(2010-09-26) Configuring And Managing The Windows Time Service (Part 4)

In the previous post (part 3) I discussed how to configure the DCs so that these do not accept and therefore do not time jumps that are too large. Also taking the first post (part 1) and the second post (part 2) into account, it is now interesting to know how you can see what the configuration is a certain DC or AD (member) client is using.

To view the time source a DC or an AD (member) client currently is using to synchronize the time from, use the following command:

W32TM /QUERY /SOURCE

To view the Windows Time Service configuration a DC or an AD (member) client currently has, use the following command:

W32TM /QUERY /CONFIGURATION

(this picture shows the configuration of the DC with the PDC FSMO role)

The Windows Time Service can be configured to log information into the System event log. The two settings that are available for this are:

• GPO Node: "Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service"
  
  • GPO Setting: "Global Configuration Settings" = Enabled
    
    • GPO Setting Item: "EventLogFlags" = 2 (default value)
      
• GPO Node: "Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service\Time Providers"
  
  • GPO Setting: "Configure Windows NTP Client" = Enabled
    
    • GPO Setting Item: "EventLogFlags" = 1 (default value) (The GPO shows "0", but in reality the default value is "1"!)
      

The first "EventLogFlags" option configures the Windows Time Service to log (or not) an event when it is not able to reach the time server from which it synchronizes the time.

The second "EventLogFlags" option configures the Windows Time Service to log (or not) an event when a time jump is made and/or a new time server is being used to synchronize the time from.

In addition to the information in the System event log, it is possible to enable debug logging for the Windows Time Service. When debugging logging is enabled it is possible to see what is happening under the hood by the Windows Time Service.

To enable debug logging for the Windows Time Service, execute the following command:

W32TM /DEBUG /ENABLE /FILE:<Full Path To Log File> /SIZE:<Log File Size In KB> /ENTRIES:<Type Of Entries To Log>

W32TM /CONFIG /UPDATE

‘<Full Path To Log File>’ is the full path to the log file used for denug logging. For example: "C:WindowsDebugW32Time.log"

‘<Log File Size In KB>’ specifies the maximum size of the log file in KB. For example ‘10000000’ means ’10MB’

‘<Type Of Entries To Log>’ is a numerical mask of the entries you wish to log in the log file. Each number in the range between 1 and 300 represents a specific log entry type you would like to log. Just specifying 0-300 is the easiest way to use this as it will log everything.

A sample of the log file is shown below

To disable debug logging for the Windows Time Service, execute the following command:

W32TM /DEBUG /DISABLE

W32TM /CONFIG /UPDATE

For more information about configuring the Windows Time Service debug log see the link: ‘Configuring the Time Service: Enabling the Debug Log‘.

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Cheers,
Jorge
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