Accuracy of time on W2k3 with w32time

[ChrisClarke]

Hi,

Can anyone let me know what kind of accuracy I can expect from a time sync'd network? We have a very large domain with an empty forest root domain. Stucture like so:-

2 x Root domain controllers

4 x Domain Controllers

Roughly 6000 clients + servers.

All clients have default time configuration, as do servers (inc domain controllers). The PDC emulator in the root forest is set to NTP and gets its time from an internet time source.

The PDC emulator in the root domain has near perfect time sync, all within 0.1s generally, but the others can vary quite wildly. It's not uncommon to see the other domain controllers 15s or more from its sync partner and some of the clients can vary by up to 30 seconds.

Is this usual?

I keep seeing error logs in the eventviewer saying that the time source is more that 5000ms from local time and researching this pointed to an update included in SP1. All our servers are vanilla 2003, does anyone know if this update would correct the time sync?

Hope somebody can help me out here!

Thanks

Chris

[daniel.kuhn]

Hi

We had a similoiar problem in our domain.

It was because our PDC emulator was receiveing time form a Unix based NTP server...

We had to edit manually the following registry value:

CompatibilityFlags

Registry path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient

Check the following link for more detailed information:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServe...3.mspx?mfr=true

Sp1 has the following fix implemented that solved our problem an might solves yours as well

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830092/

Let me know if it worked...

[Stoic Joker]

I've fought with that on more than a few occasions. Here is the .reg file I (now) keep on my thumbdrive for setting up (or fixing) the time service on DCs.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time]
"Description"="Maintains date and time synchronization on all clients and servers in the network. If this service is stopped, date and time synchronization will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

"
"DisplayName"="Windows Time"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"FailureActions"=hex:05,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,64,00,20,\
  00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00
"Group"=""
"ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
  74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
  00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,\
  6b,00,20,00,4c,00,6f,00,63,00,61,00,6c,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,\
  00,65,00,00,00
"Objectname"="NT AUTHORITY\\LocalService"
"Start"=dword:00000002
"Type"=dword:00000020

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config]
"LastClockRate"=dword:000262c3
"MinClockRate"=dword:000260d4
"MaxClockRate"=dword:000263e0
"FrequencyCorrectRate"=dword:00000004
"PollAdjustFactor"=dword:00000005
"LargePhaseOffset"=dword:02faf080
"SpikeWatchPeriod"=dword:00000384
"HoldPeriod"=dword:00000005
"LocalClockDispersion"=dword:0000000a
"EventLogFlags"=dword:00000002
"PhaseCorrectRate"=dword:00000007
"MinPollInterval"=dword:00000006
"MaxPollInterval"=dword:0000000a
"UpdateInterval"=dword:00000064
"MaxNegPhaseCorrection"=dword:0000d2f0
"MaxPosPhaseCorrection"=dword:0000d2f0
"AnnounceFlags"=dword:00000005
"MaxAllowedPhaseOffset"=dword:0000012c

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters]
"ServiceMain"="SvchostEntry_W32Time"
"ServiceDll"=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,49,00,4e,00,44,00,4f,00,57,00,53,\
  00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,77,00,33,00,\
  32,00,74,00,69,00,6d,00,65,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
"NtpServer"="192.5.41.40,0x1"
"Type"="NTP"
"Period"="SpecialSkew"
"ReliableTimeSource"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient]
"Enabled"=dword:00000001
"InputProvider"=dword:00000001
"AllowNonstandardModeCombinations"=dword:00000001
"CrossSiteSyncFlags"=dword:00000002
"ResolvePeerBackoffMinutes"=dword:0000000f
"ResolvePeerBackoffMaxTimes"=dword:00000007
"CompatibilityFlags"=dword:80000000
"EventLogFlags"=dword:00000001
"LargeSampleSkew"=dword:00000003
"DllName"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\w32time.dll"
"SpecialPollTimeRemaining"=hex(7):00,00
"SpecialPollInterval"=dword:00000e10

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer]
"InputProvider"=dword:00000000
"AllowNonstandardModeCombinations"=dword:00000001
"DllName"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\w32time.dll"
"Enabled"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Enum]
"0"="Root\\LEGACY_W32TIME\000"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001