Has anyone been successfull in implementing auto system time updates with an NTP server using Plesk's interface and scheduler?

I've tried multiple NTP time servers and ones which I've successfully telnetted into and received the time, yet Plesk still fails to update the clock.

I've forced the scheduler to run and receive this in the Event log:



The time is NOT set either!

Where am I going wrong here? Any tips much appreciated.

Regards
Lea

It's always worked without a hitch for me Lea. Just the normal settings in PSA, set the time zone, then tick off the Synchronize System Time choice. The clock I've always used is time.nist.gov.

One thing... You'll want to make sure your firewall allows UPD input and output on port 123 since that's the one NTP uses.

Hi Squire

Sorry for the delayed response.

Still no joy for me, I just can't understand it. I opened port 123 for both TCP and UDP and nothing - all I see in the even log is:



Any further thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers
Lea

Figures, Plesk and Windows, yuck

anyways, just log into the box and run the following commands on command line

Unfortunately I don't run the 'doze version on any servers Lea, and have never seen the error you mentioned before. My hunch is it may be a Windows specific thing.

If memory serves Error 53 normally means there's a problem with the network path, which in English means your server is unable to connect to the NTP server. 99 times out of 100 in my experience this sort of thing usually ends up being a firewall issue. Perhaps your Windows box is using a port other than the normal NTP Port 123 to query the time server?

That's beyond my area of expertise since I don't work with Windows servers. You may be able to find out more info over on the SWSoft forums or in their knowledgebase. Or if you want to test the theory disable your firewall for a couple of seconds, run the NTP query to see if everything goes through, then re-enable your firewall. If you can narrow it down to that it should be a matter of figuring out which port(s) Windows needs in order for NTP to function correctly on its own.

Cheers guys - many thanks, wil give it a go.



I espeically like the net time option - sounds like a nice easy Schedular option to me - but I'll also check the firewall issue too as that's probably the issue!

Lea

I was looking at this as well and I am guessing at this time it is a NetBIOS error. what gives it away is the \\time.nist.gov where the \\ is command line access to a NetBIOS name via the local area network. So perhaps this was not intended to use true NTP over TCP/IP but some wierd Microsoft NTP over NetBIOS?

I guess Plesk attempts a netbios call (as you say) alongside going WAN just in case, but I can't understand why!

Plesk timesync creates too many errors in my event log so it's deleted.

One thing I did learn was that if the tiime's out by more than 15 mins it will probably fail, so during my testing when I set the clock forward/back by an hour it failed - now I know why.

As I'm running 2003 server I realised it's built into Windoz anyway so, hence the delete of scheduled task from Plesk.

Open port UDP 123 in Windows firewall - it's definately needed!

Double click on the time clock in the system tray and choose the Internet Time tab

Set the clock forward by 5 mins and update manually.

Cheers
All

Lea