Arch Linux

light9876

Member

Registered: 2020-01-05

Posts: 142

[SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

I have been setting my time using this command:

timedatectl set-time 19:30:00

I want to make it automatic. I read these two pages:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/System_time
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ne … col_daemon

And what I did is:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT /etc/localtime
sudo pacman -S ntp
sudo ntpd -u ntp:ntp
sudo systemctl enable ntpdate.service
ntpq -p
sudo timedatectl set-ntp true

The current output of:

$timedatectl status
               Local time: Sat 2020-06-06 19:21:01 GMT
           Universal time: Sat 2020-06-06 19:21:01 UTC
                 RTC time: Sat 2020-06-06 19:21:02    
                Time zone: GMT (GMT, +0000)           
System clock synchronized: no                         
              NTP service: active                     
          RTC in local TZ: no

The time remains unchanged even after a reboot. What am I doing wrong?

Last edited by light9876 (2020-06-07 09:28:34)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,859

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

sudo ntpd -u ntp:ntp

manually start ntpd

sudo systemctl enable ntpdate.service

enable the service but do not start it

ntpq -p

print the status of peers.  What was the output?

sudo timedatectl set-ntp true

start and enable systemd-timesyncd?

What is the output of

ntpq -p
systemctl status ntpdate.service
systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service
ps aux | grep ntpd

light9876

Member

Registered: 2020-01-05

Posts: 142

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

$ntpq -p

     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
 lithium.rubbler .XFAC.          16 u    - 1024    0    0.000   +0.000   0.000
 x.ns.gin.ntt.ne .XFAC.          16 u    - 1024    0    0.000   +0.000   0.000
 ntp.uk.eria.one .XFAC.          16 u    - 1024    0    0.000   +0.000   0.000
 fifi.m.faelix.n .XFAC.          16 u    - 1024    0    0.000   +0.000   0.000

$systemctl status ntpdate.service

● ntpdate.service - One-Shot Network Time Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/ntpdate.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: activating (start) since Sat 2020-06-06 19:02:12 GMT; 35min ago
   Main PID: 447 (ntpd)
      Tasks: 2 (limit: 19041)
     Memory: 5.8M
     CGroup: /system.slice/ntpdate.service
             └─447 /usr/bin/ntpd -q -n -g -u ntp:ntp

Jun 06 19:02:12 elias ntpd[447]:  6 Jun 19:02:12 ntpd[447]: Listen normally on 2 lo 127.0.0.1:123
Jun 06 19:02:12 elias ntpd[447]:  6 Jun 19:02:12 ntpd[447]: Listen normally on 3 lo [::1]:123
Jun 06 19:02:12 elias ntpd[447]:  6 Jun 19:02:12 ntpd[447]: Listening on routing socket on fd #20 for interface updates
Jun 06 19:02:12 elias ntpd[447]: Listening on routing socket on fd #20 for interface updates
Jun 06 19:02:19 elias ntpd[447]: Listen normally on 4 enp3s0 100.65.247.3:123
Jun 06 19:02:19 elias ntpd[447]:  6 Jun 19:02:19 ntpd[447]: Listen normally on 4 enp3s0 100.65.247.3:123
Jun 06 19:02:19 elias ntpd[447]:  6 Jun 19:02:19 ntpd[447]: Listen normally on 5 enp3s0 [fe80::e3f6:10b9:1a94:e2db%2]:123
Jun 06 19:02:19 elias ntpd[447]:  6 Jun 19:02:19 ntpd[447]: new interface(s) found: waking up resolver
Jun 06 19:02:19 elias ntpd[447]: Listen normally on 5 enp3s0 [fe80::e3f6:10b9:1a94:e2db%2]:123
Jun 06 19:02:19 elias ntpd[447]: new interface(s) found: waking up resolver

$systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service

● systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2020-06-06 19:20:58 GMT; 17min ago
       Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8)
   Main PID: 1337 (systemd-timesyn)
     Status: "Idle."
      Tasks: 2 (limit: 19041)
     Memory: 2.1M
     CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-timesyncd.service
             └─1337 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd

Jun 06 19:20:58 elias systemd[1]: Starting Network Time Synchronization...
Jun 06 19:20:58 elias systemd[1]: Started Network Time Synchronization.

$ps aux | grep ntpd

ntp          447  0.0  0.0  74952  5544 ?        Ssl  19:12   0:00 /usr/bin/ntpd -q -n -g -u ntp:ntp
elias       2057  0.0  0.0   6296  2144 pts/0    S+   19:38   0:00 grep --colour=auto ntpd

Last edited by light9876 (2020-06-06 18:30:27)

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,859

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

ntpd has not determined the accuracy of the peers,  so it has no reference time to adjust to,  when the peers stratum drops to 2 or 3 then ntpd will start adjusting the time.
You have two competing services ntpd and systemd-timesyncd.service managing the clock is that intended?

light9876

Member

Registered: 2020-01-05

Posts: 142

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

Oh I thought both services were required. If so, then I only need one.

Say I want to use only systemd-timesyncd, what shall I do now?

And thank you for your time.

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 18,859

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

If you only want to use systemd-timesyncd disable and stop ntpdate.service you can also remove the ntp package.

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,889

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

Keep in mind that it's unclear whether systemd-timesyncd is reliable if you don't use systemd-networkd as network management tool.

NTP on the other hand works if there's any active network connection.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

light9876

Member

Registered: 2020-01-05

Posts: 142

Re: [SOLVED] Help setting automatic system time

Thank you all!