Hello all! New to the forums so please be kind

We have our BES server as a guest on a VMWare Server Host. From the Windows stats there does not seem to be a performance issue. We're running BES 4.1.4.15 with Lotus Domino 7.0.3. What I see is the system time "drifting" forward, then reseting to the correct time when the DC time sync happens. Normally wouldn't be a problem except it makes one hell of a mess in the Domino logs. Has anyone seen this before? There is not time issue on the hardware that is hosting the VM.

You're probably best off asking in a VMWare forum or contacting their support organization. Is there not a setting in the VM manager to pull its time from the host server?

There is but I believe that setting is only for the OS startup. I run a small BES (2 users) on VMware ESX and still use a time sync program. I've yet to come across a server that doesn't drift.

FYI:

Actually typing out the question tweaked my melon to look on the VMWare knowledgebase. (I was too close to the problem)

KB item 2041 was spot on:

"This problem can occur on some 64-bit AMD multiprocessor (including multicore) systems. If you run VMware products on one of these systems and the clocks in your virtual machines are performing unpredictably, VMware recommends you apply the workaround described below.

Timestamp counters (TSCs) on 64-bit AMD systems should ideally remain synchronized because these systems run all CPUs from a common clock oscillator. However, some 64-bit AMD systems have power management features that can cause the TSCs on some processor cores to lose time in relation to other cores."

Once I disabled "Power Management" for the CPUs in the BIOS, the time issue went away. Thanks.....