How often is PAM synchronising time with NTP

Products

• CA Privileged Access Manager (PAM)
• CA Privileged Access Manager - Cloakware Password Authority (PA)
• CA Privileged Access Manager - Server Control (PAMSC)

Issue/Introduction

PAM is refusing to startup the cluster unless all nodes have established the sys.peer status with NTP.

When does PAM establishe the sys.peer status with NTP?

How often does it synchronise time with the NTP

Can the NTP communication be forced in any way?

Environment

Release : All versions of CA PAM as of October 2023.

Component : PRIVILEGED ACCESS MANAGEMENT

Resolution

- The PAM system time for the Cluster feature will be synched upon boot of the relevant PAM instance only
- After boot it will query the NTP every minute, then (after about 30 mins) the checking interval increases over the uptime (e.g. after one hour it is every 5 mins, then after another hour it is every 10 mins)
- The Configuration / Date/Time / NTP Status / REFRESH button only refreshes the display of this page, does not issue an NTP query