time sync problem

[mazixo]

Hi

Im looking for way to sync all my esx4/4.1 and ESXi5 Hosts with my NTP Server  automaticlly .

some of the hosts can sync the date and time and whenever I change time or date after few secend  it syinc but other host cant syinc with NTP .

is there way to check this sync procces and how can I be sure about this and fix them

tanx

[Gkeerthy]

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=103583...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100373...

refer the above links and check

[mazixo]

so I think Its nessesery that all ESX and ESXi host be join into DC !? :smileymischief:

[Gkeerthy]

since most of the applications will be in sync with AD and so it is easy to manage one NTP in the environment that is AD, so if AD is there in my opinion it is good to add esx hosts to AD and in the esx host give AD as the NTP server

[vGuy]

you need to ensure you have a reliable time source whether it's AD or ntp (I would rather prefer ntp). Accurate time sync for all the hosts is important as the Guest Operating systems uses the ESX(i) host for time sync for one time operations such as (snapshot revert, suspend/resume of the VM, and etc.) even when the host time sync is disabled.

for the troubleshooting, ensure a) ntp server is reachable from the host, b) no firewalls are blocking the ntp port 123 udp, c) ntp client service is enabled on the hosts d) use ntp query, "ntpq -p" to see if the offset is very large, in that case you may need to configure the time manually and then sync again.

you can also monitor the ntp on service console using tcpdump, below is the kb article on that:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&e...

...hth!

[Josh26 · Accepted solution]

Gopinath Keerthyrajan wrote:

since most of the applications will be in sync with AD and so it is easy to manage one NTP in the environment that is AD, so if AD is there in my opinion it is good to add esx hosts to AD and in the esx host give AD as the NTP server

It's easy enough to configure your domain controller to support NTP and configure your hosts to talk to it - without any need at all for the hosts to join the domain as members.

[sparrowangelste]

maybe op hasnt setup NTP at all?

follow the following steps.

the link has a pic

1. Go to esxi configuration tab
2. Go down to the time      configuration tab
3. Click properties
4. When the time configuration      box opens click Options
5. When the NTP daemon options      shows up click on  NTP settings
6. Add your NTP server
   1. Check the restart NTP service when you are finished.

http://sparrowangelstechnology.blogspot.com/2012/07/setup-ntp-for-your-esxi-host.html

[gaspipe]

If running Linux VMs, especially older releases, also check this KB: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100642...