Timekeeping issues on Fujitsu RX4770M1 based hosts
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Timekeeping issues on Fujitsu RX4770M1 based hosts

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Article ID: 343420

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The article explains how to work around a particular NTP timekeeping issue experienced on some Fujitsu Hosts.

Symptoms:
  • The NTP client stops working from time to time.
  • In the /var/log/vpxa.log file, you observe that the time difference between vCenter Server and host increases:
2014-11-05T19:19:17.548Z [29556B70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@302-787462e0-55] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -1 seconds
2014-11-05T19:30:17.661Z [29556B70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@304-114d0e4a-1c] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -3 seconds
2014-11-05T19:38:17.735Z [29577B70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@308-7fab7171-b9] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -4 seconds
2014-11-05T19:46:17.845Z [29577B70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@312-5263922e-a7] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -5 seconds
2014-11-05T19:56:17.941Z [FFA2EB70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@315-33157fe9-1a] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -7 seconds
2014-11-05T20:04:18.013Z [29577B70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@318-5d79126f-2b] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -8 seconds
2014-11-05T20:21:18.182Z [FFA2EB70 verbose 'vpxavpxaMoService' opID=HB-host-36144@323-3732d443-cd] [VpxaMoService::GetChangesInt] time difference between vpxd and vpxa is -10 seconds
Notes:
  • The host hardware used is Fujitsu RX4770M1.
  • The issue can be resolved temporarily by either a host restart or an NTP client restart, but then it reoccurs.
  • This log excerpt is an example. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.


Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded

Resolution

This issue is affecting ESXi.

Currently, there is no resolution.

To work around this issue, change the host to the HPET timer. In case of ESXi, this can be done by disabling the other two timers:
  1. Query the timers in ESXi using these commands:

    esxcli system settings kernel list | grep -e ^Name -e ^timerEnable

    Name Type Description Configured Runtime Default
    timerEnableACPI Bool Enable ACPI PM timer as system reference timer. TRUE TRUE TRUE
    timerEnableHPET Bool Enable HPET as system reference timer. TRUE TRUE TRUE
    timerEnableTSC Bool Enable TSC as system reference timer. TRUE TRUE TRUE
  2. Disable TSC and ACPI using these commands:

    esxcli system settings kernel set -s timerEnableTSC -v FALSE
    esxcli system settings kernel set -s timerEnableACPI -v FALSE

  3. Running the command esxcli system settings kernel list | grep -e ^Name -e ^timerEnable again shows message similar to:

    Name Type Description Configured Runtime Default
    timerEnableACPI Bool Enable ACPI PM timer as system reference timer. FALSE TRUE TRUE
    timerEnableHPET Bool Enable HPET as system reference timer. TRUE TRUE TRUE
    timerEnableTSC Bool Enable TSC as system reference timer. FALSE TRUE TRUE


Additional Information

VMware support engineers have observed this on ESXi and Linux running on the same host make and model; the workaround is valid for both Operating Systems.

Note: Contact your vendor to change to the HPET timer in your Linux distribution.

富士通製 RX4770M1 サーバ上で動作するホストで時刻同期の問題が発生する

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