I did not want this to be my first post but it needs to be posted out there somewhere for all to read.
There are plenty of documents out there on how to seize the FSMO roles in a windows 2003 domain controller, so I’ll not discuss how that is done. But many of them do not tell you a few extra steps needed if you are moving the PDC Emulator role and that server is (as it should be by default
First of all you should have your main time server on the dc which is running this role. If you transfer PDC to another DC then do the following to the previous PDC Emulator at a command prompt:
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /reliable:no /update
net stop w32time && net start w32time
This is so that within the domain controller stops looking at itself as the time server (you set it to not be reliable and then to sync it’s time from a DC in the domain hierarchy)
Then Do this to the new PDC Emulator
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:peers /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update
(where peers specifies the list of DNS names and/or IP addresses of the NTP time source that the PDC emulator synchronizes from. For example, you can specify my favorite pool.ntp.org. When specifying multiple peers, use a space as the delimiter and enclose them in quotation marks.)
This makes your new PDC emulator look outside the domain when time syncing and makes it reliable so that other DCs will grab time from it when looking for their updates.
You can get a quick view of your network time server settings with the following command:
w32tm /monitor
There should not be any errors and they should all be pointing back to your PDC emulator which, in turn, points to your outside time source (which will change intermittently if you go to a pool of servers like pool.ntp.org)
All registry settings explained here for fine grain tuning of your time server settings.
Zach
2:19 PM, 10/17/2008Legolas808 /
I am so glad to have found your post.
This is exactly what has been happening in my domain. I would set the new dc to recieve updates from external time sources and expected everything to be fine when the old dc which held the pdc role would cause everyone to look at him as the network time source again.
So Thank you for your time in posting this for everyone!
12:14 AM, 03/24/2010Santhosh Sivaraman /
I have one question. Asume I am transfering PDC emulator from first DC to second DC.
Then I have executed the following commands on my first dc to stops looking at itself as the time server.
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /reliable:no /update
net stop w32time && net start w32time
I don’t want to use my new PDC emulator to use an external clock. So I am not executing the below command.
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:peers /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update
My question is that will the second PDC emulator will automatically looking at itself as the time server or any other configuration is required?
1:23 PM, 05/05/2010zloeber /
Santhosh, you are correct if you are not looking to connect with an external time source (not really recommended due to local machine battery or other hardware issues which might cause time loss). You can verify if the server is set to itself for the time source with:
w32tm /query /sourceIf it is not pointing to itself just run the following on the server you moved the fsmo role to as well.
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /reliable:no /update10:04 AM, 10/08/2010JoeBanker /
Very helpful article! Really dumb question: The old PDC Emulator is Windows 2000 (the new is Windows Server 2008). On Windows 2000, w32tm has a lesser command set. How do I accomplish the same goal as w32tm /config /synchfromflags:domhier /reliable:no /update ?
11:07 AM, 10/08/2010zloeber /
I believe you may have to use the “net time” command set under windows 2000. Quite an updgrade btw, migrating an 8+ year old DC
4:06 AM, 05/12/2011Federico /
Good morning, I change the PDC role to another Domain Controller; the command netdom /query fsmo give me the correct new configuration. I’ve modify all registry key describe in the following KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816042/en-us.
I’ve two problem:
1) in the output of command w32tm /monitor in the field RefID I see the old PDC.
2) th command w32tm /resync give me this error: The computer did not resync because no time data was available.
3) On the server I don’t see the UDP 123 port in LISTENING.
Someone can help me?
Thanks