unix time out of sync

[Derek Baxter]

I have read some of the replies to other problems with servers being out of sync and how to link them to another server to get the correct time. I was wondering if anyone knows what is actually causing the time to be out of sync. My server was about 15 minutes off about 6 months ago, I corrected it. Last week it was off 6 minutes, i corrected it. Today it was off 2 1/2 minutes. Is this hardware or software related. Any help would be appreciated.

[Sajid_1]

hello,

Which server are you using? If your internal clock cell is bad, that will reset the clock or will make it work slower.

Another chance is the 'ntp' time sync with a time server. If this sync is not proper, then the system time will change. If this is the case, then add a line in the crontab file to execute the sync every night.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

If you are loosing time it is likely that the real-time clock's battery is weak and may need to be replaced.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Derek Baxter]

I am running a 9000 Series k460

[Rick Garland]

Using 'ntp' for time sync has really been a non-issue since I set it up some time ago. Got some systems on MST, some CST, and some EST and they all stayed sync'ed. Very little deviations. Did have some trouble a while ago but that was because the time service I was going to had a flaky network connection - I have since changed to go to the Naval Observatory and there have been no issues at all.

There are many posts on ntp is this forum. Docos and such can be obtained from the www.eecis.udel.edu site.

[Sajid_1]

hi again,

Check the clock battery voltage and see if it's good. If found bad, then replace it with the help of a h/w engineer.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

It depends upon the server you are using; there have been a number of firmware fixes (the most recent I can remember was for A-boxes) to correct drifting clocks. Your environment may not be well temperature controlled. The very first thing I would do is check to see that you have the latest firmware but in any event you should assume that there is some time drift and use NTP to keep your times accurate. If you are running in a network this is really the only way to keep accurate datestamps.

[Rick Garland]

As a tidbit, I never trust the computer to keep accurate time. They weren't designed for this.

Per the previous posts you could have a battery issue or something else going on but the bottom line is for a network environment, use ntp. It is highly unlikely that you find 2 computers keeping the same time if they are not being sync'ed.

[Derek Baxter]

thanks everyone for your advise. I will look into setting up ntp. I think the server we have that syncs all of our computers time is on a netware server. Can a unix system sync to a netware server?

[Sajid_1]

hi again,

Yes ! it is possible to do that between a Unix and Netware server.

hth

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Derek:

Setting up ntp is quite straigtforward. See chapter-7 in the "Installing and Administering Internet Services" manual:

http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90685/B2355-90685.html

I suggest synchronizing to an external source such as the US Naval Observatory.

For a good list of available time sources, see:

http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/clock1.htm
Regards!

...JRF...