Synching to External Time Source

Good morning,

I need to make my Windows 2000 Advanced Servers synchronize to an external
time source. I run many other operating systems including Linux, Unix, BSD
and MacOS and we all need to synchronize to the same clocks, so my questions
are:

1) How do I make my Windows AD Servers synchronize to a time source of my
specification?

2) I've been told that all Windows Clients (XP/2000Pro) use the time from
the server, is this correct or do I need to modify all my clients to
synchronize to this time source?

Thanks,

-brian
moc tod orpnoisiv ta naird
(to prevent spam, email address is typed in reverse order)

> 1) How do I make my Windows AD Servers synchronize to a time source of my
> specification?

Go to a command line and type:

net time /setsntp:time.nist.gov <enter>

This will hold through reboots.

This should be done on only the "PDC Emulator" Domain Controller (usually
the FSMO too). The other Domain Controllers (if any) should not be set to
sync to an external time source. They will go to the PDC Emulator by default
as long as you do not set a specific time source for them. (see below for
removing any previously set source)

> 2) I've been told that all Windows Clients (XP/2000Pro) use the time from
> the server, is this correct

By default, yes. As long as the clients have not had thier own time sync
option specified.

> or do I need to modify all my clients to synchronize to this time source?

Remove any previously specified time sync option from the clients using the
following command on the client:

net time /setsntp: <enter>

After doing this, you can check your time sync option on any machine by
typing the following:

net time /querysntp <enter>

If set, you should see the time sync option (i.e. time.nist.gov).

If not set you should see the following message:

------------
U:\>net time /querysntp
This computer is not currently configured to use a specific SNTP server.

The command completed successfully.
-------------

The above message is normal and will cause the client to sync to the
appropriate domain controller automatically.

-Frank