---
myst:
  html_meta:
    description: Configure timedatectl and timesyncd for time synchronization on Ubuntu as an alternative to chrony for network time protocol services.
---

(timedatectl-and-timesyncd)=
# Synchronize time using timedatectl and timesyncd

Ubuntu can use `timedatectl` and `timesyncd` for synchronizing time, which can be installed as follows. `systemd-timesyncd` used to be part of the default installation, but was replaced by `chrony` since Ubuntu 25.10. You can optionally use `chrony` as a {ref}`Network Time Security (NTS) client <chrony-client>` or to {ref}`serve the Network Time Protocol <serve-ntp-with-chrony>`.

```bash
sudo apt-mark auto chrony && apt install systemd-timesyncd
```

In this guide, we will show you how to configure these services.

```{note}
If `chrony` is installed, `timedatectl` steps back to let `chrony` handle timekeeping. This ensures that no two time-syncing services will be in conflict. 
```

## Check status of `timedatectl`

The current status of time and time configuration via `timedatectl` and `timesyncd` can be checked with the `timedatectl status` command, which will produce output like this:

```text
               Local time: Wed 2023-06-14 12:05:11 BST
           Universal time: Wed 2023-06-14 11:05:11 UTC
                 RTC time: Wed 2023-06-14 11:05:11
                Time zone: Europe/Isle_of_Man (BST, +0100)
System clock synchronized: yes
              NTP service: active
          RTC in local TZ: no
```

If `chrony` is running, it will automatically switch to:

```text
[...]
 systemd-timesyncd.service active: no 
```

### Configure `timedatectl`

By using `timedatectl`, an admin can control the timezone, how the system clock should relate to the `hwclock` and whether permanent synchronization should be enabled. See `man timedatectl` for more details.

## Check status of `timesyncd`

`timesyncd` itself is a normal service, so you can check its status in more detail using:

```
systemctl status systemd-timesyncd
```

The output produced will look something like this:

```
      systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization
       Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
       Active: active (running) since Fri 2018-02-23 08:55:46 UTC; 10s ago
         Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8)
     Main PID: 3744 (systemd-timesyn)
       Status: "Synchronized to time server 91.189.89.198:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com)."
        Tasks: 2 (limit: 4915)
       CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-timesyncd.service
               |-3744 /lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd
    
    Feb 23 08:55:46 test-host systemd[1]: Starting Network Time Synchronization...
    Feb 23 08:55:46 test-host systemd[1]: Started Network Time Synchronization.
    Feb 23 08:55:46 test-host systemd-timesyncd[3744]: Synchronized to time server 91.189.89.198:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com).
```

### Configure `timesyncd`

The server from which to fetch time for `timedatectl` and `timesyncd` can be specified in `/etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf`. Additional config files can be stored in `/etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf.d/`. The entries for `NTP=` and `FallbackNTP=` are space-separated lists. See `man timesyncd.conf` for more details.

## Next steps

If you would now like to serve the Network Time Protocol via `chrony`, this guide will walk you through {ref}`how to install and configure your setup <serve-ntp-with-chrony>`.

## References

- {manpage}`timedatectl(1)`

- {manpage}`systemd-timesyncd.service(8)`

- See the [Ubuntu Time wiki page](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuTime) for more information.