Ever struggle to keep time correct in your network environment? How about across multiple sites? It’s best to to use an external NTP server.
Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks.
There are plenty of reliable free NTP servers to choose from however, we recommend www.pool.ntp.org
Here is a helpful tip to synchronize your Windows Server 2008 R2 time to an external time source.
NOTE: Before you begin, don’t forget to open the default UDP 123 port (inbound and outbound) on your gateway firewall.
- First, locate your PDC Server. Open the command prompt and type: C:>netdom /query fsmo
- Log in to your PDC Server and open the command prompt.
- Stop the W32Time service: C:>net stop w32time
- Configure the external time sources, type: C:> w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:”0.pool.ntp.org, 1.pool.ntp.org, 2.pool.ntp.org”
- Make your PDC a reliable time source for the clients. Type: C:>w32tm /config /reliable:yes
- Start the w32time service: C:>net start w32time
- The windows time service should begin synchronizing the time. You can check the external NTP servers in the time configuration by typing: C:>w32tm /query /configuration
- You can also check the status of each individual NTP peer by running: C:>w32tm /query /peers
- To update other workstation or server clocks immediately you can run C:>w32tm /resync from the workstation or server.
- As you always should, review the Event Viewer for any errors.
Here are several other free NTP servers available for use: http://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262680
For more information about w32tm commands please review: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/w32tm.aspx