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detox1978Flag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Syncronise Time

Hi All,

Our servers have their time set manually.  I've been asked to put together an automated method.

Having done a bit of reading i believe using an NTP Server is best method.


Any suggestions on what is the best route to take.



Thanks
D
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Avatar of John Gates, CISSP, CDPSE
John Gates, CISSP, CDPSE
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Avatar of Robin Hickmott
Robin Hickmott

Set up a Scheduled Task ( Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks )

Execute the Instruction

"net time /setsntp:time.windows.com"

Set it something like 2am Daily.

It will Sync Every Day then with the NTP Server of your choice.
Oh yeah, If you are not in a domain model then you can issue that command on each server seperately.


Sorry you beat me by one minute :)

We have 4 servers none of them are in a domain one issues a NTP query on a daily basis

net time /setsntp:time.windows.com

and the other servers just sync there time off this server 5 minutes after by

net time //main-server /SET /YES
Avatar of detox1978

ASKER

Thanks for the suggestions;

I'm running a windows 2000 / 2003 mixed domain model and the PDC Emulator is a 2003.

If I run "net time /setsntp:time.windows.com" on the PDC Emulator, how do i tell the servers to use the PDC emulator for their time?
NET TIME \\COMPUTERNAME /SET /YES

That will set the local machine to sync time with \\computername (in this case your PDC emulator)
Actually you should not need to do anything.  The servers will get time from the PDC Emulator because it advertizes itself as the source.

On the servers do:

net time /querysntp

You will see that the PDC role holders name and the time will be displayed.  It is handeled by Kerberos.

-D-
Hi guys,


Sorry for the slow reply - had to work on other projects.


I've had a quick look on a few of the servers taht are out of sync and they are not currently pointing to the PDC Emulator?


Any thoughts on why?



D
also, if the servers aren't pointing to the PDC, what is the command to re-point them?
net time /setsntp:<pdcname>
By default within a domain environment the snmp should be set to the PDC emulator.  

This is not the cause in our domain a few point to a different DC, alot point to time.windows.com, and some say "This computer is not currently configured to use a specific SNTP server".


Is there a reason for this, and is there a command to set the server back to default - i.e. it PDC emulator?


I know "net time /setsntp:<pdcname>" will set the snmp, but I would prefer it was set by AD.


Thanks

Well you are asking a loaded question....  If your domain is configuration is correct that would be the case.  

When you type in net time on your servers what is displayed?

Does it return something of this nature:

Current time at \\<domain controller> is <date> <time>

If that is what is returned then your system is working fine.  Even though another time source is chosen the only domain member allowed to go to an outside time source for sync is the pdc role holder.

-D-
ah, ok.....


so the servers that have time.window.com set up as their snmp - do they just keep their time?


Also, is there a way to reset the snmp so it looks for the PDC emulator?
when you typed net time on the servers did it return the pdc emulators name and the time?  If so disregard the time.windows.com and everything is set correctly.  If you typed in net time and it returned:

Current time at time.windows.com is <date> <Time> then there is another issue.


-D-
They all return a different server, which points to the PDC Emulator.  I've tested the time and that checks out ok...


So what is the sntp used for?
Good.  The sntp is to set the PDC emulator to an outside time source.  If all your times are correct then everything is a go.

-D-
cool,


so am I correct in saying the SNTP setting is only used on a PDC Emulator in a domain model.


The setsntp setting to an outside timesource only, yes.
Cheers.  you've been a great help.... :O)
Another quick question.


In another domain we manage the PDC emulator has an SNTP value of time.microsoft.com; and when i type net time it returns another servers name (not microsoft).


Do you know where this server will be getting it's time?
Also, do you know where i can view the correct time including seconds online?


Thanks again.

What server is being named?  

Here is a list of public time servers:

 http://ntp.isc.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome