[Samba] Re: "time server" option ?

Mark
Sat, 20 Mar 2004 02:45:47 -0000

> does anybody know usage of  parameter "time server = yes" ?
> Exactly, how can I utilize this function on my Windows clients ?

In my experience this parameter doesn't do anything.  The "net
time" command
in a login script works whether this is set or not.  And furthermore, win2k
clients can't set their clocks using the w32time service whether this is set
or not.  However, it is possible to set all of your clocks using w32time if
you have an ntp server running on your network.  Here are some notes I wrote
about this for our system admins:

Windows 2000 computers can run the Windows Time Service to
  synchronize clocks with an ntp server on the network.  This
  is better than the method of setting the clock with a
  "net time" command in the logon script because it keeps the
  clock in sync between logins.

 To make it work follow these steps:

 1. If it is already running, stop the Windows Time Service
    on the workstation.
 2. On the workstation, double click the file timeset.reg
    to update the registry settings.  See below for what these are.
 3. Set the "Startup Type" of the Windows Time Service to
"Automatic"
    and Start it.

   Although the literature suggests that the workstations should be able to
   find the time server automatically if it is running on the domain
   controller, that does not appear to be true.  The error message received
   is "Member of an NT4 domain. Cannot synchronize." So maybe it only
works
   in AD style domains, not NT4 style domains, like samba. The registry
changes
   specifically tell the workstation where to look for the ntp server.


The contents of the timeset.reg file are as follows:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters]
"Period"="SpecialSkew"
"NtpServer"="gecko"      <--- your server here
"Type"="NTP"


   Note that the "special skew" means that the checks will be
performed
   every 45 minutes until 3 successful checks have been made, then once
   every 8 hours after that.

   The Time Service doesn't do any logging, but you can test to see if
   the sync works with the command:

 w32tm -once -test -v

   and you can see what the NtpServer is currently set to with:

 net time /querysntp

Mark Nienberg