Network time/clock different on pc's across the network

[mjgreen]

Hi all,

 

Recently our PC's and servers around the network have fallen out of sync and are all showing slightly different times. I have never dealt with this before and dont really know where to start looking or what is the most likley thing to have happened.

 

Any ideas?

[Steve21]

Are you syncing them on your domain, or externally?

 

Might be worth trying to drop and resync all the timings:

 

w32tm /resync

 

(or on a fuller way)

 

net stop w32time

w32tm /unregister

w32tm /register

net start w32time

w32tm /resync

 

Steve

[mjgreen]

We 'should' be syncing them on the domain (we have 3 DC's, not sure if this makes a difference?). I have noticed the clocks are all different on the 3 DC's, perhaps this could be causing an issue?

 

I tried the resync on my PC and it completed successfully (but the time did not alter). However, I am unsure what it is syncing with. How do I find this out?

[mjgreen]

incidently, I just tried the resync on 2x pc's with different times. They completed successfully, but the clocks did not change

[Steve21]

We 'should' be syncing them on the domain (we have 3 DC's, not sure if this makes a difference?). I have noticed the clocks are all different on the 3 DC's, perhaps this could be causing an issue?

 

I tried the resync on my PC and it completed successfully (but the time did not alter). However, I am unsure what it is syncing with. How do I find this out?

 

Think it's w32tm /monitor

 

Steve

[ricki]

Hi

 

I put a start up script in with this

NET TIME \\domain controller /SET /YES

 

Richard

[mjgreen]

I tried the monitor, and this is what it shows on ALL PC's (even though they show different times)

[mjgreen]

Is that the standard way to do it? I dont think we have had a script to do this in the past.

[Dos_Box]

I always used to have NET TIME in a script for domain computers. It used to be 'the way' to do it years ago. Come to think of it, have Microsoft not yet created a GPO for this? If not, why not, it's a must have feature!

[FN-GM]

Hi

 

I put a start up script in with this

NET TIME \\domain controller /SET /YES

 

Richard

 

I always used to have NET TIME in a script for domain computers. It used to be 'the way' to do it years ago. Come to think of it, have Microsoft not yet created a GPO for this? If not, why not, it's a must have feature!

 

Would you use that as a logon or startup script please?

[sister_annex]

Hi

 

I put a start up script in with this

NET TIME \\domain controller /SET /YES

 

Richard

 

NET TIME Should not be used when using windows 7 or 2008 it can be used with XP but using windows time is the more appropriate way.

 

Firstly you need to ensure your PDC is syncing its clock correctly to a Stratum 1 time source

 

You can do this by entering the following in the command prompt:

 

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist: /syncfromflags:manual reliable:YES /update

 

This will set your PDC as a reliable time source for the rest of the domain

 

on your clients (and other DCs servers etc.) you will need to do the following from the command line:

 

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update

 

After all of these you may need to restart the w32time service

 

then check the event logs for the windows time entries, it should show that the time is syncing correctly.

 

 

Interestingly your DCs should be no more than 5 mins apart or Kerberos does not work and you will start having issues with domain authentication.

 

and also note that windows time will not set the exact time, it will only stop the time from drifting too far AFAIK

 

HTH

 

Mark

[soveryapt]

If you have a DHCP Server on one of your DCs then you could simply setup Option "004 Time Server" to point to your PDC IP Address with a backup to an external NTP IP address and then set your PDC to get it's time from that external source.

 

This way, all your machines will get their time from the PDC or, failing that, the external NTP and should be in sync.

 

The other thing that it could be is if people have been changing the time zone for your machines you'll find that they appear out of sync (if they are truly out of sync in any time zone then they shouldn't log on to the domain assuming you have it set with a threshold for how far out of sync they can be - default around 5 mins I think).

 

I used to have a script to sort this, I'll see if I can find it somewhere for you.

[soveryapt]

I used to have a script to sort this, I'll see if I can find it somewhere for you.

 

Right, can't find my own but this seems familiar having Googled a bit ..

 

CONTROL.EXE TIMEDATE.CPL,,/Z GMT Standard Time

 

Try it and see if it works .. but it's not taken from my definitely working script, it's one I've found in a Google search that rings a bell ..

[ToyHeartsFan]

Our PDC (W2003) gets its time from the LEA time server; our other DC and member servers then get their time from the PDC.

 

run this on all of the servers replaceing “peers” with the ip of your time source:

 

"W32tm /config /manualpeerlist: peers /syncfromflags:manual /update"

(there shouldnt be a space after peerlist but it kept turning it into a smiley)

 

We have XP so still use net time in the logon script to set the time on the workstations

 

net time %LOGONSERVER% /set /yes

 

 

Note: If the date / time is too far out on a workstation then it won’t connect to the domain in which case you probably need to invest in a big box of CMOS batteries.

Edited November 16, 2011 by ToyHeartsFan
thats not a smiley its code - lol

[mjgreen]

If you have a DHCP Server on one of your DCs then you could simply setup Option "004 Time Server" to point to your PDC IP Address with a backup to an external NTP IP address and then set your PDC to get it's time from that external source.

 

This way, all your machines will get their time from the PDC or, failing that, the external NTP and should be in sync.

 

The other thing that it could be is if people have been changing the time zone for your machines you'll find that they appear out of sync (if they are truly out of sync in any time zone then they shouldn't log on to the domain assuming you have it set with a threshold for how far out of sync they can be - default around 5 mins I think).

 

I used to have a script to sort this, I'll see if I can find it somewhere for you.

 

This post led me to find otion 042 in DHCP, which apparntly is the prefered method of time delivery now. I added our PDC's IP address in option 042 and I believe that this is already replicating around the network and syncing everything

 

Thanks very much for all your help guys.....fingers crossed

[irsprint84]

I have this set at gpo levewl in the domain controller OU:

 

computer -> admin templates -> system -> windows time

 

Global time settings ENABLED (default settings)

Enabled Windows NTP server ENABLED

 

then under client PC's/ member servers:

 

computer -> admin templates -> system -> windows time

 

Global time settings ENABLED (default settings)

Enable Windows NTP Client ENABLED

 

Then on each DC I run this script:

 

net stop w32time

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"0.uk.pool.ntp.org 1.uk.pool.ntp.org 2.uk.pool.ntp.org 3.uk.pool.ntp.org" /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update

w32tm /config /reliable:yes

net start w32time

 

or if you have to use an awful council time server chnage manualpeerlist

 

Also if I recall Microsoft advise against using DHCP because of some wierd legacy stuff