Running an OSX Server instance as a vrtual machine in vmWare has many advantages but also some pitfalls.
On OS X Server 10.94 Mavericks running as a virtual machine under vmWare Fusion 6.04, we started having mail services fail.
All Messages in Console, see many instance of:
9/8/14 11:12:13.462 AM vmsvc[117]: [ warning] [timeSync] Unable to synchronize time.
mail-err.log :
Sep 05 11:18:19 imap: Error: Time just moved backwards by 2 seconds. I'll sleep now until we're back in present. http://wiki2.dovecot.org/TimeMovedBackwards
Sep 05 11:19:52 imap: Warning: Time jumped forwards 32 seconds
Sep 08 12:29:38 master: Warning: Time moved backwards by 19 seconds, waiting for 20 secs until new services are launched again.
Sep 08 12:29:38 log: Warning: Time moved backwards by 19 seconds.
Sep 08 12:29:38 config: Warning: Time moved backwards by 19 seconds.
Sep 08 12:29:38 auth: Warning: Time moved backwards by 19 seconds.
Sep 08 12:29:50 imap: Fatal: Time just moved backwards by 8 seconds. This might cause a lot of problems, so I'll just kill myself now. http://wiki2.dovecot.org/TimeMovedBackwards
If time moves backwards, Dovecot kills itself to prevent havoc.
This issue is unresolved.
NOTES:
http://superuser.com/questions/678011/clock-running-fast-after-os-x-mavericks-install
sudo killall -9 ntpd
sudo ntpd
This could be related to vmWare time synchonization. See "Enabling time synchronization between the Mac and the Fusion virtual machine (1021718)".
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5084848
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/112679/ntpd-not-updating-time
http://superuser.com/questions/678011/clock-running-fast-after-os-x-mavericks-install