Install Chrony on Linux Mint - Easy steps to do it ?

Linux Mint

Every computer system has an internal clock according to which different operations take place on it.

However, in order for all the operations to be performed accurately, the internal clock of your system must be synchronized with a central Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.

Obviously, your system cannot directly interact with this server rather it requires the services of a client to do so.

Chrony is one such useful NTP client that is very extensively used by Linux users.

Here at LinuxAPT, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform Linux Mint related Software Installation tasks.

In this context, we shall look into how to install Chrony on Linux Mint system.

How to install Chrony on Linux Mint 20 ?

Here, you will learn how to install Chrony by following the easy steps provided below. Note that the same steps can also be performed on Ubuntu 20.04 and Debian 10.

1. Update Linux Mint 20 System before Installing Chrony on it

Since Chrony is an all-new utility that we are going to install on our Linux Mint 20 system, therefore, we have to update it first using the following command:

$ sudo apt update

After executing the "update" command on your Linux Mint 20 system, its packages will be updated.

2. Install Chrony on your Linux Mint 20 System

Now you need to install Chrony on Linux Mint 20 with the following command:

$ sudo apt install chrony

Once the above-mentioned command has installed all the required packages and dependencies along with Chrony, you will have Chrony running on your Linux Mint 20 system automatically.

3. Confirm the Active Status of Chrony on Linux Mint 20

Although, after the installation finishes, the Chrony daemon will automatically start running in the background, however, if you are still unsure about it, you can check it out using the command shown below:

$ sudo systemctl status chronyd

If the installation went well, You will see that the status of the Chrony service on our Linux Mint 20 system is "active (running)".

4. Access the Configuration File of Chrony on Linux Mint 20

We all know that whenever we install a new utility, or even the already existing utilities have their own dedicated configuration files.

These configuration files are essentially used whenever you wish to customize the settings of that utility according to your own needs.

Chrony also has a dedicated configuration file named chrony.conf.

Although the default configurations of Chrony are sufficient enough for its standard working, that is why there is no need to change these configurations.

However, if at any point in time, you still feel like you need to modify these configurations, then you need to access the configuration file of Chrony using the command shown below:

$ sudo nano /etc/chrony/chrony.conf

This will display the default configuration file of Chrony on our Linux Mint 20 system.

5. Verify if Chrony is Synchronized or not

You can also verify if Chrony is synchronized with the Network Time Protocol (NTP) server or not by running the command shown below:

$ chronyc tracking

This will display the tracking status of Chrony.

6. Check the Sources of Chrony in Linux Mint 20

You can even get the information about the Chrony sources that are configured in its configuration file along with their total number by running the command stated below:

$ chronyc sources

This will display different sources for the Chrony service.

How to uninstall Chrony from Linux Mint 20 ?

If you do not want to use Chrony any longer for time synchronization on Linux Mint 20, then you can follow the steps shown below for getting rid of it:

1. Remove Chrony from Linux Mint 20 using the "apt-get purge" Command

The "apt-get purge" command is used to remove a package along with its configuration files.

We will use this command to remove Chrony from our Linux Mint 20 system in the manner shown below:

$ sudo apt-get purge chrony

This will remove Chrony along with its configuration file from your Linux Mint 20 system.

2. Remove the Additional Packages and Dependencies from Linux Mint 20 using the "apt-get autoremove" command

Also, you can even remove all those extra packages and dependencies that got installed at the time of Chrony installation.

This goal can be achieved by executing the following command:

$ sudo apt-get autoremove

This will remove Chrony along with all its traces from the Linux Mint 20 system.

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Conclusion

This article covers how to #install Chrony on Linux Mint 20. Once it will be installed on your system, its daemon will silently work in the background to synchronize your system's clock with the #NTP server.

However, if you do not want Chrony to perform this job any longer, then you can simply uninstall it as well.

Chrony is a flexible implementation of the Network Time Protocol (NTP).

It is used to synchronize the system clock from different NTP servers, reference clocks or via manual input.

Chrony comes with two programs:

1. chronyc – command line interface for chrony

2. chronyd – daemon that can be started at boot time

How to Install #Chrony in #Linux :

On some systems, chrony may be installed by default. Still if the package is missing, you can easily install it.

You can install chrony Using your default package manager tool on your respective Linux distributions using following command:

# yum -y install chrony [On CentOS/RHEL]

# apt install chrony [On Debian/Ubuntu]

# dnf -y install chrony [On Fedora 22+]

To check the status of chronyd use the following command:

# systemctl status chronyd [On SystemD]

# /etc/init.d/chronyd status [On Init]

If you want to enable chrony daemon upon boot, you can use the following command:

# systemctl enable chronyd [On SystemD]

# chkconfig --add chronyd [On Init]

How to Check Chrony Synchronization in Linux ?

To check if chrony is actually synchronized, we will use it's command line program chronyc, which has the tracking option which will provide relevant information:

# chronyc tracking

To check information about chrony’s sources, you can issue the following command:

# chronyc sources