Re: Time sync problems

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In news:4juig8F9nqsvU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Martin Smith <nospam.redsmartie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> typed:
On 2006-08-09 15:28:58 +0100, "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<lanwench@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:



In news:4jtn2dF9d78uU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Martin Smith <nospam.redsmartie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
typed:
I have a problem accessing network resources. When I try to access a
computer on the network from other computers I get an error message
that ends "This server's clock is not synchronized with the primary
domain controller's clock".

I have had a similar problem to this when one of the users changed
their clients clock to do some month end accounting and couldn't
access any network resources until she manually returned her clock
to the correct time.

How can I resolve this. Is there a sync that is failing and whet
should be the typical configuration.

If anyone can quickly push me in the right direction it would be
appreciated as I'm currently in the office in question.

What is the client workstation OS? Win2k and XP should sync with the
time server (generally your SBS box) automatically. Do you see errors
in the event log? How about on the server? On the PC that you can't
reach over the network, log in as an admin and go to a command line,
and type in net time <enter> to see what it says. You can also do
net time \\servername /set

Users shouldn't be able to change the time. They shouldn't have local
admin rights anyway (and then they can't change the time). If this
accounting program can't deal with its own internal time/clock, get
another one or put this user on a standalone computer that isn't
joined to the domain.

The clients are XP and they were installed from new at the same time
as the SBS server. Any configuration is as they were out of the box
and following any changes that SBS made when introducing the
computer/user to the network.

During client setup using connectcomputer, if you selected a user to
'assign' to the workstation, they're in the local admin group. Remove them.

I did a few commands on reading a number of support articles in the
knowledge base and got a message that there was no time server. I
found Windows Time on the server that was disabled. I enabled it and
did the commands again which sync'd up the client time and solved the
immediate problem.

Should this service be enabled?

Oh, yes, indeed. I forget why this happens in SBS. I think there's some
wizard one is expected to have run.

The clients aren't being sync'd on
boot previously. Will they now with this service enabled or should I
add the sync command to a login script?

They can't use net time \\server /set without local admin rights - and they
shouldn't need to do this anyway.

As for local admin rights, this is something that the SBS client
connect did when setting up the client computers and adding a user. Is
this not best practice and if not why does it do this?

Because the first time a user logs in the login script runs setup & the user
would need admin rights then. Remove 'em. Make sure your software runs, as
an ordinary end user, tho - some developer monkeys don't understand secure
multiuser systems. You may need to tweak your registry & file system
permissions if so, but this is usually not too tough - and there's also a
security template you can import into GP (compatws) that will loosen
security so legacy apps can run w/o local admin rights.



It is not possible to change the accounts package but I think that the
users have only had problems when they have forgot to change the clock
back. Now that they know the cause and effect they can work around the
problem and if they have resource access problems it will prompt them
to check their clock. It is unlikely to be a problem though if the
clocks are sync'd on boot.

If the time is more than 5mins off, you will have major network
communication problems on that workstation even before a reboot. How often
would someone need to do this anyway? I've never really understood it
myself.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Time sync problems
    ... domain controller's clock". ... access any network resources until she manually returned her clock to ... Win2k and XP should sync with the time server automatically. ... I enabled it and did the commands again which sync'd up the client time and solved the immediate problem. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: What doesnt lend itself to OO?
    ... > rather than client code. ... no way to do that without also touching the object with clock semantics ... will not encapsulate both clock semantics and network semantics. ... The server can do whatever it wants ...
    (comp.object)
  • Re: What doesnt lend itself to OO?
    ... >> service on the internet and simply accessed a clock, ... > single, resource-limited server. ... If the clock service has identity then the client looks like... ... >> because there is no temptation to use implementation inheritance to ...
    (comp.object)
  • Re: Time clock on SBS 2003
    ... give your laptop an ip one number higher than the time clock. ... If the device was on the network and it was getting an ip using the ... guess that I would have to find the device in the server first to make it ... In the end we had to install the user interface on the server and RDP ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Getting NTP to correct only the clock skew
    ... to synchronize B's clock to the source of your CBR data. ... The data stream is provided by a PCI board connected to A. The jitter between the board and A is small enough to be negligible. ... at least the maximum network latency, the packets out of B will have the ... same timing relationship as those out of A, subject only to clock errors. ...
    (comp.protocols.time.ntp)