NTP time synchronization issue on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4 running on VMware

On virtualized SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4, time synchronization using Network Time Protocol daemon (ntpd) is not properly working reporting major clock drift:

# cat /var/lib/ntp/drift/ntp.drift
-500.000

and several frequency errors in the ntp log file:

# cat /var/log/ntp
[...]
9 Jul 11:06:37 ntpd[466]: frequency error -512 PPM exceeds tolerance 500 PPM
9 Jul 11:07:43 ntpd[466]: frequency error -512 PPM exceeds tolerance 500 PPM
9 Jul 11:08:46 ntpd[466]: frequency error -512 PPM exceeds tolerance 500 PPM
9 Jul 11:09:49 ntpd[466]: frequency error -512 PPM exceeds tolerance 500 PPM
[...]

If on your system is running eDirectory, you could also have verified a time synchronization issue with the command "ndsrepair -T"

The issue has been verified on systems running kernel version 2.6.16.60-0.97.1 on VMware.

Solution:

Please update to kernel 2.6.16.60-0.99.1 or later.

Workaround:

Disable the Time Stamp Counter using the kernel parameter "notsc". In order to do this, add "notsc" to the kernel line in the file "/boot/grub/menu.lst". An example below:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.60-0.97.1-default root=/dev/sda2 vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sda1 splash=silent showopts notsc

Then reboot the system and verify if the issue is solved.

More information about this issue from VMWare:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1006427