Checking NTP Service and Time-Sync Status

By default, NTP package comes with NTPD and NTPQC command line utility which is quite useful in troubleshooting NTP related problem.

Disable Host Time-Sync on Virtualbox

by default, a VirtualBox Host will always keep its Guest time-synchronized. U can disable this feature by performing this from terminal / DOS prompt:

vboxmanage setextradata “VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled” “1″

Note: U may need to run it as "root" by typing sudo in front of the command.

PING utility with trending tools

PING command is damn good tools to quickly check network connection healthiness. But it's too simple for network monitoring. Found a free tools from Colasoft. Now u can trend the time response, and even export it to TXT file for further analysis.

http://www.colasoft.com/ping_tool/

Using 3rd party NTP timesync software in Windows XP

Found a way to disable default Windows NTP service in WinXP. Also managed to replace it with a much better tools from Timetools UK !!

http://www.timetools.co.uk/time-servers/ntp-client.htm

4 simple steps involved:

1) Disable Windows Time service. U can verify by looking at "RPC error" at the time applet.
2) Make sure good connection to your NTP server - verify using PING tool
3) Run Timetools NTP Client software - refer link above
4) Make sure the software running good and giving status "OK"

NTP Service in Windows

Ever wonder what is the Windows service which controls your NTP sync?

Windows Atomic Clock NTP Client Software and Windows Time Synchronisation Service.

TimeTools SNTP client software and the Windows Time Synchronisation service ('Windows Time') cannot co-exist on the same system, since they both attempt to use UDP port 123 (NTP). You can disable the Windows Time service from the service manager to avoid this problem and rely on the NTP time server monitor to synchronise time.

Operation with Windows XP SP2 Firewall

To operate any NTP or SNTP client on Windows XP SP2 or later, you must open the NTP port (Port 123) in the Windows XP firewall. From the Firewall Control Panel add UDP port 123 in the exceptions tab.

http://www.timetools.co.uk/time-servers/ntp-client.htm

Which Station Hosting Which Control Processor?

In case u need to know this, follow this nice guide from Ricardo;

To find out what AW is hosting what CP you need to look on each AW inside the “/usr/fox/sp/files/” folder and look for files with this format:

DB.UC

Ex: /usr/fox/sp/files/DBCP0001.UC

Ex: /usr/fox/sp/files/DB02CP02.UC

Etc...

Nexenta Storage with VMware ESXi 4.1

this is 1 nice article about setting up Nexenta open storage system with ESXi 4.1

http://v-reality.info/2010/06/using-nexentastor-zfs-storage-appliance-with-vsphere/

Change motherboard and prevent B.S.O.D in WinXP

Unlike Windows Vista or Windows 7 (or Linux of course), WinXP is not smart to "re-align" itself when a motherboard is replaced with a difference chipset.

Most of the time, u will be greeted by a nice BSOD and more often than not u will need to do a clean WINXP install or repair it via orig. CD.

found some nice links on several options on how to avoid this.

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/other/motherboard/win2k.htm