NTP stands for “Network Time Protocol“, it’s a method for computer time synchronization. If your computer is a member of a Windows Domain your computer automatically synchronizes to the PDC or Primary Domain Controller. The problem is, where does the PDC synchronize to? I found the domain clock off by 5 minutes today (and it wasn’t the first time), which I suppose isn’t that big of a deal unless you use the computer clock for things like appointments or meetings. Better late than never right? :)
I found a cool website called ntp.org that will allow you to leverage their extremely accurate time servers. If you have a windows server try these commands! This is a combination of commands found here and here:
Network time is controlled by this method: net time /setsntp:pool.ntp.org
You can “refresh” a server or workstation with this command: net stop w32time && net start w32time
* I failed to mention this and I’m editing this old post.
Server command: net time /setsntp:pool.ntp.org
Workstation command: net time /setsntp:yourserver.com
This way all your network hosts are staying on your internal network and you’re not killing poor ntp.org with all the requests :)