Can ntpd/chronyd be used with two NTP servers, specifying one as primary and another as backup?
Environment
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- ntp
- chrony
Issue
- Can ntpd/chronyd be used with two NTP servers, specifying one as primary and another as backup?
- How many upstream time servers should be configured in the NTP configuration file?
Resolution
Recommended Configuration
- It is NOT recommended to use only two NTP servers.
- If more than one NTP server is required, four NTP servers is the recommended minimum. Four servers protect against one incorrect timesource, or "falseticker". For more information refer to Best practices for NTP
- Also refer to the upstream NTP documentation for additional detail: 5.3. Selecting Offsite NTP Servers. Especially the chapter 5.3.3. Upstream Time Server Quantity, it is well documented and clarified.
Redundancy
-
If two NTP servers are required for redundancy, one server can be assumed a truechimer by using the
trueoption in ntp.conf, andtrustoption in chrony.conf. But the NTP client will not follow it blindly. -
Note that this option defeats the purpose of NTP's timesource selection algorithms and allows the sources with this option to set the system clock. If the specified time source is unstable, the system will not be able to identify the problem.
Example for ntpd
- Example
/etc/ntp.confspecification:
server 192.168.0.1 true
server 192.168.0.2
-
Then restart the
ntpdservice. Wait for about fifteen minutes to let NTP collect enough information to operate with accuracy. After that, thentpq -pncommand can be used to check the sync status. There are two possible results: -
If both NTP servers are stable and sync with each other, there will be a
*or+in front of both NTP servers. For example:
[root@localhost ~]# ntpq -pn
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
+192.168.0.1 LOCAL(0) 6 u 10 16 377 0.154 4.200 2.416
*192.168.0.2 LOCAL(0) 6 u 1 16 377 0.981 0.982 0.400
- If the time info provided by the two NTP servers which were sticking to their local time is not in-sync, ntpd will trust the server which has the
trueoption and assume the other one is a falseticker. For example:
[root@localhost ~]# ntpq -pn
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
==============================================================================
*192.168.0.1 LOCAL(0) 6 u 10 16 377 0.211 -16.920 2.562
x192.168.0.2 LOCAL(0) 6 u 1 16 377 0.581 5.242 4.597
Example for chronyd
- Example
/etc/chrony.confspecification:
server 192.168.0.1 trust
server 192.168.0.2
Root Cause
- When ntpd/chronyd gets information from two time sources and the times provided do not fall into a small enough range, the ntpd/chronyd daemon cannot determine which timesource is correct and which is the
falseticker.
Diagnostic Steps
For ntpd:
- Check the number of clocks configured in the
/etc/ntp.conffile using:
[root@localhost ~]# grep -E '^(peer|server)' /etc/ntp.conf
- Check the number of clocks
ntpdis currently using:
[root@localhost ~]# ntpq -p
For chronyd:
- Check the number of clocks configured in the
/etc/chrony.conffile using:
[root@localhost ~]# grep -E '^(peer|server)' /etc/chrony.conf
- Check the number of clocks
chronydis currently using:
[root@localhost ~]# chronyc sources
- From man ntp.conf:
true Mark the association to assume truechimer status; that is, always
survive the selection and clustering algorithms. This option can be
used with any association, but is most useful for reference clocks
with large jitter on the serial port and precision pulse-per-second
(PPS) signals. Caution: this option defeats the algorithms designed
to cast out falsetickers and can allow these sources to set the sys-
tem clock. This option is valid only with the server and peer com-
mands.
- From man chrony.conf:
trust
Assume time from this source is always true. It can be rejected as a
falseticker in the source selection only if another source with this
option does not agree with it.
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7 Comments
Links seem to be broken does Redhat have an alternative source for those documents.
Not sure which link you mean, Grant - I know this is from a while back but as of January 2018 all three links on this page work.
Hope this helps,
Paul
Can we force the NTP to sync from a source by marking it true even if we have multiple sources mentioned in the /etc/ntp.conf or it works only when we have 2 ntp source servers?
The simple answer is: yes. You can mark any source as a truechimer by adding the 'true' parameter to its config line.
But the first question that occurs to me is... "why?". Why force all traffic to one NTP server? That to me would seem to create an artificial bottleneck and would increase the chance of failure. It would also leave you more vulnerable to variation in the clock of that server, because NTP is being told explicitly to not compensate for variations by using other time sources.
Red Hat always recommends the use of at least four clock servers and to let ntpd or chronyd work out independently which ones to trust and by how much. We would not recommend marking a server as a truechimer or as preferred in general usage.
Hope this helps,
Paul
Hi, I have the similar problem in chrony, is there any parameter like "true"as it's ntp ?
MS Name/IP address Stratum Poll Reach LastRx Last sample^x 172.2x.7.x1 2 6 377 3 +29us[ +29us] +/- 16ms ^x 172.2x.7.x2 15 6 37 11 +43ms[ +43ms] +/- 12ms
Hello:
As it is said, "It is NOT recommended to use only two NTP servers.", may I know if this rule works for "PTP" on Azure or "Local Server" on AWS?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/time-sync
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/set-time.html
I mean, if TWO sources are used but one of them is PTP or Local server (of AWS), will it cause the "falseticker"?
Thanks.
Hi Xiangce,
The short answer is - yes. When you have two time sources, if they disagree then you have no third or fourth source to compare to in order to pick which is the 'truechimer' and which is the 'falseticker'.
With PTP on Azure and Local Servers on AWS, these are roughly the same as the 'true' or 'prefer' keyword on a server or peer in NTP - they can be treated as correct because the underlying infrastructure that provides that source of time has more 'guarantees' that it will be consistent, accurate and won't fail.
But what if the other source starts diverging? If ntpd or chronyd aren't told that a source is authoritative, then they can't decide which is the truechimer and which is the falseticker.
In the case of AWS or Azure, I'd be reasonably confident in the infrastructure to provide that time source, because we hope that large companies like Amazon and Microsoft have ensured that the underlying mechanism providing the time source to the virtual machine are accurate and highly available. So I think it would be reasonable to add the 'true' or 'prefer' keyword to a PTP or Local Server source in the ntpd or chronyd configuration.
But in that case, having a third and fourth source can't hurt either. That allows the guest OS to be confident that even in an unusual catastrophic failure of the host's time service provision it can still have a confidence in other sources.
Hope this helps,
Paul