I have multiple Windows Server 2008 R2 servers (physical hosts, and virtuals) and multiple Windows 7 clients on the same domain of the same LAN. We have times all over the place, varying by over ten minutes. How can I set one of my servers as
the standard, with it synching to a reliable outside source of time, and then have all the other servers and clients synchronize from the one server?
I have seen some articles that were frankly convoluted, confusing, and basically unusable. I hope there is a neat, easy, and understandable way to synchronize. Thank you for any help.

Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

below given discussion may help
looking for a quick run down on how to properly setup time sync for server 2008 domain

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/adb51d52-1dcc-436d-89f0-2faa5a3cf7c6Thanks
!

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

below given discussion may help
looking for a quick run down on how to properly setup time sync for server 2008 domain

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/adb51d52-1dcc-436d-89f0-2faa5a3cf7c6Thanks
!

There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

Sorry. That is one of the convoluted threads that never gets to the answer at all.Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

Sorry. That is one of the convoluted threads that never gets to the answer at all.Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

Hello,
for domain time configuration see

http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/archive/2010/06/27/time-configuration-in-a-windows-domain.aspx
and especially for VMs and the host machine see:


http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/11/19/time-synchronization-in-hyper-v.aspx
and

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773061(WS.10).aspx

My blog article contains the commands for the PDCEmulator to sync to an external time source and also the information to reset if requried because of not working or misconfigured time settings.Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/


Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

If you are using an AD domain, then by definition, your AD controllers are timeservers where all of your authenticated clients synchronize.

Open up an elevated command prompt (Run as Administrator) and type NET TIME /DOMAIN:yourdomain /SET.
For additional syntax, type NET HELP TIME.
////////////////////
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.

There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

Hello,
for domain time configuration see

http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/archive/2010/06/27/time-configuration-in-a-windows-domain.aspx
and especially for VMs and the host machine see:


http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/11/19/time-synchronization-in-hyper-v.aspx
and

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773061(WS.10).aspx

My blog article contains the commands for the PDCEmulator to sync to an external time source and also the information to reset if requried because of not working or misconfigured time settings.Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/


Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

If you are using an AD domain, then by definition, your AD controllers are timeservers where all of your authenticated clients synchronize.

Open up an elevated command prompt (Run as Administrator) and type NET TIME /DOMAIN:yourdomain /SET.
For additional syntax, type NET HELP TIME.
////////////////////
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.

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

I have three AD domain controllers. How can I make sure that all systems on the domain sync with only one of these controllers?Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

I have three AD domain controllers. How can I make sure that all systems on the domain sync with only one of these controllers?Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

hi
these are the notes i used to get all my AD servers and other windows 2008r2 servers synched
Windows - NTP time on windows

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc758905(WS.10).aspx

To configure a client computer for automatic domain time synchronization
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
check
w32tm /monitor
regards

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

hi
these are the notes i used to get all my AD servers and other windows 2008r2 servers synched
Windows - NTP time on windows

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc758905(WS.10).aspx

To configure a client computer for automatic domain time synchronization
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
check
w32tm /monitor
regards

There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

Hello,
if you would read my article you would see that the PDCEmulator DC is the time source of the domain, all other DCS sync with that one and the rest of the domain machines use an available DC which is default and the recommended way to sync the time.Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/


Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

Hello,
if you would read my article you would see that the PDCEmulator DC is the time source of the domain, all other DCS sync with that one and the rest of the domain machines use an available DC which is default and the recommended way to sync the time.Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/


Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

I scanned all the articles (blog and technet) which you link in your original reply. None refer to a "PDCEmulator," nor define what this is. It is difficult for me to follow a lengthy set of posts and counterposts in a blog to try to
extract a solution. What I try to do is once a solution is arrived at, I post a complete text that gives the solution, step by step, uncluttered by the unrelated stuff or the myriad discussions that led to the solution. From other responses I have
so far gleaned how to sync clients on a network with one of my domain controllers as follows:
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
At least that is what I am led to believe that this set of commands does. However, other posts indicate that the clients synching to the DC should happen automatically without the above commands being run on each client. So a little bit of ambiguity
there.
I still have no idea what a PDCEmulator is or how I make one of my DCs such a thing or how I sync one of my DCs to a reliable external time source.
I truly do appreciate all the help I get here. The way my brain works, the long articles that explain the theory of relativity before giving the answer (if any answer is given at all) just make my brain smoke. When I want to change the oil in
my car, I do not care much about the history, theory, and design of lubrication systems, nor can I make sense of such. I just want to know what type of oil I need, what filter, and the steps to getting it done. So please excuse my limited
comprehension. Thanks.Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

