Question : I want all network clients to sync time with the domain controller... help!

Hi folks,

I spent a few hours yesterday trying to get this to work, but unfortunately to no avail. I'll give you the overview of what I'm trying to do first, and then perhaps you can give me the step by step way to do it. I have gone thru NUMEROUS Microsoft KB articles, and they are not terribly helpful in getting what I want done.

Here's the jist of it... I want to use Group Policy to force every client PC on the domain to get its time from a central server. I read the KB article about setting up an authoritative time server, but it seems not to have worked. I'm not sure.

We have two domain controllers, DC1, DC2. I was going to use DC2 as the authenticator for the time, but I am open to using DC1 as well. This point is really not too important.

We have about 400 network clients, some across a WAN link. All of these need to have the same time. I want this time to update every 30 minutes to keep it dead-accurate.

I set up the authoritative time server (per the KB article), did a 'gpupdate' on misc client PCs to test. Then I did a 'net time /querysntp' -- which showed me all the client PCs are still going to time.windows.com. My understanding is that if I set up the authoritative time server (and maybe I did it improperly, so some exact steps here would be helpful), that it would point all network clients to itself as a time server.

I enabled everything I could in group policy... putting the setup in the default domain policy as I do want every PC to be a part of this time control.

So anyways... essentially what I'm looking for is a detailed Point A, to B, to C step by step guide to getting this to work. I am giving a big amount of points for this because I think I might be missing a step here and there. My goal is that if I do a 'net time /querysntp' on the client, it will show "DC1" as the time server. I also need it to be on a 15 or 30 minute update interval. The DC1 or DC2 will go outbound to a NIST server to get the proper time every 15 minutes, and update its own clock.

So if you can help, it's appreciated! As I said, I am offering a large amount of points for it.

Answer : I want all network clients to sync time with the domain controller... help!

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters
Period  
REG_DWORD or REG_SZ
      
Used to control how often the time service synchronizes. If a value is given, it must be one of the following special values:
65531, "DailySpecialSkew" = once every 45 minutes until successful one time, then once every day
65532, "SpecialSkew" = once every 45 minutes until successful three times, then once every eight hours (three times per day) [default]
65533, "Weekly" = once every week (seven days)
65534, "Tridaily" = once every three days
65535, "BiDaily" = once every two days
0 = once per day
freq = freq times per day. If you choose to add a value other than any of those specified above, you must use this option.


So, we don't want any of the dfined special values. Correct?
The last entry says freq = x times per day
If you specify the string value by using the numbers (65535 for example), then create the value as a REG_DWORD.
you desire 30 minutes (24 hours/.5 = 48)

so we want a key named Period as REG_DWORD with a value of 48

this cannot be set via group policy standard setting I don't think, you will have to create an ADM for that

the NTPServer and all the others are under
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service\Time Providers      
Configure Windows NTP Client      

At least Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 family

Specifies whether the Windows NTP Client synchronizes time from the domain hierarchy or a manually configured NTP server. Specifies whether the client can synchronize time from a source outside its site, how long the Windows NTP Client waits before attempting to re-resolve an unsuccessfully resolved NTP server name, and the verbosity of the NTP Client's event logging.
Keys Modified...
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!NtpServer, HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!Type, HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!CrossSiteSyncFlags, HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!ResolvePeerBackoffMinutes, HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!ResolvePeerBackoffMaxTimes, HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!SpecialPollInterval, HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\W32time\Parameters!EventLogFlags