Ubuntu Linux time is synchronized but no NTP nor Chrony are installed

[JDamian]

Hi

This is the first time I find a Ubuntu Linux box which time is SNTP synchronized by means of the systemd-timesyncd.service. Therefore, no NTPd nor Chrony are needed and are not installed.

The timedatectl command shows

   System clock synchronized: yes

but no data on the style of ntpq -p or chronyc -n tracking commands outuput… so we only can do is believe it is sync’ed.

Then the Linux agent reports no info about time synchronization.

How CheckMK can show the box is time sync’ed?

Has anybody found this same issue?

Best regards

[openmindz (Thomas Karatzoglou)]

Hi @JDamian

If I’m not mistaken, the timedatectl command has an option to show the timesync status
timedatectl timesync-status. I believe that this exists on e.g. Ubuntu 18.04 upwards, and
I think the agent is getting this information to determine whether a system is synchronized via NTP.

HTH,
Thomas

[JDamian]

Hi @openmindz

I’m sorry you’re mistaken:

# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic
 
# timedatectl timesync-status
Unknown operation timesync-status

May anyone tell me whether new Linux agents releases (2.x if that is the case) can monitor this new time synchronization?

Best regards

[openmindz (Thomas Karatzoglou)]

Hi @JDamian

My mistake is only regarding the Ubuntu Release though, it’s for release higher than 18.04. The procedure I described, is correct. See the documentation of the corresponding check.

HTH,
Thomas

EDIT
Nothing hinders you to simply install ntpd or chrony. Then you can disable/mask systemd-timesyncd and forget about it…