I scanned all the articles (blog and technet) which you link in your original reply. None refer to a "PDCEmulator," nor define what this is. It is difficult for me to follow a lengthy set of posts and counterposts in a blog to try to
extract a solution. What I try to do is once a solution is arrived at, I post a complete text that gives the solution, step by step, uncluttered by the unrelated stuff or the myriad discussions that led to the solution. From other responses I have
so far gleaned how to sync clients on a network with one of my domain controllers as follows:
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
At least that is what I am led to believe that this set of commands does. However, other posts indicate that the clients synching to the DC should happen automatically without the above commands being run on each client. So a little bit of ambiguity
there.
I still have no idea what a PDCEmulator is or how I make one of my DCs such a thing or how I sync one of my DCs to a reliable external time source.
I truly do appreciate all the help I get here. The way my brain works, the long articles that explain the theory of relativity before giving the answer (if any answer is given at all) just make my brain smoke. When I want to change the oil in
my car, I do not care much about the history, theory, and design of lubrication systems, nor can I make sense of such. I just want to know what type of oil I need, what filter, and the steps to getting it done. So please excuse my limited
comprehension. Thanks.Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

Hello,
PDCEmulator is one of the FSMO roles that are located on one or more DCS in the domain. You can verify with "netdom query fsmo" in an elevated command prompt.

On that shown DC you have to run:
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:PEERS /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update
Please set for PEERS the time source as listed above, either with its ip address or DNS name. If more then one is needed separate them with a space in between and don't forget the quotes: "time.domain.com time1.domain.com"
Internet Time servers you can find here:

http://www.pool.ntp.org/

The command you have posted is for the domain member machines, including other DCs, member servers and domain workstations.Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/


Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Need to support users over the internet? click here try our remote control online beta

Hello,
PDCEmulator is one of the FSMO roles that are located on one or more DCS in the domain. You can verify with "netdom query fsmo" in an elevated command prompt.

On that shown DC you have to run:
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:PEERS /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update
Please set for PEERS the time source as listed above, either with its ip address or DNS name. If more then one is needed separate them with a space in between and don't forget the quotes: "time.domain.com time1.domain.com"
Internet Time servers you can find here:

http://www.pool.ntp.org/

The command you have posted is for the domain member machines, including other DCs, member servers and domain workstations.Best regards
Meinolf Weber
MVP, MCP, MCTS
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
My Blog:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/


Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

THE ANSWER:
1. Doman clients should automatically sync up with the domain controller(s). To make sure this happens, enter the following commands on the client in a command prompt window (opened as "Run as Administrator"):
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
2. To synchronize a domain controller with an external time source, enter the following series of commands in a command prompt window (opened as "Run as Administrator"):
net stop w32time
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:0.pool.ntp.org,1.pool.ntp.org,2.pool.ntp.org,3.pool.ntp.org
w32tm /config /reliable:yes
net start w32time

Doug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it

THE ANSWER:
1. Doman clients should automatically sync up with the domain controller(s). To make sure this happens, enter the following commands on the client in a command prompt window (opened as "Run as Administrator"):
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
2. To synchronize a domain controller with an external time source, enter the following command in a command prompt window (opened as "Run as Administrator"):
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:0.pool.ntp.org,1.pool.ntp.org,2.pool.ntp.org,3.pool.ntp.orgDoug Pruiett Good News Jail & Prison Ministry Richmond, Virginia
www.goodnewsjail.org


There is an amazing pack of free network admin tools. click here to download it