Windows time service on domain controllers
We moved a new server into the PDC emulator role of a 2003 AD forest. This new DC wasn?t keeping time correctly which was effecting the entire forest so I found a few links and commands that helped me get things syncing again.
Here are the two commands that helped me set the PDC emulator to sync with an external source:
w32tm /config /computer:<<PDC-FQDN>> /manualpeerlist:time.windows.com /syncfromflags:manual /update
w32tm /config /computer:<<PDC-FQDN>> /syncfromflags:domhier /update
To synchronize the domain controller with an external time source
- Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.
- In the Command Prompt window, type the following line, where peers is a comma-separated list of IP addresses of the appropriate time sources, and press ENTER:
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist: peers /syncfromflags:MANUAL
The time sources you choose depend on your time zone. For example, if your domain controller is located in the Pacific Time zone, this line might read:
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:131.107.1.10 /syncfromflags:MANUAL
In this example, the IP address of the timeserver is used instead of the fully qualified domain name for security purposes. - Press ENTER. You should get a message that the command completed successfully.
- Type w32tm /config /update
- Press ENTER. You should get a message that the command completed successfully.
W32time uses a variable poll interval based on the quality of timesync with the server. On DCs, this interval defaults to between 64 and 1024 seconds. - To immediately synchronize with the external time server, type w32tm /resync and press ENTER. You should get a message that the command completed successfully.
- Type Exit and press ENTER.
I found this information from
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd723673(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784553(WS.10).aspx