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Measures reported by EsxADNTPTimeTest
The absence of time synchronization between an ESX host and Active Directory server can have serious repercussions on the performance and operations of the ESX host - for instance, scheduled tasks such as virus scans or backup routines may not run on time on the ESX host, SSL certificate validity checks may go awry, domain controllers may not be able to authenticate clients, etc. If these adversities are to be avoided, administrators should be proactively alerted to a potential non-sync between the ESX host's time and the Active Directory server's time and should also receive a ‘heads-up’ on the probable reasons for the same. This is where the EsxADNTPTimeTest test helps!
This test reports the time difference between the ESX host's clock and that of the Active Directory server's clock. In the process, the test not only points to a time non-sync, but also reveals the gap between the Active Directory server's time and the ESX host's time.
The measures made by this test are as follows:
| Measurement |
Description |
Measurement Unit |
Interpretation |
| Offset |
Indicates the number of seconds the ESX host must add to its time to synchronize with the Active Directory server's time. |
Secs |
The offset θ is given by
A positive value indicates the server clock is higher. A negative value indicates the client clock is higher.
Normally, if the client offset exceeds NTP's default panic threshold of 1000 secs, NTP exits with a message to the system log. You can however, configure NTP to allow the time to be set to any value without restriction; but, this can happen only once. If the panic threshold is exceeded after that, NTP will exit with a message to the system log.
You can use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know the ESX host's time stamp, the Active Directory server's time stamp, and the offset. |
| Time_direction |
Indicates whether the ESX host is behind / ahead of the server in terms of time. |
Secs |
If the ESX host's clock is running faster than the Active Directory server's, this measure will report the value Ahead. If the ESX host's clock is running slower than the Active Directory server's, this measure will report the value Behind.
The numeric values that correspond to these measure values are as follows:
| Measure Value |
Numeric Value |
| Ahead |
1 |
| Behind |
0 |
Note:
By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed above to indicate whether client is ahead or behind the server. In the graph of this measure however, the same represented using the numeric equivalents. |
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