Re-Syncing and Updating Domain Controller Clocks

Question

Right now in Windows Server 2008 R2 I have ran this in the Administrator: Command Prompt.

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:bigben.cac.washington.edu /syncfromflags:MANUAL
net stop w32time & net start w32time
w32tm /resync

This works great and it resyncs with the current clock for bigben.cac.washington.edu but I don't want to have to do this manually if the time decides to change again. I would like to find a way to update to this time server automatically and on a regular basis. Would I have to write up a batch file with the above commands?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 22 '12 at 18:16

3

All member servers update their clocks from random Domain Controllers in their site. All Domain Controllers update their time from the DC has that the PDC Emulator role installed.

If you're running that command on a DC that's not the PDC Emulator, you should set it back to sync from the domain hierarchy and run it on the PDC Emulator. Then, be patient and wait for it to sync across your domain, it's not an instantaneous process.

answered Mar 22 '12 at 18:16

MDMarra

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So if I'm understanding you correctly, I have waited and it has managed to sync across my domain. I'm just wanting to write something similar to a cron job to make sure the clock within Windows Server is syncing with bigben.cac.washington.edu – Aaron Mar 22 '12 at 18:37
If you ran these commands on the correct DC, then you don't need to do anything else. It will automatically sync with the remote NTP server at regular intervals. – MDMarra Mar 22 '12 at 18:44
You still haven't confirmed that the DC that you ran that on holds the PDC Emulator role... – MDMarra Mar 22 '12 at 18:57
@Aaron That's an entirely different question. It's very well documented on TechNet. I suggest you do yourself a favor and read up on your AD documentation. It'll do you a world of good in the long run. – MDMarra Mar 22 '12 at 19:04
Specifically read this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794823(v=ws.10).aspx – Nate Mar 22 '12 at 19:29
If I'm not mistaken, domain members sync to their authenticating DC, not a random DC. – joeqwerty Mar 22 '12 at 20:42
That's right. Technically nothing is random about it, but depending on how AD Sites and Services is configured, it could be any number of DCs that they sync to. Random was the wrong word, I was trying to make it clear that they don't sync in an easily predictable way. – MDMarra Mar 22 '12 at 20:48

Re-Syncing and Updating Domain Controller Clocks

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