Authentication Clock Skew Problem

[CyberNerd]

I thought I had this one licked. apparently not.

 

OSX Tiger on minimacs

AD authentication - works fine

In system preferences I set 'set time from time server' pointed it to my ntp server and clicked ok - the time gets updated - excellent. I tick the do it automatically button' then lock the prefs.

Problem is that the clocks don't update regularly and 2-3months later Kerberos breaks.

 

any ideas ?

[Geoff]

This from experiences with Linux so it might not be 100%, however it's the same software, so...

 

If the clock is too far out (ironically more than 5mins or so) NTP will refuse the sync. You must manually set the clock the first time round then tell NTP to sync up.

 

The other thing is is it actually using ntpd? or is it just running ntpdate at bootup? really you should do both. ntpdate to get it near enough at boot time for for ntpd and then ntpd to keep it correct.

[tom_newton]

Do a test to make sure ntp is being served correctly - make sure the daemon is running on the linux server, and then point ntpdate at localhost.

 

If you're fortunate enough to run SchoolGuardian then there's an inbuilt ntp client & server there.

 

Also make sure your settings for BST etc. aare consistent.

[CyberNerd]

Thanks,

the ntp server is working fine, the mac updates in the GUI but grumbles when ntpdate is rum from CLI - 'socket in use'. I guess the gui locks ntpdate somehow but the cron or starup script the gui generates doesn't work ?

I might try not using the gui and puting in a cron job to do it - assuming I can navigate OSX.

[Geoff]

The 'socket in use' error suggests to me your running ntpd and ntpdate at the same time. One or the other. Personally I'd go with ntpd.