[Samba] Time keeping between Samba AD DC servers

[Peter Milesson]

Hi folks,

I just set up a new Windows AD DC, and got curious about time 
synchronization in a Samba domain. In a Windows AD domain, the PDC 
emulator is the root server for time keeping, and it seems the other DCs 
connect to the PDC emulator for time synchronization by design. When 
promoting a new Windows server to a AD DC, this seems to be set 
automatically.

What is the best practices for a Samba AD domain? Should the DCs that do 
not have the FSMO roles getting the time from the PDC emulator? This 
seems to be nitpicking, as it probably has got no practical consequences 
whatsoever. IMHO, I don't find the Windows way to be particularly 
robust. Let's say the AD DC working as PDC emulator goes out the window, 
what happens with the timekeeping? In a Samba domain, I assume the other 
DCs get their time from reliable external sources. At least that's how I 
set up things.

Any comments are welcome.

Best regards,

Peter