Documentation that explains the output of w32tm command.
I am working on configuring a new NTP design for my infrastructure. I have followed the instructions presented at the site below and everything seems to be working just fine: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816042 Yet when I run the command "w32tm /query /peers /verbose" on some servers for some peers I will have output like this: Peer: ntptest.local,0x1 State: Pending Time Remaining: 5066.0145242s Mode: 0 (reserved) Stratum: 0 (unspecified) PeerPoll Interval: 0 (unspecified) HostPoll Interval: 0 (unspecified) Last Successful Sync Time: (null) LastSyncError: 0x00000000 (Succeeded) LastSyncErrorMsgId: 0x00000000 (Succeeded) AuthTypeMsgId: 0x0000005A (NoAuth ) Resolve Attempts: 6 ValidDataCounter: 0 Reachability: 0 All of these servers are on a local network on the same subnet. All firewalls are disabled, DNS forward and reverse lookups work for all names and IP addresses, and NTP clients can connect and sync with each server (both separately and collectively). So it appears that everything is working, but to see output like "State: Pending" and "Stratum: 0 (unspecified)" there must be something wrong either with NTP service and servers, or with the tool itself (in this case w32tm). I just do not know which it is. What makes this even more frustrating is that after a few days of searching I cannot find documentation that actually explains what the output of the w32tm command means. Does "Stratum: 0 (unspecified)" mean there is a network issue, a local issue, or a peer issue? I don't want to guess here, but I'm leaning towards that meaning that the peer is not advertising its stratum properly. Yet without documentation that explains what that output means I cannot proceed any further. So are there any w32tm command docs that I can reference besides this site (or sites with the same info): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773263(WS.10).aspx#w2k3tr_times_tools_dyax Anyone know what the w32tm output here means exactly? Thanks for any help that you can offer! I appreciate it.
June 28th, 2011 10:55pm

- the output you are seeing is caused by the configuration of w32time on the client - it looks like you have configured the clients to use NTP and to sync with "NTPTEST.LOCAL" - the clients should be using something like this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type = NT5DS - the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer" value should not be set on the client, only on an authoritative time server - If you have something like this configured, it will produce the output you are seeing: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer = sometimeserver.com,0x1 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type = NTP <--THIS IS WRONG FOR THE CLIENT, SHOULD ONLY BE ON THE AUTH TIME SERVER - the clients should be configured like this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer = sometimeserver.com,0x1 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type = NT5DS <-- THIS IS RIGHT FOR A CLIENT - setting the clients(everything except the PDCe) to use NT5DS allows the client to use the hierarchy of the Domain, like the article states To guarantee appropriate common time usage, the Windows Time service uses a hierarchical relationship that controls authority, and the Windows Time service does not permit loops. By default, Windows-based computers use the following hierarchy: All client desktop computers nominate the authenticating domain controller as their in-bound time partner. All member servers follow the same process that client desktop computers follow. All domain controllers in a domain nominate the primary domain controller (PDC) operations master as their in-bound time partner. All PDC operations masters follow the hierarchy of domains in the selection of their in-bound time partner. In this hierarchy, the PDC operations master at the root of the forest becomes authoritative for the organization. - based off of this, the recommendation is to configure the PDC to be an authoritative time server and have it sync with an external source, preferably a hardware device and not the internetKetan Thakkar | Microsoft Online Community Support
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July 4th, 2011 2:45pm

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