Time of guest OS is not synchrinized with the ESX host???

[marcleq]

Hi all,

I use ESX 3.5 and fedora 6 for guest OS. But the time of the guest OS is different from the ESX host, and can be dozen of minites variance. I have tried editing "tools.syncTime = "TRUE" for the .vmx file and

" kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 clocksource=pit quiet" for the booting of the guest OS, but still does not work.

How can I solve this problem?

Thanks a lot!

-Qian

[weinstein5]

Just want to confirm - do you have VMware tools installed?

[marcleq]

Yes, I have installed VMware tools

[marcleq]

By the way, following is the .vmx:

#!/usr/bin/vmware

config.version = "8"

virtualHW.version = "4"

floppy0.present = "true"

nvram = "ucia_v10.nvram"

deploymentPlatform = "windows"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"

tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"

powerType.powerOff = "default"

powerType.powerOn = "default"

powerType.suspend = "default"

powerType.reset = "default"

displayName = "ucia_v10"

extendedConfigFile = "ucia_v10.vmxf"

scsi0.present = "true"

scsi0.sharedBus = "none"

scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"

memsize = "1000"

scsi0:0.present = "true"

scsi0:0.fileName = "ucia_v10.vmdk"

scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"

ide0:0.present = "true"

ide0:0.clientDevice = "FALSE"

ide0:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"

ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"

floppy0.startConnected = "false"

floppy0.clientDevice = "true"

ethernet0.present = "true"

ethernet0.networkName = "VM_Network"

ethernet0.addressType = "generated"

guestOSAltName = "Other Linux (32-bit)"

guestOS = "linux"

uuid.location = "56 4d a3 1b 74 4b c8 1f-94 7a 66 ef 45 39 e6 23"

uuid.bios = "56 4d a3 1b 74 4b c8 1f-94 7a 66 ef 45 39 e6 23"

toolScripts.afterPowerOn = "true"

toolScripts.afterResume = "true"

toolScripts.beforeSuspend = "true"

toolScripts.beforePowerOff = "true"

ide0:0.fileName = "/dev/hda"

floppy0.fileName = "/dev/fd0"

sched.cpu.max = "unlimited"

sched.cpu.units = "mhz"

scsi0:0.redo = ""

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:39:e6:23"

tools.syncTime = "TRUE"

sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/48e1a0bf-c2ec483b-9c1a-0015c5e87e39/ucia_v10/ucia_v10-7c085091.vswp"

ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"

hostCPUID.0 = "0000000a756e65476c65746e49656e69"

guestCPUID.0 = "0000000a756e65476c65746e49656e69"

userCPUID.0 = "0000000a756e65476c65746e49656e69"

hostCPUID.1 = "000006f6000208000004e3bdbfebfbff"

guestCPUID.1 = "000006f800010800000002010febfbff"

userCPUID.1 = "000006f6000208000004e3bdbfebfbff"

hostCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120100000"

guestCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000000100000"

userCPUID.80000001 = "00000000000000000000000120100000"

evcCompatibilityMode = "FALSE"

checkpoint.vmState = ""

sched.cpu.min = "300"

sched.cpu.shares = "2500"

[malaysiavm]

personal opinion, to sync with multiple NTP servers or ESX host, is depend on your option. I do not experience issue for all my linux VM guess to be sync to our internal NTP servers in my environment.

Malaysia VMware Communities -

[marcleq]

I think you are right. But what kind of options do you mean? could you please give me some hints? thanks,

[AWo]

Try to boot without the pit boot option, with "tools.syncTime="TRUE" and no NTP synchronization within the guest. If you use "pit" you may have your guest requesting 3000 timer interrupts per second which may can't be satisfied as only the system actually owning the CPU can recieve them. The VMware Time Tracker service tries to compensate this, but that doesn't work well in every case. That's why they changed the Linux Kernel since 2.6.18 (32 Bit) to use TSC as the default clock source. This source can be read with one processor cycle and without an interrupt.

If that doesn't work, try to use only NTP in the guest.

Find more troubleshooting help here: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf