VMware vRealize Log Insight and Leap Seconds

Products

VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on Leap Seconds with VMware vRealize Log Insight.

Consistent time synchronization is important for VMware vRealize Log Insight. A Leap Second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to correspond to the mean solar time.

vRealize Log Insight can be configured to synchronize time with the ESXi host it is running on or with an Network Time Protocol (NTP) server. For more information, see the Synchronize the Time on the vRealize Log Insight Virtual Appliance section in VMware vRealize Log Insight Administration Guide.

Environment

VMware vCenter Log Insight 1.x
VMware vRealize Log Insight 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Log Insight 2.x
VMware vRealize Log Insight 3.6.x
VMware vRealize Log Insight 3.3.x
VMware vRealize Log Insight 2.5.x
VMware vRealize Log Insight 3.0.x

Resolution

If VMware vRealize Log Insight is configured to synchronize time with an NTP server, perform these steps for configuring the NTP daemon in vRealize Log Insight around the leap second.

Switch the ntp daemon to slew mode 24 hours prior to the leap second and then switch it back after the leap second.

To switch the ntp daemon to slew mode:

Open a console or SSH session to the vRealize Log Insight virtual appliance and log in as root.
Open the /etc/sysconfig/ntp configuration file in a text editor.
Find the NTPD_OPTIONS setting. It is similar to:

NTPD_OPTIONS="-g -u ntp:ntp"
Change the configuration parameter to add the -x switch.

NTPD_OPTIONS="-x -g -u ntp:ntp"
Save the file.
Restart the ntp service by running this command:

service ntp restart

To switch the ntp daemon back to regular operation after the leap second, perform the reverse operation:

Open a console or SSH session to the vRealize Log Insight virtual appliance and log in as root.
Open the /etc/sysconfig/ntp configuration file in a text editor.
Find the NTPD_OPTIONS setting. It looks similar to:

NTPD_OPTIONS="-x -g -u ntp:ntp"
Change the configuration parameter to remove the -x switch.

NTPD_OPTIONS="-g -u ntp:ntp"
Save the file.
Restart the ntp service by running this command:

service ntp restart

Additional Information

The VMware vRealize Log Insight appliance is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and the details and recommendations provided by SUSE are applicable. For more information, see the SUSE Knowledge Base article 7016150.

Note: The preceding link was correct as of August 26, 2015. If you find the link is broken, provide a feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.