domain controller time service

[Guest Tigger]

On our first domain controller, I did the "net time /querysntp" command and

it came back with "time.windows.com,0x1". Does it mean that it syncs with

that external time source? Or does it mean it does not sync at all with an

external time source? I haven't done anything in the past so that was the

default setting.

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: domain controller time service

 

Tigger <Tigger@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> On our first domain controller, I did the "net time /querysntp"

> command and it came back with "time.windows.com,0x1". Does it mean

> that it syncs with that external time source?

 

Yes.

> Or does it mean it does

> not sync at all with an external time source? I haven't done anything

> in the past so that was the default setting.

 

It means it's syncing with time.windows.com.

 

Are you having problems with your windows / domain time services?

[Guest Tigger]

Re: domain controller time service

 

The time on the domain controller was about 8 minutes slow before. I

corrected the time and it is fine right now.

 

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> Tigger <Tigger@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > On our first domain controller, I did the "net time /querysntp"

> > command and it came back with "time.windows.com,0x1". Does it mean

> > that it syncs with that external time source?

>

> Yes.

>

> > Or does it mean it does

> > not sync at all with an external time source? I haven't done anything

> > in the past so that was the default setting.

>

> It means it's syncing with time.windows.com.

>

> Are you having problems with your windows / domain time services?

>

>

>

>

[Guest Bruce Sanderson]

Re: domain controller time service

 

The net time /querysntp doesn't necessarily tell you want the Windows Time

Service is doing for time syncronization. All of the net time functions are

sort of "legacy" - the w32tm command is the preferred command for managing

the Windows Time Service in Windows XP, 2003 etc.

 

Here's some things to check:

 

Look in the System Event Log for entries from Source w32time. Usually there

will be one or more of these soon after the system starts and periodically

thereafter. There should be at least one (Event 35 or 37) that tells you

what the server is using as a time source. On the domain controller that is

the root of the Domain Hierarchy there may be an entry that says, more or

less, that it has not been configured to use an external time source, in

which case, you need to specify one using the w32tm command (see below).

 

Use regedit and examine the settings in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters.

 

Look at the Type value :

NT5DS - the computer is syncing with another computer in the domain

hierarchy.

NTP - the computer is syncing with the remote computer identified in the

NtpServer value.

 

By default, Windows computers, including Domain Controllers, are configured

to use the "Domain Hierarchy" for time syncronization. The "first" domain

controller (e.g. the one with the PDC FSMO role) needs to be manually

configured to syncronize with an external time source. Use the following

command to do this:

 

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:time.nist.com

/reliable:yes

w32tm /config /update

 

"/manualpeerlist" specifies the DNS name of the external time source -

time.nist.com is common one (in Canada, a common one is time.nrc.ca) but

there's lots of others - see http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome

 

The following command will force the time service to do a syncronization,

which will be reported in the System Event Log

 

w32tm /resync /rediscover

 

To find all the possible variations of the w32tm command -

 

w32tm /?

 

In Windows Server 2008, a query function has been added to the w32tm command

that is useful (don't need to use regedit to see the actual configuration).

Unfortunately, it is not available in Windows 2003:

 

w32tm /query /configuration

--

Bruce Sanderson

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders

 

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

 

 

 

"Tigger" <Tigger@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:D9C5274E-C3E3-4142-B458-3F16137EA589@microsoft.com...

> On our first domain controller, I did the "net time /querysntp" command

> and

> it came back with "time.windows.com,0x1". Does it mean that it syncs with

> that external time source? Or does it mean it does not sync at all with an

> external time source? I haven't done anything in the past so that was the

> default setting.

>