46:39 -0800, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Mike Easter
wrote:

Micky wrote:
Mike Easter wrote:

I examined a manual for the DI-524 log settings.

http://www.dlink.com/-/media/Consume...nual_EN_UK.pdf
D-Link AirPlus G DI-524 (page 38 email)

Now this looks just like my screen, except it has a box for Subject.

Exactly what is the modelno of your router? It likely is printed on the
front and also on the home page of the webpage configurator.

Sorry.

You got it right, even if you guessed. DI-524, but it's hardware
version C1. (The D-Link download page distinguishes A, C, D, and E
and each has different firmware downloads, with different dates in
2006. The E date is from 2013)

But it doesn't have a box for password, and I don't see how I can send
email without providing my password.

That one would need something like a syslog to connect.

And the manual shows a box for Syslog Server IP address (suffix) where
we know it starts with 192.168.0.

It has boxes to enable and disable that field, but I don't have that
field at all but I do have the same 5 checkboxes for categories
System Activity
Debug info
Attacks
Dropped Packets
Notice

There are different strategies for collecting logs, but you have to say
exactly what your router is besides just saying AirPlus G.

[Default] On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 02:34:30 -0500, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Paul wrote:

Micky wrote:
On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 01:06:11 -0500, Micky
wrote:

It's a D-Link AirPlus G, 11 years old. Could that be the cause of
any of these things.

Between 8 and 11 years old. I don't remember if I bought it used or
new. The firmware is almost 11 years old.

I have this problem too. The router quartz crystal clock
drifts like a *******.

I didn't know the router had a clock, but it has a button under Tools
called Time for which I have checked.
Automatic (Automatic time update with pre-defined NTP servers or
enter customized NTP)
Manual is the alternative.

I don't have anything in the customized NTP field and I have the
interval for Automatic as 24 hours, the default, so that lets it get
wronger and wronger for 24 hours until it gets corrected.

If the log were important, I could set the interval at one hour. (it
goes up to 72.) But I'll let it stay at 24. I'm glad to know how it
can be wrong, when other times are a lot closer.

It's a shame I can't use this to peer into the future.

If NTP is enabled in the router, and if the NTP does
first order corrections by "dribbling" out the corrections,
the time accuracy can be made to look better than it actually
is. Say the NTP consults an Internet source once a week.
On Windows, this might correct the clock just the one time
in that week. With a dribbling correction, a tiny correction
by a fixed amount might be applied every fifteen minutes. So
if the drift off-frequency is a manifest constant, the thing
can look like it is keeping perfect time. It's when the
order of drift is higher than first order, that such
"guessing" methods don't work.

Paul

Micky wrote:
DI-524, but it's hardware version C1. (The D-Link download page
distinguishes A, C, D, and E and each has different firmware
downloads, with different dates in 2006. The E date is from 2013)

There is very scant info about what the firmware update offers.

DI-524 Revision C Release Notes
====

Firmware 3.23
Date: 07/05/2006

Revision Info:

Fixed Security Issues.
Improved Performance
====

Firmware 3.20
Date: 09/01/2005

Revision Info:

Fixed MAC filtering bug.
Fixed WPA-PSK bug.
Added WPA2 support
====

I suspect that it would not improve the configurability for email. If
you want more than just looking at your logs by accessing the router,
you will need to learn about how to employ syslog.

--
Mike Easter

On Fri, 25 Dec 2015 19:48:42 -0800, Mike Easter
wrote:

Micky wrote:
DI-524, but it's hardware version C1. (The D-Link download page
distinguishes A, C, D, and E and each has different firmware
downloads, with different dates in 2006. The E date is from 2013)

There is very scant info about what the firmware update offers.

Well, I did it and the change was very small. But it does have WPA2
now, which it didn't have before. It's not even in the manual that I
dl'd today, after you, iirc, gave me the url.

DI-524 Revision C Release Notes
====

Firmware 3.23
Date: 07/05/2006

Revision Info:

Fixed Security Issues.
Improved Performance
====

Firmware 3.20
Date: 09/01/2005

Revision Info:

Fixed MAC filtering bug.
Fixed WPA-PSK bug.
Added WPA2 support
====

I suspect that it would not improve the configurability for email. If

No, it was no better. The box wasn't longer even, and no place for
an email password or authentication.

you want more than just looking at your logs by accessing the router,
you will need to learn about how to employ syslog.

If you give me another keyword or two, I'll look into that. But there
is still no box to fill in syslog, so maybe it just can't be done
now??

Micky wrote:
Mike Easter wrote:

you want more than just looking at your logs by accessing the router,
you will need to learn about how to employ syslog.

If you give me another keyword or two, I'll look into that. But there
is still no box to fill in syslog, so maybe it just can't be done
now??

Kiwi makes syslog utilities and has a free version and some good online
and downloadable docs.

In the DI-524 all you do is give it the NAT IP of the computer with the
syslog utility and check enable (manual p 38 below email stuff which
won't work unless you have an open email server). Everything else is
done with the kiwi utility.

--
Mike Easter