I'm looking for guidance on how to best configure a group of four Windows Server 2008 VMs (two on one host, and two more on another), so that they maintain accurate time, across reboots/shutdowns. I'm using ESX Server 3.5 and vCenter Server 2.5. In particular, I'm trying to do this without a domain controller.
Right now, I have VMware Tools installed on each of the server VMs with 'Time synchronization...' unchecked. Instead, I have Windows setup to automatically update the clock periodically from time.nist.gov. Finally, I have the NTP client is disabled on the two VM hosts (just using the local server time).
With this setup, time remains synced up until the point that I have to restart/shutdown the servers, after which point there is a +/- five to ten second difference between certain servers. I'm sure there must be a better way to do this, however, must articles that I have come across call for a domain controller (which I do not have).
Thanks for any suggestions you may have!