Q: 8
An administrator logs into the VMware NSX Manager UI and discovers a time sync issue that has
been reported in the VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF) installer.
The administrator performs the following steps:
1. Validates that the NTP server IP addresses are present in the NTP configuration on the VCF
Installer.
2. Validates that the DNS records are correctly set for the FQDN and IP address of the two NTP
servers.
3. Validates that the NTP servers can be pinged by name and IP address from the VCF Installer.
4. Validates that the time between the NTP servers and the VCF Installer is synchronized successfully.
What additional step should the administrator perform to help identify the cause of the error?
Options
Discussion
D . If the ESX hosts don’t match NTP config with VCF Installer, NSX Manager will have time issues even though your other checks pass. I think that’s the missing step, but open if anyone thinks B is more relevant.
D . If the ESX hosts aren't synced to the same NTP servers, VMs like NSX Manager can get out of sync even when the installer is fine. Pretty sure that's the gap here, since connectivity and config have already been checked. Makes more sense than fiddling with iptables in this scenario.
Option D Since the NSX Manager VM inherits time from its ESXi host, if those hosts aren’t synced with the same NTP servers as VCF Installer, you get mismatch issues even if the installer and NTP config are fine. I think that’s the missing piece here, unless someone spots another gotcha.
I think D makes the most sense, since VMs usually pull time from the ESXi hosts and if there's a mismatch, NSX Manager would show issues even if NTP looks good everywhere else. Pretty sure that's what trips people up on these VCF deployments. Open to other thoughts if someone hit this in the lab.
D
D or maybe B if firewall was blocking NTP, but given the admin already checked config and connectivity, the ESX hosts' time is most likely off compared to the VCF Installer. NSX Manager syncs with its host so any time drift there can cause issues. Pretty sure D fits best, but let me know if I missed something.
Is B just a distraction here since installer sync and connectivity were already validated? Wouldn't it make more sense to check ESX host NTP alignment as the next logical step?
Maybe B here. If the iptables on the VCF Installer are blocking NTP traffic, then even with all the DNS and config checks, time sync can fail. I saw similar issues when a local firewall rule was missed during setup. Not totally sure though, open to other ideas.
I think D makes sense since if the ESX hosts aren't syncing with the same NTP servers, their VMs (like NSX Manager) could have different time. Pretty sure that's the step missing, unless I'm overlooking something.
Yeah, D makes sense. If the ESXi hosts have different time than VCF or NTP is off, NSX Manager will end up out of sync since it pulls from the host clock by default. Seen that mess up deployments before, though I'm not 100% sure it couldn't also be C in some weird config. Anyone else seen the hosts' clock cause this?
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