First, thanks for an excellent tutorial!

I had serious problems with ntp running the Perfect setup on a Windows host using VMWare GSX server. My clock was constantly running behind and I would use rdate to set the clock but very soon the clock was running behind again.

Googling I found a workaround that worked out well (if running SMP on single core processor):

1. Edit /etc/grub.conf
Add 'noapic nosmp nolapic clock=pit acpi=no' so your grub.conf looks like this:

title CentOS (2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 noapic nosmp nolapic clock=pit acpi=no
        initrd /initrd-2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp.img

2. Edit /etc/ntp.conf
Add 'burst iburst' after your server:

# --- OUR TIMESERVERS -----
server 0.pool.ntp.org burst iburst
server 1.pool.ntp.org burst iburst
server 2.pool.ntp.org burst iburst

This solved all my problems with a slow clock and my time is now on the spot 24/7.

My Windows system:
P4 3 GHz
3.5 GB RAM
VMWare GSX server