VMWare ESXi and virtual machine clocks

It depends.  Did you configure the VMs to get the time from the host?  By using an NTP server for VMWare, you're trying to ensure the host has it's clock correct... but if you don't then sync the VMs with the host, the VMs will do what theey want!

Sounds like that's what I'm missing.

How do I configure VM's to get time from host?

There is this article, but it seems rather convoluted:

https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vmtools.install.doc%2FGUID-C0D8326A-B6E7-4E61-8470-6C173FDDF656.html

Don't SYNC WITH HOST! (this is now disabled in VMware Tools!)

Does this imply that all the virtual machines sync their time to that clock? It doesn't appear to be the case at the moment.

Two things, if VMware Tools is installed and enabled to Sync with Host - YES. (this feature is removed in later versions of tools)

But also, when a VM restarts it can also Sync with Host - unless you disable this! (this is not disabled!)

Best Practice..... Sync VMs (Windows) with the Domain! not with HOST! Also ESXi time sync with NTP is poor, and stops..... unreliable...

Linux with External Time source!

I guess I can follow the instructions in the link, but it seems like following the procedure seems a bit archaic.

For those that use VMWare, is this the best course of action?

Andrew - mine is a simple home lab for testing purposes. There is no domain controller.

Thank you to all!