timesyncd.conf(5) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | CONFIGURATION DIRECTORIES AND PRECEDENCE | OPTIONS | SEE ALSO | NOTES | COLOPHON

TIMESYNCD.CONF(5)             timesyncd.conf            TIMESYNCD.CONF(5)

NAME         top

       timesyncd.conf, timesyncd.conf.d - Network Time Synchronization
       configuration files

SYNOPSIS         top

           /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
           /run/systemd/timesyncd.conf
           /usr/local/lib/systemd/timesyncd.conf
           /usr/lib/systemd/timesyncd.conf
           /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf.d/*.conf
           /run/systemd/timesyncd.conf.d/*.conf
           /usr/local/lib/systemd/timesyncd.conf.d/*.conf
           /usr/lib/systemd/timesyncd.conf.d/*.conf

DESCRIPTION         top

       These configuration files control NTP network time
       synchronization. See systemd.syntax(7) for a general description
       of the syntax.

CONFIGURATION DIRECTORIES AND PRECEDENCE         top

       The default configuration is set during compilation, so
       configuration is only needed when it is necessary to deviate from
       those defaults. The main configuration file is loaded from one of
       the listed directories in order of priority, only the first file
       found is used: /etc/systemd/, /run/systemd/,
       /usr/local/lib/systemd/ [1], /usr/lib/systemd/. The vendor version
       of the file contains commented out entries showing the defaults as
       a guide to the administrator. Local overrides can also be created
       by creating drop-ins, as described below. The main configuration
       file can also be edited for this purpose (or a copy in /etc/ if it
       is shipped under /usr/), however using drop-ins for local
       configuration is recommended over modifications to the main
       configuration file.

       In addition to the main configuration file, drop-in configuration
       snippets are read from /usr/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/,
       /usr/local/lib/systemd/*.conf.d/, and /etc/systemd/*.conf.d/.
       Those drop-ins have higher precedence and override the main
       configuration file. Files in the *.conf.d/ configuration
       subdirectories are sorted by their filename in lexicographic
       order, regardless of in which of the subdirectories they reside.
       When multiple files specify the same option, for options which
       accept just a single value, the entry in the file sorted last
       takes precedence, and for options which accept a list of values,
       entries are collected as they occur in the sorted files.

       When packages need to customize the configuration, they can
       install drop-ins under /usr/. Files in /etc/ are reserved for the
       local administrator, who may use this logic to override the
       configuration files installed by vendor packages. Drop-ins have to
       be used to override package drop-ins, since the main configuration
       file has lower precedence. It is recommended to prefix all
       filenames in those subdirectories with a two-digit number and a
       dash, to simplify the ordering. This also defines a concept of
       drop-in priorities to allow OS vendors to ship drop-ins within a
       specific range lower than the range used by users. This should
       lower the risk of package drop-ins overriding accidentally
       drop-ins defined by users. It is recommended to use the range
       10-40 for drop-ins in /usr/ and the range 60-90 for drop-ins in
       /etc/ and /run/, to make sure that local and transient drop-ins
       take priority over drop-ins shipped by the OS vendor.

       To disable a configuration file supplied by the vendor, the
       recommended way is to place a symlink to /dev/null in the
       configuration directory in /etc/, with the same filename as the
       vendor configuration file.

OPTIONS         top

       The following settings are configured in the [Time] section:

       NTP=
           A space-separated list of NTP server host names or IP
           addresses. During runtime this list is combined with any
           per-interface NTP servers acquired from
           systemd-networkd.service(8).  systemd-timesyncd will contact
           all configured system or per-interface servers in turn, until
           one responds. When the empty string is assigned, the list of
           NTP servers is reset, and all prior assignments will have no
           effect. This setting defaults to an empty list.

           Added in version 216.

       FallbackNTP=
           A space-separated list of NTP server host names or IP
           addresses to be used as the fallback NTP servers. Any
           per-interface NTP servers obtained from
           systemd-networkd.service(8) take precedence over this setting,
           as do any servers set via NTP= above. This setting is hence
           only relevant if no other NTP server information is known.
           When the empty string is assigned, the list of NTP servers is
           reset, and all prior assignments will have no effect. If this
           option is not given, a compiled-in list of NTP servers is
           used.

           Added in version 216.

       RootDistanceMaxSec=
           Maximum acceptable root distance, i.e. the maximum estimated
           time required for a packet to travel to the server we are
           connected to from the server with the reference clock. If the
           current server does not satisfy this limit, systemd-timesyncd
           will switch to a different server.

           Takes a time span value. The default unit is seconds, but
           other units may be specified, see systemd.time(7). Defaults to
           5 seconds.

           Added in version 236.

       PollIntervalMinSec=, PollIntervalMaxSec=
           The minimum and maximum poll intervals for NTP messages.
           Polling starts at the minimum poll interval, and is adjusted
           within the specified limits in response to received packets.

           Each setting takes a time span value. The default unit is
           seconds, but other units may be specified, see
           systemd.time(7).  PollIntervalMinSec= defaults to 32 seconds
           and must not be smaller than 16 seconds.  PollIntervalMaxSec=
           defaults to 34 min 8 s (2048 seconds) and must be larger than
           PollIntervalMinSec=.

           Added in version 236.

       ConnectionRetrySec=
           Specifies the minimum delay before subsequent attempts to
           contact a new NTP server are made.

           Takes a time span value. The default unit is seconds, but
           other units may be specified, see systemd.time(7). Defaults to
           30 seconds and must not be smaller than 1 second.

           Added in version 248.

       SaveIntervalSec=
           The interval at which the current time is periodically saved
           to disk, in the absence of any recent synchronisation from an
           NTP server. This is especially useful for offline systems with
           no local RTC, as it will guarantee that the system clock
           remains roughly monotonic across reboots.

           Takes a time interval value. The default unit is seconds, but
           other units may be specified, see systemd.time(7). Defaults to
           60 seconds.

           Added in version 250.

SEE ALSO         top

       systemd(1), systemd-timesyncd.service(8),
       systemd-networkd.service(8)

NOTES         top

        1. 💣💥🧨💥💥💣 Please note that those configuration files must
           be available at all times. If /usr/local/ is a separate
           partition, it may not be available during early boot, and must
           not be used for configuration.

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service
       manager) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩.  If you have a
       bug report for this manual page, see
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2025-02-02.  (At that
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       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

systemd 258~devel                                       TIMESYNCD.CONF(5)

Pages that refer to this page: systemd.directives(7)systemd.index(7)systemd.syntax(7)systemd-timesyncd.service(8)