Documentation

How it works

Runs chronyc clients via sudo to collect live NTP client data.
Classifies by address: hostname, IPv4, IPv6; sorts hostnames alphabetically, IPv4 numerically by octet, IPv6 lexicographically.
Maps columns into keys (addr, NTP, Drop, Cmd, Int, IntL, Last).
Exposes /data (JSON) and / (dashboard UI). Frontend polls once per second.

TICC-DASH backend (`ticc-dash.py`)

ticc-dash.py is a small Flask app with two jobs: (1) collect live client data from chronyc clients and (2) serve that data as JSON to the dashboard. It drops header lines, classifies/sorts addresses, and returns a compact payload with a total count and server time. On failures an error field is included.

Endpoints

/ — Renders the dashboard UI (HTML/JS) from a Flask string template.

/data — JSON with parsed client rows plus meta (count, local_time, optional error).

Security & permissions

Requires a sudoers rule to run /usr/bin/chronyc clients without a password.
Arguments are passed as a fixed list to subprocess (no shell expansion).
Errors (missing binary, permission denied, etc.) are surfaced via the error field.

Performance tips

Frontend polls every second (setInterval(refresh, 1000)); increase to 2–5s for large fleets.
Run behind a production WSGI server (e.g., gunicorn) and a reverse proxy (e.g., Nginx).
For better security, add an access list (HTTP auth or IP allow-list) at the proxy.

Typical use cases

Monitoring NTP client drift and reachability.
Quickly spotting clients with dropped packets.
Finding IPv4/IPv6 configuration issues.
Running behind Nginx with HTTPS in production.

Manage the systemd service

Start

Start the TICC-DASH service if it is not running.

sudo systemctl start ticc-dash.service

Stop

Gracefully stop the TICC-DASH service.

sudo systemctl stop ticc-dash.service

Restart

Reload the service by stopping and starting it (useful after updates).

sudo systemctl restart ticc-dash.service

Status

Show current status, last logs and whether it’s enabled on boot.

sudo systemctl status ticc-dash.service

Enable on boot

Start the service automatically after a reboot.

sudo systemctl enable ticc-dash.service

Disable on boot

Prevent the service from starting automatically on reboot.

sudo systemctl disable ticc-dash.service

Follow logs

Stream live logs for troubleshooting.

sudo journalctl -u ticc-dash.service -f

Recent logs (1h)

Show logs from the last hour only.

sudo journalctl -u ticc-dash.service --since "1 hour ago"

Install path & structure

/opt/ticc-dash
├── ticc-dash.py
├── venv/
└── static/
    └── img/
        └── ticc-dash-logo.png

systemd unit: /etc/systemd/system/ticc-dash.service
sudoers: /etc/sudoers.d/ticc-dash

Troubleshooting

No clients visible? Run sudo chronyc clients manually to verify.
Service won’t start? Inspect logs with sudo journalctl -u ticc-dash.service -f.
Port 5000 already in use? Free the port or put a reverse proxy (Nginx) in front.
Logo missing? Ensure ticc-dash-logo.png exists under /opt/ticc-dash/static/img/.