Configure NTP for On-premises Appliances

Issue

NVIDIA NetQ uses chrony to synchronize time on NetQ appliances. chrony syncs with NTP to ensure that the system clock on the appliance is accurate.

By default, NetQ configures chrony with public NTP pool servers. However, this does not work for air gapped on-premises environments, as they block egress traffic to NTP pool servers on the internet. If you are using the NetQ On-premises Appliance, you need to verify that NTP points to internal NTP pool servers and not to external public servers.

Resolution

To configure NTP in chrony:

1. Edit the chrony configuration file:

   cumulus@appliance:~$ sudo nano /etc/chrony/chrony.conf
   

2. Change the server pool to your internal NTP servers:

   \# About using servers from the NTP Pool Project in general see (LP: #104525).
   \# Approved by Ubuntu Technical Board on 2011-02-08.
   \# See http://www.pool.ntp.org/join.html for more information.
   pool ntp.ubuntu.com        iburst maxsources 4
   pool 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst maxsources 1
   pool 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst maxsources 1
   pool 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst maxsources 2
   

3. Save the file then restart the chronyd service:

   cumulus@appliance:~$ sudo systemctl restart chronyd
   

For more information about NTP, refer to the Cumulus Linux user guide.