domain controller time service

[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.

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

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?

[Tigger]

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?
>
>
>
>

[Bruce Sanderson]

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.
>