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Beware Vmware time drift

list Allan Spencer
Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:21:39 +1000
Message-Id: <user-b0d4d0d9de6d@xymon.invalid>

Everett, Vernon wrote:
Hi all

I tried running Hobbit on Ubuntu Linux in a a VM.
The main problem I discovered is massive time drift when running any
Linux-type OS in a VM. 
(This is a documented problem, but you have to search for the document)
I was looking at drifts of over 20 minutes per hour. Keeping tabs on any
events is almost impossible.
There is a clinet available for some Linux flavours which will keep the
local clock in sync with the host clock, but I couldn't find one for
Ubuntu, and it was easier just to install Solaris 10 on a PC.
For my purposes, I have to conclude that running Hobbit on Linux in an
MS-Windows VM is not an option.

Cheers
   Vernon

-----Original Message-----
From: Henrik Stoerner [mailto:user-ce4a2c883f75@xymon.invalid] 
Sent: Friday, 11 August 2006 5:09 AM
To: user-ae9b8668bcde@xymon.invalid
Subject: [hobbit] Pre-configured VMware hobbitserver available for
download

I've put together a VMware virtual machine configured with Debian Linux
and a Hobbit server installation. If you have the VMware Player
installed (free download from www.vmware.com), this lets you have a
demonstration / test / play-around-with-stuff Hobbit server running
without setting up a dedicated server for it.

Since VMware Player is available for MS-Windows, it will even let you
run a Hobbit server on a Windows-based system, although at the cost of
having a virtual server running (i.e. you'll need a bit of RAM to
support it).

For those who want to play with it, it is available from the Hobbitmon
"Files" area on sourceforge.net. Choose the "hobbitdemo" package:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=128058&package_id=
200171

Just one warning: It's a 250 MB download.


Regards,
Henrik

I had this once before with a a 2.4 kernel host and 2.6 guest, or vice 
versa and the guest was drifting like there was no tommorow. Not sure if 
your problem is the same though

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=10158

 From memory that ended up fixing our problem the clock=pit in the boot 
line and it hasnt missed a beat yet. Otherwise yeah NTP or the vmware 
time sync would not hold it

Allan