Windows,Time,Server,Synchronis computer Windows Time Server: Synchronising Your Network with NTP

----------------------------------------------------------Permission is granted for the below article to forward,reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website,offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as longas no changes a Gone are those times when the companies and the organisations didn't need a hi-tech system to handle them. Owing to the considerable increase in the business sector and thus, an enormous increase in the complexity of the organisational struc

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin-top:0cm;mso-para-margin-right:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0cm;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}Nearly all a computers activity involves time whetherlogging a timestamp for when a network was accessed to sending an email, knowingthe time is crucial for computer applications.All computers have an on-board clock that provides time anddate information. These Real Time Clock (RTC) chips are battery backed so thateven when off they can maintain time, however these RTC chips are mass producedand cannot maintain accurate time and tend to drift.For many applications this can be quite adequate, however ifa computer is on a network and needs to talk to other machines, failing to besynchonised to the correct time can mean many time-sensitive transactions cannot be completed and can even leave the network open to security threats. All versions of Windows Server since 2000 have included atime synchronization facility, called Windows Time Service (w32time.exe), builtinto the operating system. This can be configured to operate as a network timeserver synchronizing all machines to a specific time source.Windows Time Service uses a version of NTP (Network TimeProtocol), normally a simplified version, of the Internet protocol which is designedto synchronise machines on a network, NTP is also the standard for which mostcomputer networks across the global use to synchronise with.Choosing the correct time source is vitally important. Most networksare synchronized to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) source. UTC is a global standardizedtime based on atomic clocks which are the most accurate time sources.UTC can be obtained over the Internet from such places astime.nist.gov (us Naval Observatory) or time.windows.com (Microsoft) but itmust be noted that internet time sources can not be authenticated which canleave a system open to abuse and Microsoft and others advise using an externalhardware source as a reference clock such as a specialized NTP server.NTP servers receive their time source from either a specialistradio transmission from national physics laboratories which broadcast UTC timetaken from an atomic clock source or by the GPS network which also relays UTC asa consequence of needing it to pin point locations.NTP can maintain time over the publicInternet to within 1/100th of a second (10 milliseconds) and canperform even better over LANs.To configure Windows Time Service touse an external time source simply follow these instructions.Locate the registry subkey.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\ParametersRight click type then Modify the Valueby inserting NTP in the Value Data box.Right click ReliableTimeSource, then Modifythe Edit DWORD Value box, by inserting 0 (zero).Right-click NtpServer then Modify theEdit Value by typing the Domain Name System (DNS), (note each DNS must be unique). Now locate the original subkey and right-click Period Modify the Edit DWORDValue box with the poll interval (how often a NTP server polls the time), underValue Data (recommended 24) Run the following command line, Net stop w32time &&net start w32time.Now enable NTP by locating the subkey, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer\Right click Enabled and modify the Value data box by typing 1.Right Click SpecialPollInterval in the right pain of the subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient\SpecialPollInterval.Edit the DWORD value box the time you want for each poll (900 will poll every15 minutes)Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\configTo configure the time correction settings right click MaxPosPhaseCorrection,then modify the DWORD Value box with a time in seconds such (select decimalunder base first, 3600 = one hour)Now do the same for MaxNegPhaseCorrection the restart windows timeservice by running (or alternatively use the command prompt facility) net stopw32time && net start w32time.To synchronise each machine simply type W32tm/ -s in the commandprompt and the time server should now be workingcorrectly (note it may take several polls before the correct time isdisplayed).