Configuring date and time zone

    By default, Flatcar Container Linux machines keep time in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) zone and synchronize their clocks with the Network Time Protocol (NTP). This page contains information about customizing those defaults, explains the change in NTP client daemons in recent Flatcar Container Linux versions, and offers advice on best practices for timekeeping in Flatcar Container Linux clusters.

    Viewing and changing time and date

    The timedatectl(1) command displays and sets the date, time, and time zone.

    $ timedatectl status
      Local time: Wed 2015-08-26 19:29:12 UTC
  Universal time: Wed 2015-08-26 19:29:12 UTC
        RTC time: Wed 2015-08-26 19:29:12
       Time zone: UTC (UTC, +0000)
 Network time on: no
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no
      DST active: n/a

    To avoid time zone confusion and the complexities of adjusting clocks for daylight saving time (or not) in accordance with regional custom, we recommend that all machines in Flatcar Container Linux clusters use UTC. This is the default time zone. To reset a machine to this default:

    sudo timedatectl set-timezone UTC

    Changing the time zone

    If your site or application requires a different system time zone, start by listing the available options:

    $ timedatectl list-timezones
Africa/Abidjan
Africa/Accra
Africa/Addis_Ababa
…

    Pick a time zone from the list and set it:

    sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

    Check the changes:

    $ timedatectl
      Local time: Wed 2015-08-26 15:44:07 EDT
  Universal time: Wed 2015-08-26 19:44:07 UTC
        RTC time: Wed 2015-08-26 19:44:07
       Time zone: America/New_York (EDT, -0400)
 Network time on: no
NTP synchronized: yes
 RTC in local TZ: no
      DST active: yes
 Last DST change: DST began at
                  Sun 2015-03-08 01:59:59 EST
                  Sun 2015-03-08 03:00:00 EDT
 Next DST change: DST ends (the clock jumps one hour backwards) at
                  Sun 2015-11-01 01:59:59 EDT
                  Sun 2015-11-01 01:00:00 EST

    Time synchronization

    Flatcar Container Linux clusters use NTP to synchronize the clocks of member nodes, and all machines start an NTP client at boot. The operating system uses systemd-timesyncd(8) as the default NTP client. Use systemctl to check which service is running:

    $ systemctl status systemd-timesyncd ntpd
● systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib64/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2015-05-14 05:43:20 UTC; 5 days ago
     Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8)
 Main PID: 480 (systemd-timesyn)
   Status: "Using Time Server 169.254.169.254:123 (169.254.169.254)."
   Memory: 448.0K
   CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-timesyncd.service
           └─480 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd

● ntpd.service - Network Time Service
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib64/systemd/system/ntpd.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)

    Unless you have a highly reliable and precise time server pool, use your cloud provider’s NTP source, or, on bare metal, the default Flatcar Container Linux NTP servers:

    0.flatcar.pool.ntp.org
1.flatcar.pool.ntp.org
2.flatcar.pool.ntp.org
3.flatcar.pool.ntp.org

    Changing NTP time sources

    Systemd-timesyncd can discover NTP servers from DHCP, individual network configs, the file timesyncd.conf , or the default *.flatcar.pool.ntp.org pool.

    The default behavior uses NTP servers provided by DHCP. To disable this, write a configuration listing your preferred NTP servers into the file /etc/systemd/network/50-dhcp-no-ntp.conf:

    [Network]
DHCP=v4
NTP=0.pool.example.com 1.pool.example.com

[DHCP]
UseMTU=true
UseDomains=true
UseNTP=false

    Then restart the network daemon:

    sudo systemctl restart systemd-networkd

    NTP time sources can be set in timesyncd.conf with a Butane Config snippet like:

    variant: flatcar
version: 1.0.0
storage:
  files:
    - path: /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
      mode: 0644
      contents:
        inline: |
          [Time]
          NTP=0.pool.example.com 1.pool.example.com

    Switching from timesyncd to ntpd

    You can switch from systemd-timesyncd to ntpd with the following commands:

    sudo systemctl stop systemd-timesyncd
sudo systemctl mask systemd-timesyncd
sudo systemctl enable ntpd
sudo systemctl start ntpd

    or with this Butane Config snippet:

    variant: flatcar
version: 1.0.0
systemd:
  units:
    - name: systemd-timesyncd.service
      mask: true
    - name: ntpd.service
      enabled: true

    Because timesyncd and ntpd are mutually exclusive, it’s important to mask the systemd-timesyncd service. systemctl disable or stop alone will not prevent a default service from starting again.

    Configuring ntpd

    The ntpd service reads all configuration from the file /etc/ntp.conf. It does not use DHCP or other configuration sources. To use a different set of NTP servers, replace the /etc/ntp.conf symlink with something like the following:

    server 0.pool.example.com
server 1.pool.example.com

restrict default nomodify nopeer noquery limited kod
restrict 127.0.0.1
restrict [::1]

    Then ask ntpd to reload its configuration:

    sudo systemctl reload ntpd

    Or, in a Butane Config :

    variant: flatcar
version: 1.0.0
storage:
  files:
    - path: /etc/ntp.conf
      overwrite: true
      mode: 0644
      contents:
        inline: |
          server 0.pool.example.com
          server 1.pool.example.com

          # - Allow only time queries, at a limited rate.
          # - Allow all local queries (IPv4, IPv6)
          restrict default nomodify nopeer noquery limited kod
          restrict 127.0.0.1
          restrict [::1]
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