Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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Hello, @ryo shinba !
My understanding is that on Azure virtual machines (VMs), the VM synchronizes with "Windows Time Server" and "time.windows.com". Is that correct?
Azure hosts are synchronized to internal Microsoft time servers that take their time from Microsoft-owned Stratum 1 devices, with GPS antennas. Virtual machines in Azure can either depend on their host to pass the accurate time (host time) on to the VM or the VM can directly get time from a time server, or a combination of both.
On a Windows VM, that leaves you with the following three configuration options:
- Host time and time.windows.com. This is the default configuration used in Azure Marketplace images.
- Host-only.
- Use another, external time server with or without using host time. For this option follow the Time mechanism for Active Directory Windows Virtual Machines in Azure guide.
This means that the VM synchronizes with the host time, time.windows.com, and/or another, external time server.
Read more:
"Host time" and "time.windows.com" are different, and when a VM is connected to the internet it can synchronize with "time.windows.com". Is that correct?
Host time and time.windows.com are different. Host time is based on internal Microsoft time servers and time.windows.com would need a network connection.
Read more:
What about private networks?
You can rely on internal host time from Azure, or make exceptions for time.windows.com or another external time service.
I hope this helps!
Hello, @ryo shinba !
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thanks!
I'll check the document.