Active Directory replication issue on Virtualization

Recently we are testing Active Directory on VMware ESX server on top of Windows Server 2003 R2. After we successfully installed the Active Directory on ESX, we found all Active Directory virtual machines are unable to replicate with each other. We trying to force Active Directory replication but it still return errors to us.

After few hours of troubleshooting, we found that the host server system time did not set properly, and at the end cause time sychronization issue occur between all virtual machines. To encounter this problem, one of the easiest way is to set the correct timing for host server system time (such as correct Time Zone & current Date & Time).

Besides that, you can also double click on VMware Tool at the right bottom corner in Windows task bar on your virtual machine, at the VMware Tools properties, go to Options tab, and uncheck the option Time synchronization between the virtual machine and the ESX server.