Your network contains an Active Directory forest. The forest contains one domain named contoso.com.
You discover the following event in the Event log of client computers: “The time provider NtpClient was unable
to find a domain controller to use as a time source. NtpClient will try again in %1 minutes.”
You need to ensure that the client computers can synchronize their clocks properly.
What should you do?
A.
Move the domain naming master role.
B.
Restart Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) service.
C.
Move the PDC emulator role.
D.
Move the infrastructure master role.
E.
Move the global catalog server.
F.
Move the RID master role.
G.
Move the bridgehead server.
H.
Move the schema master role.
I.
Deploy an additional global catalog server.
J.
Install a read-only domain controller (RODC).
Explanation:
It could be that the server holding the PDC Emulator role has failed. Whatever the cause, we need to move the
PDC Emulator role to another domain controller to restore time synchronization in the domain.
Reference 1:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/transform.aspx?ProdName=Windows+Operating
+System&ProdVer=5.2&EvtID=14&EvtSrc=w32time&LCID=1033
Event ID
14
Message
The time provider NtpClient was unable to find a domain controller to use as a time source. NtpClient will try
again in %1 minutes.
Windows Time Service is configured to use the domain hierarchy to locate its time source. It could not locate
a domain controller that is a suitable time source. The time service will continue to search for an acceptable
domain controller. If the time service cannot locate a time source after the maximum number of attempts, the
Win32Time 49 message will be logged.
Reference 2:
MS Press – Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640) (2nd Edition, July 2012)
page 531
PDC Emulator Role
The PDC Emulator role performs multiple, crucial functions for a domain:
(…)
Provides a master time source for the domain- Active Directory, Kerberos, File Replication Service
(FRS), and Distributed File System Replication (DFS-R) each rely on timestamps, so synchronizing the time
across all systems in a domain is crucial. The PDC emulator in the forest root domain is the time master for
the entire forest, by default. The PDC emulator in each domain synchronizes its time with the forest root
PDC emulator. Other domain controllers in the domain synchronize their clocks against that domains PDC
emulator. All other domain members synchronize their time with their preferred domain controller. This
hierarchical structure of time synchronization, allimplemented through the Win32Time service, ensures
consistency of time. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is synchronized, and the time displayed to usersis
adjusted based on the time zone setting of the computer.