Re: [CentOS] system date using ntp client is drifting

On 06/04/12 1:27 PM, Nate Duehr wrote:

Additionally, ntp will refuse to sync if it's too far out. Use ntpdate [server IP] to force the issue first. If the machines have a bad CMOS battery and won't keep time, ntpdate package can be configured to force time sync (which is a bad hack) at boot-time.

the standard EL5 /etc/rc.d/init.d/ntpd script does this automatically, unless its been disabled via /etc/sysconfig/ntpd

After getting the clock in sync, "hwclock --systohc" to push it into the CMOS clock.

setting SYNC_HWCLOCK=yes in said above config file will do this, too.