Should VM synchronize time with ESXi Host ?

[TonyJK]

Hi,

We are running Domain Controllers, Domain Members and a few Workgroup Servers as Virtual Machines in vSphere 6 Host.

1) We find that the time of a particular Domain Member is incorrect and just wonder whether the time of a Domain Member is synchronized with the ESXi Host or with the Domain Controller ? 

2) Which one is preferred ?

3) Is there any way to enable / disable time synchronization of a VM with vSphere Host ?

Cheers

[conyards]

The following blog from VMware gives a good overview of the topic, and links on how to disable time sync services.

https://blogs.vmware.com/apps/2016/01/completely-disable-time-synchronization-for-your-vm.html 

Thanks, Simon

[TonyJK]

Dear Simon,

From the article, my understanding is

1) It is not recommended to synchronize time with Host for any VM (And we should disable the time synchorniazation in the VMX file as well)

2) Domain Members should be synchronized with DC

Is my understanding correct ?

[conyards · Accepted solution]

Yes, synchronise domain members with the DC, anything not on the domain point towards internal NTP sources (could also be your DC's), and the DC's themselves should have and external time source (if you don't have anything internal there are various sources on the internet you can point towards (ntp.pool.org for example).

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1189?language=en_US

Gives some further guidance on disabling time synchronisation within a VM.

Simon

p.s. NTP is UDP 123 (in case you have to configure any firewalls....)