How to Query an NTP Server using C#?

Question

All I need is a way to query an NTP Server using C# to get the Date Time of the NTP Server returned as either a string or as a DateTime.

H

Answer 1

I know the topic is quite old, but such tools are always handy. I've used the resources above and created a version of NtpClient which allows asynchronously to acquire accurate time, instead of event based.

 /// 

/// Represents a client which can obtain accurate time via NTP protocol.
/// 
public class NtpClient
{
    private readonly TaskCompletionSource _resultCompletionSource;

    /// 

    /// Creates a new instance of  class.
    /// 
    public NtpClient()
    {
        _resultCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource();
    }

    /// 

    /// Gets accurate time using the NTP protocol with default timeout of 45 seconds.
    /// 
    /// Network accurate  value.
    public async Task GetNetworkTimeAsync()
    {
        return await GetNetworkTimeAsync(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(45));
    }

    /// 

    /// Gets accurate time using the NTP protocol with default timeout of 45 seconds.
    /// 
    /// Operation timeout in milliseconds.
    /// Network accurate  value.
    public async Task GetNetworkTimeAsync(int timeoutMs)
    {
        return await GetNetworkTimeAsync(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(timeoutMs));
    }

    /// 

    /// Gets accurate time using the NTP protocol with default timeout of 45 seconds.
    /// 
    /// Operation timeout.
    /// Network accurate  value.
    public async Task GetNetworkTimeAsync(TimeSpan timeout)
    {
        using (var socket = new DatagramSocket())
        using (var ct = new CancellationTokenSource(timeout))
        {
            ct.Token.Register(() => _resultCompletionSource.TrySetCanceled());

            socket.MessageReceived += OnSocketMessageReceived;
            //The UDP port number assigned to NTP is 123
            await socket.ConnectAsync(new HostName("pool.ntp.org"), "123");
            using (var writer = new DataWriter(socket.OutputStream))
            {
                // NTP message size is 16 bytes of the digest (RFC 2030)
                var ntpBuffer = new byte[48];

                // Setting the Leap Indicator, 
                // Version Number and Mode values
                // LI = 0 (no warning)
                // VN = 3 (IPv4 only)
                // Mode = 3 (Client Mode)
                ntpBuffer[0] = 0x1B;

                writer.WriteBytes(ntpBuffer);
                await writer.StoreAsync();
                var result = await _resultCompletionSource.Task;
                return result;
            }
        }
    }

    private void OnSocketMessageReceived(DatagramSocket sender, DatagramSocketMessageReceivedEventArgs args)
    {
        try
        {
            using (var reader = args.GetDataReader())
            {
                byte[] response = new byte[48];
                reader.ReadBytes(response);
                _resultCompletionSource.TrySetResult(ParseNetworkTime(response));
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            _resultCompletionSource.TrySetException(ex);
        }
    }

    private static DateTime ParseNetworkTime(byte[] rawData)
    {
        //Offset to get to the "Transmit Timestamp" field (time at which the reply 
        //departed the server for the client, in 64-bit timestamp format."
        const byte serverReplyTime = 40;

        //Get the seconds part
        ulong intPart = BitConverter.ToUInt32(rawData, serverReplyTime);

        //Get the seconds fraction
        ulong fractPart = BitConverter.ToUInt32(rawData, serverReplyTime + 4);

        //Convert From big-endian to little-endian
        intPart = SwapEndianness(intPart);
        fractPart = SwapEndianness(fractPart);

        var milliseconds = (intPart * 1000) + ((fractPart * 1000) / 0x100000000L);

        //**UTC** time
        DateTime networkDateTime = (new DateTime(1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc)).AddMilliseconds((long)milliseconds);
        return networkDateTime;
    }

    // stackoverflow.com/a/3294698/162671
    private static uint SwapEndianness(ulong x)
    {
        return (uint)(((x & 0x000000ff) << 24) +
                       ((x & 0x0000ff00) << 8) +
                       ((x & 0x00ff0000) >> 8) +
                       ((x & 0xff000000) >> 24));
    }
}

Usage:

var ntp = new NtpClient();
var accurateTime = await ntp.GetNetworkTimeAsync(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));