Time

[jbartlett323]

Hi Everybody!

Got a question on my own in-house server. I keep losing time every Sunday and cant figure out why...

It is a Server 08 R2 running on an AMD 1050T w/ 8GB RAM and 6TB of space in RAID 5. Unless its part of the problem (and you can prove it) this thread is not about the merits of server boxes...

This box is our DHCP, DNS, AD, Hyper-V, Backup, File Server, Intranet site, and everything else i can throw at it. Its only host to 2 users and 3 service accounts so i'm not overly worried about loading it down with everything and the kitchen sink as i could rebuild in less than a day.

Now on to the problem:
NTP will not stay sync'd! For some reason every Sunday at ~12am it just decides not to use any time data its sent and soon thereafter all workstation of course start losing time.

Things i have tried:
Googled,
Googled,
Googled,
Binged,
Googled,
Reset all settings (i'm using GP for config btw)
changed NTP provider to NIST.NTP.GOV
changed back
reset all settings again
enabled w32tm debugging (which is how i found that its happening on sunday)
Forwarded 123 through my firewall
Googled,
changed settings for update interval, etc.
reset all settings again
changed the GP i was using to apply the settings
changed back when gpresult showed it wasn't applying.
and prolly a couple of other things i forgot i tried.

I figure it has to be a problem with my settings, but which i dont know. hoping someone has seen similar and can point me in the right direction. I know i could just set a batch file to do a w32tm /resync every monday morning, but i like fixing things not working around them...

here is a screeny of my settings, i can also provide debug logs and other settings if needed!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I use NTP's pool of time servers. The default common time servers are typically overloaded and slow to respond. I set the time server in the server at the command prompt.

I use "us.pool.ntp.org"...for mine...select the pool of NTP servers closest to your region.

At the cmd prompt...

net stop w32time
net time /setsntp:us.pool.ntp.org
net start w32time

 

[jbartlett323]

ok, i tried it... apparently not on Server 2008 R2:

C:\Users\Administrator>net time /setsntp:us.pool.ntp.org
The syntax of this command is:

NET TIME

[\\computername | /DOMAIN[:domainname] | /RTSDOMAIN[:domainname]] [/SET]

NET TIME synchronizes the computer's clock with that of another computer
or domain, or displays the time for a computer or domain. When used without
options on a Windows Server domain, it displays the current
date and time at the computer designated as the time server for the domain.

\\computername Is the name of the computer you want to check or
synchronize with.

/DOMAIN[:domainname] Specifies to synchronize the time from the Primary Domain
Controller of domainname.

/RTSDOMAIN[:domainname] Specifies to synchronize with a Reliable Time Server
from domainname.

/SET Synchronizes the computer's time with the time
on the specified computer or domain.

The /QUERYSNTP and /SETSNTP options have been deprecated. Please use w32tm.exe
to configure the Windows Time Service.

NET HELP command | MORE displays Help one screen at a time.


So i set that in policy, forced an update, stopped and started w32time, and ran w32tm /resync. Guess i'll see what happens!

Thanks for the help!

 

[teksquad]

If have managed switches/routers you could also configure that server as an ntp client and get time from that device. The router/switch would then have an ntp peering with a reliable outside ntp server (or several)

 

[jbartlett323]

If have managed switches/routers you could also configure that server as an ntp client and get time from that device. The router/switch would then have an ntp peering with a reliable outside ntp server (or several)

No managed Switches and our router aint that smart yet.

I dont know that its an issue reaching the upstream NTP server as every time i manually run the command, it updates almost instantly... just wont do it on its own...

 

[teksquad]

Check your firewall and make sure you have udp 123 open in both directions.

 

[jbartlett323]

Check your firewall and make sure you have udp 123 open in both directions.

both TCP and UDP both directions, tested and verified. When it wasn't forwarded i did indeed get an error trying to update it manually.

 

[teksquad]

Is your servers local clock also setup to use the same time source.

 

[jbartlett323]

Is your servers local clock also setup to use the same time source.

This question doesn't make sense... same time source as what?

Yes the server is set as both a time client (so it can receive time from external) and a time server (so it can serve time to workstations)... It is the Server Box with the issue, which is the only box in my domain set to serve time to anyone unless its not on my domain....

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Jiminy crickets...I missed you stating it was 08 'r2...my bad.
Yeah the syntax changed a wee bit...here's a linky...yeah like so many things with Win7/08..they make you go through a few more steps to get to something that was once wonderfully simple.

http://www.sysadminlab.net/windows/configuring-ntp-on-windows-2008-r2

You don't need port forwarding on your router..since your servers are originating the request from inside your network. Port forwarded needed only if people outside your network..across the globe...are using your internal time server.

 

[jbartlett323]

Jiminy crickets...I missed you stating it was 08 'r2...my bad.
Yeah the syntax changed a wee bit...here's a linky...yeah like so many things with Win7/08..they make you go through a few more steps to get to something that was once wonderfully simple.

http://www.sysadminlab.net/windows/configuring-ntp-on-windows-2008-r2

You don't need port forwarding on your router..since your servers are originating the request from inside your network. Port forwarded needed only if people outside your network..across the globe...are using your internal time server.

Thats what i thought about the port thing, but i can say w32tm /resync does fail if UDP 123 isnt forwarded. Dont need TCP for sure, but left it that way to be 100% sure it ain't needed. will change that after i know it works!!

Thanks for that link! I had read that one before, but apparently not all of it... thats a decent article on w32tm!

 

[teksquad]

Jiminy crickets...I missed you stating it was 08 'r2...my bad.
Yeah the syntax changed a wee bit...here's a linky...yeah like so many things with Win7/08..they make you go through a few more steps to get to something that was once wonderfully simple.

http://www.sysadminlab.net/windows/configuring-ntp-on-windows-2008-r2

You don't need port forwarding on your router..since your servers are originating the request from inside your network. Port forwarded needed only if people outside your network..across the globe...are using your internal time server.

This is not true all the time. If the router/firewall isnt stateful then he will need to open up udp 123 inbound from the outside. I have no idea what device he is using at the edge.

 

[jbartlett323]

This is not true all the time. If the router/firewall isnt stateful then he will need to open up udp 123 inbound from the outside. I have no idea what device he is using at the edge.

I am running a Linksys E3000 router, which was a major upgrade from that POS Zyxel R600 or the Westell our ISP gave us. Since we are not using any intensive inbound apps, we don't really need a large router to handle our workload. And $400 for a cheap good one is just a touch out of our reach yet (to be added later)...

That being said: I am not having connection issues! It connects just fine! Just gotta tell it to connect, rather than it connecting and updating automagically like its supposed to...

 

[teksquad]

Does your router give you access to any logs? If so check them out to see if you can see the ntp requests going out or any traffic sourced from udp 123 coming inbound. I have also seen udp sync issues even with stateful devices.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

This is not true all the time. If the router/firewall isnt stateful then he will need to open up udp 123 inbound from the outside. I have no idea what device he is using at the edge.

While true...I was fairly confident he was working with a home grade router and not something massively 2-way like Microsoft ISA.

 

[jbartlett323]

I use NTP's pool of time servers. The default common time servers are typically overloaded and slow to respond. I set the time server in the server at the command prompt.

I use "us.pool.ntp.org"...for mine...select the pool of NTP servers closest to your region.

At the cmd prompt...

net stop w32time
net time /setsntp:us.pool.ntp.org
net start w32time

Yep, Sunday came and went, i'm still getting time! and all my logs look great! i think this was the problem! I guess both time.microsoft.com and ntp.nist.gov are just too busy to service poor little me!

I'll let ya know if it comes back up, but for now: THANKS!!!