ESXi

Hello,

I have NTP servers configured at my network (2 Windows 2003 servers) that sync their time with external NTP pools. in the network also are a set of managed ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.1 servers. all VMs are set to sync time using OS not VMware Tools according to best practices. i dont have issues with VM time or either ESX 3.5 servers, but i have an issue with my ESXi 4.1 servers that i already configured as NTP clients that sync with the 2 Windows NTP servers. I keep seeing a time difference between 2-3 minutes on these machines, besides, when i try to alter the time back to the correct value, upon restart of the host the time difference is back again.

please advise.

check it http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Timekeeping-In-VirtualMachines.pdf

open vmware tool and check box syncro of time check in this guide

check too http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1318

Thanks Mauro for the reply.

The first pdf link didnt include much information about how i can solve this as it speaks mainly about syncing your VMs - which i dont have issues with.

I have a question about the second link, i qoute; "For VMware ESX, run NTP in the service console. For VMware ESXi, run NTP on the VMkernel".

What does this mean? i thought configuring the host as an NTP client is done through vSphere client regardless if the host is ESX or ESXi.

The NTP is configured on the VMware host, can be configured through the VI Client under Configuration> Time Configuration.