ntservice.ini and ntlog

Basic Troubleshooting

Platform
Intel® PAC
Napatech SmartNIC
Content Type
User Guide
Capture Software Version
Link™ Capture Software 12.11

Configuring parameters

The time-stamping and time synchronization parameters are configured in the ntservice.ini file. The ntservice.ini file is located under the installation directory by default. The default directory on Linux is /opt/napatech3/config. The default directory on Windows is C:\Program Files\Napatech3\config or C:\Program Files (x86)\Napatech3\config. The following ntservice.ini code is a typical system configuration for OS time synchronization.

TimeSyncReferencePriority=OsTime

Restart the ntservice daemon or NTService

After changing the configuration in the ntservice.ini file, please restart the ntservice daemon or NTService. The example below shows stopping the ntservice daemon and starting it again on Linux. Please refer to Load the Driver and Start the ntservice Daemon on Linux as well as DN-0379 for details on how to stop and how to start ntservice daemon.

# /opt/napatech3/bin/ntstop.sh
Stopping NTService (this may take a while)
NTService stopped                                           [Done]
# /opt/napatech3/bin/ntstart.sh
Starting NTService (this may take a while)                  [Done]

Stop and restart NTService in service mode

The following command example shows how to stop and how to restart NTService in service mode on Windows. Please refer to Check the Driver and Start the NTService on Windows as well as DN-1067 for details on how to stop and how to start NTService.

C:\Program Files\Napatech3\bin>NTService.exe -k
Stopping the service: "Napatech Software Suite 64 bit".

C:\Program Files\Napatech3\bin>NTService.exe -s
Starting the service: "Napatech Software Suite 64 bit"
"Napatech Software Suite 64 bit" is started

Error messages

If any errors in the ntservice.ini file are detected, errors will be generated in the output messages and the ntservice daemon or NTService will fail to start. The followings are error messages when the ntservice daemon has been failed to start on Linux.

[root@cph-sup-nec ~]# /opt/napatech3/bin/ntstart.sh
Starting NTService (this may take a while)                  [Failed]
ntlog (v. 2.6.1.393-8a3af)
==============================================================================

>>> Warning: Failed to initialize the API.
>>>          Not able to read low level driver log
>>>          Is the driver loaded?
Log level mask: 0x07
Log display mask: 0xFF
-------------------------+--------+---------+-----+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
Timestamp                |   PID  | LogType | Src |    Rel    | Log entry
-------------------------+--------+---------+-----+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
03/21/14 20:17:57.414720 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Starting ntservice (v. 2.6.1.393-8a3af)
03/21/14 20:17:57.417384 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Loading ini-file: "/opt/napatech3/config/ntservice.ini"
03/21/14 20:17:57.417393 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | System:TimestampFormat=NATIVE_UNIX
03/21/14 20:17:57.417394 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | System:TimestampMethod=EOF
03/21/14 20:17:57.417399 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | System:SDRAMFillLevelWarning=0 (0,0,0,0)
03/21/14 20:17:57.417410 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | System:NumWorkerThreads=3
03/21/14 20:17:57.417412 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | System:TimeSyncOsTimeReference=None
03/21/14 20:17:57.417416 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Adapter0:AdapterType=NT20E2
03/21/14 20:17:57.417417 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Adapter0:BusId=0000:25:00.0
…
…
…

03/21/14 20:17:57.419022 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Physical adapter 0: 18F4:00C5 @ 0000:25:00.0 C824042E09: 200-9220-46-9
03/21/14 20:17:57.419912 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Physical adapter 1: 18F4:00C5 @ 0000:29:00.0 C824042F02: 200-9220-47-2
03/21/14 20:17:57.419967 |   3059 | INFO    | SRV | 393-8a3af | Host buffer handler affinity on adapter 0 set to 0
03/21/14 20:17:57.419982 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | Adapter 0: TimeSyncReferencePriority key "OSTime" found, but not last in priority.
03/21/14 20:17:57.419989 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | Correct ntservice.ini by assigning valid values to valid keys.
03/21/14 20:17:57.419995 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | Init Fail: 1267
03/21/14 20:17:57.420001 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | ********************************************************************
03/21/14 20:17:57.420006 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | *                Something failed during init.                     *
03/21/14 20:17:57.420011 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | *          Please check the complete log for more info.            *
03/21/14 20:17:57.420016 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | ********************************************************************
03/21/14 20:17:57.445975 |   3064 | ERROR   | API | 393-8a3af | [ntlog] NtService has failed

NTService needs attention.

The same error messages are logged, and can be displayed using the ntlog utility as shown below.

ntlog (v. 2.6.1.393-8a3af)
==============================================================================

>>> Warning: Failed to initialize the API.
>>>          Not able to read low level driver log
>>>          Is the driver loaded?
Log level mask: 0x07
Log display mask: 0x01
-------------------------+--------+---------+-----+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
Timestamp                |   PID  | LogType | Src |    Rel    | Log entry
-------------------------+--------+---------+-----+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
03/21/14 20:17:57.419982 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | Adapter 0: TimeSyncReferencePriority key "OSTime" found, but not last in priority.
03/21/14 20:17:57.419989 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | Correct ntservice.ini by assigning valid values to valid keys.
03/21/14 20:17:57.419995 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | Init Fail: 1267
03/21/14 20:17:57.420001 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | ********************************************************************
03/21/14 20:17:57.420006 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | *                Something failed during init.                     *
03/21/14 20:17:57.420011 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | *          Please check the complete log for more info.            *
03/21/14 20:17:57.420016 |   3059 | ERROR   | SRV | 393-8a3af | ********************************************************************
03/21/14 20:17:57.445975 |   3064 | ERROR   | API | 393-8a3af | [ntlog] NtService has failed
03/21/14 20:20:12.512954 |   3066 | ERROR   | API | 393-8a3af | [ntlog] NtService has failed

Please refer to ntlog as well as DN-0449 for more information about the ntlog tool.

Please forward the error messages to Napatech Technical Support for further assistance.