'timedatectl' is giving following output -
Local time: Wed 2018-06-13 18:08:51 IST
Universal time: Wed 2018-06-13 12:38:51 UTC
RTC time: Wed 2018-06-13 12:38:51
Time zone: Asia/Kolkata (IST, +0530)
System clock synchronized: no
systemd-timesyncd.service active: yes
RTC in local TZ: no
How to set System clock synchronized to yes?
It can be done without deploying NTP like this:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
Edit the NTP Server detail
[Time]
NTP=ur.ntp.srv
FallbackNTP=ur.fallbackntp.srv
Then
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo timedatectl set-ntp off
sudo timedatectl set-ntp on
and you can check it with
timedatectl status
One way to do it is to use ntp which still works in Ubuntu 18.04. Run the following command to install ntp.
sudo apt install ntp
After it is installed you can run ntpq -p to make sure that it is working.
~$ ntpq -p
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
0.ubuntu.pool.n .POOL. 16 p - 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
1.ubuntu.pool.n .POOL. 16 p - 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
2.ubuntu.pool.n .POOL. 16 p - 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
3.ubuntu.pool.n .POOL. 16 p - 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
ntp.ubuntu.com .POOL. 16 p - 64 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
Then in your /etc/crontab file add @reboot root /usr/sbin/ntpd -n so that the ntpd will automatically start when the system reboots. Use your favorite editor like gedit or mousepad or whatever you like:
pkexec gedit /etc/crontab
It should kind of look like this when the line is added:
# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
# m h dom mon dow user command
17 * * * * root cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 6 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
@reboot root /usr/sbin/ntpd -n
#
Then reboot the computer for the settings to take effect.
~$ timedatectl status
Local time: Wed 2018-06-13 06:55:35 MDT
Universal time: Wed 2018-06-13 12:55:35 UTC
RTC time: Wed 2018-06-13 12:55:36
Time zone: America/Denver (MDT, -0600)
System clock synchronized: yes
systemd-timesyncd.service active: yes
RTC in local TZ: no
If you want to change your servers to the Asia Pool servers add them into the # Use servers from the NTP Pool Project. part of the /etc/ntp.conf file like so:
# Use servers from the NTP Pool Project. Approved by Ubuntu Technical Board
# on 2011-02-08 (LP: #104525). See http://www.pool.ntp.org/join.html for
# more information.
server 0.asia.pool.ntp.org
server 1.asia.pool.ntp.org
server 2.asia.pool.ntp.org
server 3.asia.pool.ntp.org
Hope this helps!
The following worked for me:
timedatectl set-ntp true
and then...
systemctl restart systemd-timesyncd
Example:
For those using Ubuntu 18+ on AWS EC2 instances, I found this worked fantastically. It utilizes AWS' internal time sync service:
sudo apt install chrony
sudo nano /etc/chrony/chrony.conf
Add the following line before any other server entry:
server 169.254.169.123 prefer iburst minpoll 4 maxpoll 4
and then
sudo /etc/init.d/chrony restart
The best part about this method for EC2 instances is that you don't have to modify your security group rules, even if your instance is not connected to the Internet :)
A related case that isn't exactly this one but I want to add it somewhere:
It is possible, as was the case for me, for this timedatectl output to correspond to the NTP port being blocked by your firewall.
On Ubuntu, you can explicitly allow communications on the NTP port of 123 by running the following command:
sudo ufw allow out from any to any port 123
This will allow outbound traffic from a service running on your PC using any port/network-protocol combination to services running on a remote machine using port 123 with any network protocol. This includes services running on remote machines that implement the network time protocol, which is required for being able to ask for the time from a remote machine.
Gui Option: Go to "Settings" --> "Details" --> "Date & Time" --> Turn on "Automatic Date and Time".
systemctl restart systemd-timesyncd might help
I read somewhere that you have to have your system time maximum 1000 seconds off the sync-server time for the sync to work. If your current system time is more than 1000s off it will not work. So try to change the time manually first:
timedatectl set-ntp false
timedatectl set-timezone 'Europe/Berlin'
timedatectl set-time 2022-01-13
timedatectl set-time 13:16
timedatectl set-ntp true
after doing so i got the "yes" in timedatectl
Local time: Thu 2022-01-13 13:16:16 CET
Universal time: Thu 2022-01-13 12:16:16 UTC
RTC time: n/a
Time zone: Europe/Berlin (CET, +0100)
System clock synchronized: yes # <----------- it's synced
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
For more information see the -g option here https://linux.die.net/man/8/ntpd
For those who followed max's answer, but failed.
Go to NTP, choose your specific pool zone, and add at least two pool zones to your /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf. For instance, for Asia, add:
[Time]
NTP=0.asia.pool.ntp.org 1.asia.pool.ntp.org
FallbackNTP=0.pool.ntp.org 1.pool.ntp.org
Then run the rest of the commands in the recommended answer.
after completing all of this, System clock synchronized: no.
So I edited the file sudo nano /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
like this
[Time]
Servers=your_NTP_ip 0.debian.pool.ntp.org 1.debian.pool.ntp.org 2.debian.pool.ntp.org 3.debian.pool.ntp.org
save and run
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo timedatectl set-ntp off
sudo timedatectl set-ntp on
timedatectl status
Now it is working for me.System clock synchronized: yes
Maybe you should check the network connectivity and DNS working. For me, changing the /etc/resolv.conf could result System clock synchronized: yes after some seconds.
