Which time server is used by Ubuntu?

Question

What is the URL of the timer server used by Ubuntu?

The settings page just shows the radio option "Automatically from Internet", but it does not show the actual server URL, like in WIndows.

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See http://askubuntu.com/a/391097/32239 – Sylvain Pineau Jul 17 '14 at 10:52 — Sylvain Pineau, Jul 17 '14 at 10:52

Mitch · Answer 1 · 2014-07-17T10:59:35.063

7

Your system will use Ubuntu's NTP server at ntp.ubuntu.com by default.

To find what NTP server is being used, run:

grep ^server /etc/ntp.conf

If you get an error, then NTP is not installed. To install it, just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

sudo apt-get install ntp

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edited Jul 17 '14 at 10:59

answered Jul 17 '14 at 10:53

Mitch

107,631

I get grep: /etc/ntp.conf: No such file or directory – faizal Jul 17 '14 at 10:55

muru · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-17T11:03:41.633

4

Usually, ntp.ubuntu.com. This is supported by example preseed files and the value used by the server and network installation methods (for which, the debug output shows ntp.ubuntu.com as the value for the NTP server). To check the server status and time, you can run ntpdate in debug mode (to see if there are other problems), or in query mode (to just see the time):

ntpdate -d ntp.ubuntu.com # Debug mode
ntpdate -q ntp.ubuntu.com # Query mode

edited Jul 17 '14 at 11:03

answered Jul 17 '14 at 10:47

muru

197,895
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Is there a way to actually see the time on the server other than looking at my OS clock. The address does not return anything in a browser so i am guessing the browser cannot understand the NTP protocol. – faizal Jul 17 '14 at 10:54
2

@faizal The time on the server? You can run the ntpdate command in debug mode: ntpdate -d ntp.ubuntu.com. Or in query mode: ntpdate -q ntp.ubuntu.com. – muru Jul 17 '14 at 10:57

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 25 '19 at 17:00

3

ntpdate is deprecated. You can use this command to get the status and see which server is being used:

systemctl status systemd-timesyncd

answered Mar 25 '19 at 17:00

SaTa

996

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 13 '22 at 18:44

As already pointed out in SaTa's answer, this is now managed by systemd, with the systemd-timesyncd service.

The configuration is in /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf.

Use the timedatectl command and it's variations with arguments to see all the info. For example:

timedatectl
timedatectl timesync-status
timedatectl show-timesync

The last 2 examples will show which NTP server is used.

Which time server is used by Ubuntu?

4 Answers4