VM Timekeeping Best Practice?

[markwolf]

I just read a doc on VMware's site that suggests for Windows 2003 and 2008, the best practice for timekeeping is to use the Windows Time Service or NTP and to disable the time sync in VMware tools. I was always under the assumption that the opposite was true?

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1318&slice...

I thought that I remember reading somewhere that the guest OS couldn't accurately keep track of the time drift due to the fact that time is measured in cpu cycles, and that the VMware tools time sync with the ESX host was the best way to keep the guest OS in sync. Has this changed?

Mark

[ShaneWendel]

You'd only want to use time sync via tools if you had no other option, such as on a virtual machine that was network isolated. Set your hosts and your vms (or your domain if you're talking about AD hosts) to use the same NTP source and you're good.

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Shane Wendel

VCP: vSphere 4

VCP: VI3