Time Synchronization

The GSS Ubuntu servers use chrony to do time synchronization. When GSS came and did the Ubuntu upgrades in August/Sept of 2025, the DNS resolution on those servers was not working. In the chrony configuration, it was using named servers to do the time sync and so they could not be resolved and the time started to drift.

I tested a configuration change where I edited the /etc/chrony/chrony.conf file and change the lines:

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

to

#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
pool 185.125.190.56        iburst maxsources 4
pool 51.81.226.229 iburst maxsources 1
pool 67.217.246.204 iburst maxsources 1
pool 162.159.200.123 iburst maxsources 2

and then restarted the chrony service using sudo systemctl restart chrony which seemed to fix the problem. I did not want to mess with the DNS configuration because I was worried about any other downstream affects with connections with their controls. I tested this on bubinga first, then made the changes to sapele, cocobolo, and jatoba.

We sent an email to GSS and as of 10/10/2025, we have not gotten a response.