I'm running a CentOS 4.4 VM on a Windows XP host with VMware Server, and have the problem that my clock runs too slow (it happens in VMware Workstation as well). It loses between 30 and 45 seconds every minute! This is a known problem and can be fixed by adding "nosmp noapic nolapic" to the boot command according to VMware tech note ID 1420. However, despite adding these options as well as some others (acpi=off pci=noacpi clock=pit) and turning off a bunch of daemons (cpuspeed, irqbalance, etc.) I still have a slow clock. Here are the daemons that are still enabled:
anacron 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off apmd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off atd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off autofs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off crond 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off cups 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off cups-config-daemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off denyhosts 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off gpm 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off haldaemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off iptables 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off kudzu 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off mdmonitor 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off messagebus 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off microcode_ctl 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off netfs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off network 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off ntpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off portmap 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off readahead 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:on 6:off readahead_early 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:on 6:off sendmail 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off sshd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off syslog 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off vmware-tools 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off winbind 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:on 5:off 6:off xfs 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off xinetd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
Has anyone else come across this problem and if so, did you find a way to fix it? This is the last issue that is preventing me from distributing this VM to users.
Thanks, Alfred
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Alfred von Campe wrote:
Has anyone else come across this problem and if so, did you find a way to fix it? This is the last issue that is preventing me from distributing this VM to users.
Mine have all been fast, not slow, but there is a section in this whitepaper addressing slow time.
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf
Look under Known Issues and Troubleshooting -> Specific Timekeeping Issues and Problems. The section is marked as "Guest time runs slower than real time."
Max
On Feb 7, 2007, at 9:24, Max H. wrote:
Mine have all been fast, not slow, but there is a section in this whitepaper addressing slow time.
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf
Look under Known Issues and Troubleshooting -> Specific Timekeeping Issues and Problems. The section is marked as "Guest time runs slower than real time."
Thanks for all the replies. After reading the whitepaper I made a bunch of changes, and I finally have a VM running where the clock doesn't fall behind. I don't know which of the many changes was the successful one, but it appears to be running now. I'll have more data tomorrow.
Alfred
NTP is not supposed to be running on your vm's. Instead, you leverage vmware tools and use the vmware-toolbox to enable time synchronization between the guest vm and the host. Also clock=pit is the recommended boot parameter.
chkconfig ntpd off
On Wed, 2007-02-07 at 09:03 -0500, Alfred von Campe wrote:
I'm running a CentOS 4.4 VM on a Windows XP host with VMware Server, and have the problem that my clock runs too slow (it happens in VMware Workstation as well). It loses between 30 and 45 seconds every minute! This is a known problem and can be fixed by adding "nosmp noapic nolapic" to the boot command according to VMware tech note ID 1420. However, despite adding these options as well as some others (acpi=off pci=noacpi clock=pit) and turning off a bunch of daemons (cpuspeed, irqbalance, etc.) I still have a slow clock. Here are the daemons that are still enabled:
anacron 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off apmd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off atd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off autofs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off crond 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off cups 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off cups-config-daemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off denyhosts 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off gpm 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off haldaemon 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off iptables 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off kudzu 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off mdmonitor 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off messagebus 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off microcode_ctl 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off netfs 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off network 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off ntpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off portmap 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off readahead 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:on 6:off readahead_early 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:on 6:off sendmail 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off sshd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off syslog 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off vmware-tools 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off winbind 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:on 5:off 6:off xfs 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off xinetd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
Has anyone else come across this problem and if so, did you find a way to fix it? This is the last issue that is preventing me from distributing this VM to users.
Thanks, Alfred
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Scott McClanahan wrote:
between the guest vm and the host. Also clock=pit is the recommended boot parameter.
Not all systems have sync'ed PIT among the CPUs (NUMA in particular), so it is not always a good parameter. Depends on chipset.
There as been quite a few timer related fixes in the centos/upstream kernels too, but it should be included in CentOS 4.4.
On Feb 7, 2007, at 9:47, Scott McClanahan wrote:
NTP is not supposed to be running on your vm's. Instead, you leverage vmware tools and use the vmware-toolbox to enable time synchronization between the guest vm and the host. Also clock=pit is the recommended boot parameter.
Just to follow up, my VM was running all night long and was less than a minute behind this morning. Not as good as running NTP, but definitely better than losing 45 seconds every minute. I think the key was to enable time synchronization between the guest and the host, which for some reason was not enabled by default.
Thanks again for all the help, Alfred
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Alfred von Campe -
Max H. -
Morten Torstensen -
Scott McClanahan