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Troubleshooting

Use these troubleshooting steps if you run into issues using Equinix Precision Time. To report a problem with your Equinix Precision Time service, see Opening a Support Case for instructions on getting technical help through the Equinix Customer Portal.

Troubleshooting Issues for Precision Time in the Customer Portal​

When you provision your Equinix Precision Time service through the Customer portal, you might see these error messages. Here are the actions that you can take.

We are unable to connect to Equinix Precision Time through Equinix Fabric.​

Action – Wait a few minutes, then try again. If the issue persists, contact Customer Support as outlined on the Opening a Support Case page.

We could not retrieve Equinix Cloud Exchange ports or Network Edge devices for your Account.​

Action – Contact your Equinix Account Manager to order a new port or device, or have them grant your account access to the ports or devices configured for your organization.

You do not have Equinix Cloud Exchange ports or Network Edge devices in the region you’ve selected for Equinix Precision Time.​

Action - If you must use the selected region, contact your Equinix Account Manager to order a new port or virtual device in the region. Or, if your organization already has ports or devices configured in the region, have them grant your account access to those ports or devices.

We are unable to fetch information on the Equinix Precision Time service.​

Action – Try again after a few minutes. If the issue persists, contact Customer Support as outlined on the Opening a Support Case page.

No locations found for this service.​

Action – Contact your Equinix Account Manager to verify your service locations.

We are unable to fetch some required information.​

Action – Try again after a few minutes. If the issue persists, open a Support Case or contact support@equinix.com.

We are unable to create the time service.​

Action – Try again after a few minutes. If the issue persists, open a Support Case or contact support@equinix.com.

You do not have permission to create a connection.​

Action – Contact Equinix Customer Support to get permission to create Fabric connections.

The specified S-Tag.C-Tag combination <xxx.yyy> is already in use.​

Action – Provide a different S-Tag.C-Tag combination, then click Submit.

The specified VLAN ID is already in use.​

Action – Provide a valid VLAN ID, then click Submit.

Connection Request Error​

Action – You do not have permissions to create a connection over Equinix Fabric.

Request Error​

Action – <Follow the instructions that are returned.>

You do not have Equinix Cloud Exchange ports in the region you’ve selected for Equinix Precision Time.​

Action – If you must use the selected region, contact your Equinix Account Manager to order a new port in the region. Or, if your organization already has ports configured in the region, ask them to grant your account access to those ports.

You do not have any Equinix Cloud Exchange <ports/primary ports/secondary ports> for the selected metro and/or IBX.​

Action – Contact your Equinix Account Manager to order a new port (or primary or secondary port) in the selected region. Or, if your organization already has ports (or primary or secondary ports) configured for the metro, ask them to grant your account access to those ports.

You do not have any <primary/secondary> Network Edge devices for the selected metro and/or IBX.​

Action – Contact your Equinix Account Manager to order a new primary or secondary device in the selected region. Or, if your organization already has devices configured for the metro, ask them to grant your account access to those devices.

You do not have any available interfaces on the <primary/secondary> device.​

Action – Make sure you have an interface available. Details about interfaces can be found on the Equinix Customer portal.

Troubleshooting the Timing Service​

Before you begin troubleshooting, ensure that you are registered and signed into the Customer portal. For details, see Prerequisites.

Are you able to connect to the Precision Time time servers?​

  • If you do not have service, wait 15 minutes then check the connection status on the Customer portal to see if it is Provisioned. If your service is not Provisioned, contact Customer Support as outlined on the Support page.

  • Try to ping the Precision Time primary server. Check for a foreign MAC address on your network device that is directly connected to the Equinix Fabric port.

    note

    Valid MAC addresses are Equinix Fabric MAC address + your MAC addresses. Anything else is a foreign address. The presence of a foreign MAC address indicates that your client network has established a connection with the Precision Time primary server. There should also be a MAC address of the network device, as learned from the Precision Time VLAN, or another network device learning through an Equinix Fabric port. For more on pinging, see Network Topology.

    1. If there is no foreign MAC address on your network device, contact Customer Support as outlined on the Support page.

    2. If you can successfully ping the Precision Time primary server, configure your time client and try to synchronize with Precision Time.

    3. If you cannot ping the Precision Time primary server:

      • Use show lldp neighbored ethernet X to return the MAC address of the Equinix Fabric network device via LLDP on the interface directly connected to the Equinix Fabric port.
      • Use show mac address-table vlan X to return the MAC address of the Precision Time network device on the VLAN, which is directly connected to the Equinix Fabric port.
      • Be aware that some Ethernet frame exchanges must be initiated with a ping.

    4. Verify your port connection. For a description of Dot1Q and QinQ port connections, see Prerequisites.

  • If you are unable to ping Equinix Precision Time servers, the configuration of the ordered Equinix Fabric port could be a problem. If you have ordered an Equinix Fabric aggregated port, then your device that is connected to the primary or secondary Equinix Fabric cloud must be configured with a link aggregate or port channel. The configuration steps depend on your device.

  • If you still can't ping the Precision Time Primary, contact Customer Support as outlined on the Support page.

The client is correctly configured to consume Precision Time, but there is no time synchronization.​

Ensure that your PTP or NTP configuration is correctly configured for your Equinix Precision Time service. See Sample Configurations for PTP service configurations.

If you have a routing/switching device directly connected to the Equinix Fabric Port, and this device is configured as a Boundary Clock (BC), then the PTP VLAN configuration could be causing a problem.

EF ports are provisioned as the trunk with VLAN ID tags. The BC ports of the routing/switching device must support and be configured with PTP VLAN tagging. For example: ptp vlan 300.

Support for the PTP VLAN depends on the device brand, model, and firmware.

Is the timing accuracy off?​

If you suspect the accuracy of your time signal is off, collect the time-stamp logs and file a Trouble Ticket as described in Support.