Moodle in English: Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)

Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)

by Jason Hollowell - Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 10:36 AM

Hello all,

I set up MNet between two Moodle instances (3.3+ and 3.2.1+) about a month ago and everything was working without issue. From my main instance I already had MNet setup with Mahara so all I needed to do was add another host (my 2nd Moodle site 3.2.1+).

I haven't made any changes to either Moodle site since but just noticed today that the connection that should allow me to login to site A and then jump to Site B (logging in via MNet) has suddenly stopped working. The error I am getting is:

Ooops! Your MNET communication has failed! Here's that error message to pass on to your administrator: Time gap with Moodle B (16.5 seconds) is greater than the permitted maximum of 15 secondsERROR 6:

6:Time gap with Moodle B (16.5 seconds) is greater than the permitted maximum of 15 seconds

I changed the site name to Moodle B for brevity. I've checked all certificates to make sure none are expired (one was) and copy/pasted updated certificates from both sites to the other but the only thing that changed was the number of seconds listed in the error. I've forgotten now what the time was but it was a whole number...not 16.5.

The odd thing is that the MNet connection between my main Moodle site (Moodle A) and Mahara continues to work without issue....

Any advice will be most appreciated.

Regards

Jason

Re: Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)

by Jason Hollowell - Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 11:52 AM

Ok, I'm getting worried now... I've been experimenting and doing lots of searches and am nervous about how many similar inquiries (Ooops! Your MNET communication has failed...) I've found here in the forums that went unanswered

I'm perplexed but REALLY need to get this working again.

Any advice...please

Jason

P.S. Just to make sure everything REALLY was in order. I deleted public keys on both sites (A and B) and then updated the key details in the peer settings on both sites....but am still getting the same error (purged caches as well) Argh!

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Re: Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)

by Ken Task - Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 12:51 PM

Used to run MNet. Have seen in the past the same issue when the two MNetted servers system clocks were off more than X seconds. That's the operating system clock ... not any clock in Moodle.

So if Moodle A and B are in the same time zone is the operating system set to use NTP (network time protocol) and get time corrections from an NTP server?

See https://www.google.com/search?q=ntp+server+list for time servers your servers might use.

As far as how to do that on your servers (A or B), consult operating system manuals.

'spirit of sharing', Ken

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Re: Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)

by David Mudrák - Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 3:58 PM

Ken is right. This has nothing to do with Moodle or certificates. It is the operating system time that needs to be synced on all MNet hosts. make sure the NTP is running there and you should be fine. Meanwhile, you can just try and fix the time manually so that it matches as close as possible.

HTH

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Re: Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)

by Jason Hollowell - Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 8:39 PM

Ken and David,

Thanks I finally managed to find a forum post to that effect and sure enough when I checked the two servers, they were off by about 17 seconds. The Moodle code dictates a maximum of 15 seconds apparently...thus the error. When I synced them (almost) everything was back in order.

One of my servers (the one that has the destination Moodle site) is behind another with Apache functioning as a proxy forward to allow the second server to be accessed on the same IP. I guess I need to set it up so it can sync with an external clock to keep it in line with other servers.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Jason

P.S. David, I've contacted Martin about someone from Moodle HQ coming to our Moot in Japan next February and you were highly recommended by one of our members. I know Martin is very busy so he may not have seen my message. Any advice as to how I can get in touch with him?

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Moodle networking (MNet)

Mnet authentication/enrollment problem (suddenly stopped working)