scalix server date keeps changing.....

[bangsters]

Hi.

My scalix server keeps changing the date to a couple hours ahead of the actual date/time....I can change the date over an over, but after a couple hours it changes itself back again to the advanced time....like now, all my emails have a time of 7pm onwards where as it's not even lunch yet....

...i have my date settings correct, timezone is also set correctly to Eeastern Time....I even setup the aut internet update to try to prevent it from changing a a false date...but alas the date is still screwed up...

.any ideas? advice?

thanks

francis

[florian]

is the delta constant (as in certain even number of hours)? Then it's almost guaranteed to be a timezone problem.

If it's changing by the minute, your system clock has a problem. Are you running within VMWare? Would it be possible for you to configure a NTP client?

Thx,
Florian.

[bangsters]

yes i'm running in vmware :) does that have something to do with it? yes the delta is constant....

[florian]

vmware has known issues with time sync - please check their knowledgebase.

does the unix date command display the correct time? if not, you should first go for a NTP integration. if it does, does it also display correct timezone information in the "date" output?

Thx,
Florian.

[bangsters]

hmm....if i check with the date command, the date is wrong, usually advanced by a couple hours...i know i have setup an NTP client already, and it was fixed for a couple hours...then it goes back to the way it was afterwards.

btw, the NTP integration i used was the one built into the OS...

[florian]

OK, but then that's clearly something you'll have to work out between NTP, your OS and VMWare!

Scalix fully relies on the OS's date for all it's timestamps and a working clock is a hard requirement for a happy email server!

Florian.

[bangsters]

any suggestions aside from going NTP client route?

and thanks for all the help

[florian]

not sure - do VMWare tools for Linux also provide for time sync between host and guest os?

If you run windows on Linux (windows guest), they actually DO.

-- f.

[bangsters]

hmmmm.......not sure as i did not install vmware tools in this linux client...i'm also trying to dig through vmware docs but only found the same resolution, which is to change the date suing the date command...

[bangsters]

after some digging arond, i fond that it is caused by the power management function causing the date to change.....i added apm=off in my grub config and see what happens....i'll keep you posted if this does the trick.

thanks

francis

[kanderson]

If it doesn't, here's a crappy workaround thta does work...

add

*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/ntpdate pool.ntp.org > /dev/null 2>&1

into your crontab.

It's obviously not a perfect solution, but it will work, even if your time drifts so wildly that using an NTP source fails.

[bangsters]

looks like turning apm=off did not do the trick....

[kanderson]

Florian, just a heads up for you, the issue is with VMware's timing. It will affect any VM running a 2.6 kernel.

Often, the time drifts so drastically that NTP can't keep it correct and aborts.

VM's guide to troubleshooting it is here.
http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?c ... SAL_Public

Kev.

[bangsters]

Kev,

Do yo uthink this only applies to older VMWare servers (GSX, ESX)? Or does it also apply to the new VMWare Server? I'm starting to think to switch to the new VMWare Server and see if that works out....

Thanks

Francis

[kanderson]

It's far less pronounced on Vmware Server. (I have a scalix install running on it already, and another slated to go in shortly).

I suspect the remaining issue is Suse specific because they adjust their clock differently than most distros.

I do still see drift, but it's not 3 minutes of drift in 5 minutes of real time (or worse) or anything that wild. I'm sure NTP would keep it in check, but yes, it still does drift beyond what physical hardware would.

Just keep in mind, that this isn't a Scalix issue, it's a VM one. Any VM machine will have this issue.

Having said that, VMware server runs great, and Scalix is rock solid on top of it, though likely not officially supported. :)

Kev.