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Windows Time

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by lumbini

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I have been receiving an error which is as follows.

"This Machine is a PDC of the domain at the root of the forest. Configure to sync from External time source using the net command, 'net time /setsntp:'. "

and also errors such as this..

"Because of repeated network problems, the time service has not been able to find a domain controller to synchronize with for a long time. To reduce network traffic, the time service will wait 960 minutes before trying again. No synchronization will take place during this interval, even if network connectivity is restored. Accumulated time errors may cause certain network operations to fail. To tell the time service that network connectivity has been restored and that it should resynchronize, execute "w32tm /s" from the command line."

The Server is connected to the Internet via a DialUp. I provided a Time Server name with this command but the error is still there.

I would be grateful for the folowing:

1. The proper commands to use to rectify the issue including the time server addrress.

2. A clear and detailed explanation of the related topic.

Only the best answer will receive all 500 Points.

Best Regards,
Nigel.

5 replies

by lumbini

Sorry QB,
Although the answer you provided does give the proper command, I was looking for the reasons behind receiving such an error and a detailed explanation on the topic. I would love to give you some points QB but in my initial statement (seepoint 2) I have said that the most detailed unswer will receive all points.
Hope there's no hard feelings and I do appreciate the time you took to answer this question.
Best Regards,
Nigel.

by kevin anderson

When changes are made on a network, time is of paramount importance. This allows one item to occur when it should, and another item to occur afterwards, as intended. For example. If a user changes their password, it needs to be updated on the network. This change usually occurs at login time, so the "last Login Time" field needs to be updated also. If time was not syncronized, the new userID showing the updated password could be overwritten by the userID showing the new time as this information is passed between servers. Please understand that this is extremely over simplified, but I am limited in the length of my reply to 1930 Characters...

Because time is vital to your network, your server is trying to make sure that it is accurate. To adjust the time, the instructions are given by the previous reply. As (s)he indicates, choose a NTP time source that it PHYSICALLY closest to you, and the lower the statum number (generally) the better. (strat2 is excellent). By pointing your server at this time source, you can assure that time is always accurate. If you want, you can point it at a Cisco Router inside your network as well. Being disconnected from the internet, this will be your best option. PCs are terrible at keeping time, so you don't want to use a PC if you can avoid it (this is called clock drift, and a good NTP setup will try to account for it. If you can't avoid using a PC, I would recommend using an old machine (386) running Linux. Just set up and install RedHat 7. Point your server at it. Since it will have no load on it, time will be very accurate, and Linux runs NTP right out of the box, so you don't need to do any config to get it running except on the server.

MS's help for this can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q257/1/87.ASP

Hope that helps.
Kev.

by lumbini

Dear Kev,
Thank you for the answer which was to the point and very informative. I do appreate it very much.
Best Regards,
Nigel.

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