Virtual Domain Controllers and time in a hyper-V environment

In a “normal” (read: physical) domain environment, all the domain member machines such as servers and PCs use the PDC (Primary Domain Controller) as the authoritiative time source. This keeps all the machines in a domain synchronised to within a few milliseconds and avoids any problems due to time mismatch. (If you’ve ever tried to join a PC to a domain with a significantly different time setting, you’ll see how this can affect active directory operations).

However, virtual machines are slightly different. VMs use their virtual host as the authoritative time server – it’s essential that the virtual host and the guests operate on the same time. Run the below command in a command prompt on a VM:

C:\>w32tm /query /source

And it should return:

VM IC Time Synchronization Provider

If you run the same command on the host itself, it’ll just return the name of one of the domain controllers in your network (probably, but not necessarily, the PDC).

Now, what if your domain controllers are virtual? They’ll be using their host machine’s time as the source, but the hosts themselves will be using the PDC as an authoritative time source – the problem is clear: they’re using each other as authoritative time sources and network time will slowly drift away from the correct time.

You may decide to disable integration services for the guest (the PDC), and configure an authoritative external time source, but if the PDC is rebooted or goes offline and comes back online with a different time than the host (such as a restore), you’ll have problems. Granted, this should fix 90% of issues, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a solution.

Disable integration services in hyperV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In an ideal world, you’d still have at least one physical PDC, which would use an external time source, and would serve time to all other machines in the network, but if your infrastructure is such that you only have virtual domain controllers, you’ll need to do something a little different. The best way to this is to set your virtual hosts to use the same external (reliable) time source. This does of course require that your virtual hosts have access to the internet, but at least you should be able to add firewall rules to enable access to a fixed range of NTP servers, which should pose no security threat.

To do this, log on to your (windows) virtual host (in this case, I’m using Hyper-V server 2008 R2).

Run

C:\>w32tm /query /source

And it’ll return one of the domain controllers.

Use the command prompt to open regedit, and navigate to HKLM-System-CurrentControSet-services-w32time-parameters.

It’ll probably look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Change the “Type” entry to “NTP” and if you desire, change the NtpServer entry to something other than windows time, although you can leave it if you wish.

registry time settings

 

 

 

 

Now that you’ve changed the registry entries, run:

net stop w32time & net start w32time

then

w32tm /query /source

And it should return the new internet time servers.

Run:

w32tm /resync /force

to force a resync of the machine’s clock.

Log on to the virtual machine running on this host, and check the time. Force a resync if you want – it won’t do any harm, and at least you’ll know it’s synced.

If you now run:

W32tm /monitor

on any machine, it will display the potential time servers in your network, and the time offset between them. If all is correct in your network, the offset should be pretty small (though it will never be zero)

domaincontroller1.domain.local *** PDC ***[ipaddress:123]:
    ICMP: 0ms delay
    NTP: +0.0000000s offset from domaincontroller2.domain.local
        RefID: 80.84.77.86.rev.sfr.net [86.77.84.80]
        Stratum: 2
domaincontroller2.domain.local[ipaddress:123]:
    ICMP: 0ms delay
    NTP: -0.0827715s offset from domaincontroller1.local
        RefID: 80.84.77.86.rev.sfr.net [86.77.84.80]
        Stratum: 2
Warning:
Reverse name resolution is best effort. It may not be
correct since RefID field in time packets differs across
NTP implementations and may not be using IP addresses.

 

If you find a domain member machine (whether it’s a server or simple client) which is not set to use the proper domain NTP server, run the below command:

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:DOMHIER /update

This command instructs the machine to search for and use the best time source in a domain hierarchy.

 

What’s the best vehicle for mountain bikers?

Being a mountain biker means travelling a lot. Unless you happen to live in the Scottish highlands, or in North Wales, you don’t tend to have huge amounts of trails on your doorstep. And even if you do, who wants to ride the same trails all the time?

So, we drive. A lot. We get up early on a saturday morning and load bikes and kit into a car or van and set off in search of trail gold.

But what’s the best sort of vehicle to use if you’re a mountain biker? I’ve had fast cars, new cars, old cars, small cars, big cars, and vans. I also used to drive tractors, but they’re a bit slow and unless you count a trailer, don’t have much storage space.

ford focus estate with bikes and kit in

Currently, I drive a ford focus estate. It’s awesome. It’s a few years old so i don’t worry about the odd scratch and scuff, and I can get a full suspension mountain bike inside without taking the wheels off and still pile all my kit in. With the front bike wheels off, you can easily get two bikes and two people in, plus kit. It does over 50mpg because it’s a diesel.

The estate version of the focus has a flat boot, so there’s no lip to get the bikes and kit over when loading or unloading, and the rear with the boot up provides a good sheltered seat to get changed if the weather’s not too bad. There are also some handy little compartments in the boot that are useful for storing tools and/or food.

Previously, I’ve had a lovely Audi A3. Brand new, company car. Climate control, leather and incredible sound system. Bloody nightmare. Constantly worried about scratching it, and had to use a bike rack, which means you can’t leave it anywhere unattended, and your fuel economy drops pretty drastically. Gorgeous car, and great to drive, but completely impractical for someone who wants to put dirty kit and people inside it, and dirty bikes on the rack on it.

audi a3 with bike rack

On a trip to Scotland once, we hired a transit van. This was pretty awesome, to be honest. We got about 8 bikes and lots of kit in, although it took some working out, and careful arrangement of fork stanchions and blankets…

transit van with mountain bike kit in, scotland

Three people in the front, and we were sorted for a road trip (the other guys went in a car). However, you can’t get from the cab to the rear of the van because of the bulkhead, and the fuel economy isn’t great.

awesome pickup truck

Now, what about this? A pickup truck. We saw this in Wales on a recent trip to llandegla. I doubt it’s road legal. Anyhow, a pickup truck is great for biking, but do you ever actually need to drive off-road? I’ve been mountain biking for most of my life, and I’ve never actually needed to drive off-road – that’s what the mountain bike is for. Of course, it’d be amazing for shuttle runs…

beautiful vw caddy

I have to say however, there are some beautiful VW caddys around, but who could risk chucking a mountain bike in the back of this beauty?

To be honest, the best vehicle I’ve ever had was this Mercedes Vito. I genuinely loved driving it because it handled so well, and it’s perfect for short or long trips with the bike(s). With split front seats and a row of seats behind that you can also split and remove one, it means you can get from the drivers seat into the back of the van perfectly easily. I’ve had four people and four bikes, plus kit, comfortably in the vito.

Vito and mountain bike

 

Vito and mountain bike in the snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the weather is bad, it’s easy to get changed inside before the ride, and even do some pre-ride mechanical checks and lube the chain and stuff. After a ride, the rear door lifts up to provide some shelter from the rain (or sun..?), and you can chuck the bikes in before hopping in yourself to get into dry clothes without doing that ridiculous manoeuvre of trying to get changed in the seats of a car without giving yourself cramp. Also, it’s rear wheel drive, and that always means a little extra fun.

What’s your ideal mountain biking vehicle?