Today I tried to install a new ESXi 7.0 server for my homelab and I bumped into an issue with NTP.
I wanted to make sure this is really a bug, so I’ve used three different ISO’s to install ESXi: (same result)
- VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0.0-15843807.x86_64
- VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0b-16324942.x86_64
- VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0.0-16324942.x86_64-DellEMC_Customized-A02
This tends to happen if you’re using a standalone ESXi host instead of connecting it to a vCenter Server.
Follow these steps to fix the issue:
- Configure the time settings via ESXi > System > Time & date
- Configure the ESXi firewall
- Start the ESXi NTP services
- Test the time configuration
Configure the time settings
- Navigate to ESXi > System > Time & Date
- Select “Use Network Time Protocol (enable NTP client)”
- NTP service startup policy > Start and stop with host
- NTP servers > nl.pool.ntp.org
Configure the ESXi firewall
If you’re still in the services screen, search for the ntpd service and choose the related firewall rule on the right side of your screen: “ntpClient”
If you already left the scren, navigate to ESXi > Networking > Firewall rules > Search ntpClient
Select the firewall rule > Actions > Enable
Start the ESXi NTP services
- Navigate to ESXi > Services > ntpd
- Select ntpd and choose Start
The result will look like this:
Test the time configuration
- Navigate to ESXi > System > Time & Date
- Verify if the time mentioned in current date and time is correct
- Check if the NTP service status is Running
Alternatively you can use SSH, login and type “date”
The problem “The service ntpd failed to start” is solved now!
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