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Clock synchronization

This topic provides Harness' recommended settings for Network Time Protocol (NTP), a critical aspect of time synchronization within information management systems.

  • Control: Ensuring synchronization across all clocks within an organization's information management systems is paramount. It's essential to integrate these clocks into a unified reference time source. This centralized approach not only streamlines operations but also mitigates discrepancies that may arise from disparate time sources, thereby enhancing overall system reliability and consistency.

  • Implementation: Harness advocates for establishing a standardized reference time within the organization. Defining a common time source ensures coherence across various operations and applications. By establishing a clear reference point, organizations can maintain consistency in timekeeping practices, facilitating seamless coordination and communication across different systems and teams.

When configuring NTP for Harness Delegate, ensuring accurate time synchronization is crucial for various operational tasks. Here are two recommended options:

  • Use your local NTP server: Leveraging a local NTP server ensures reliable time synchronization within your network environment.
  • Use Google Public NTP: Google Public NTP provides a robust and widely accessible time synchronization service, offering high accuracy and availability.

Maintaining precise time synchronization is vital for the optimal functioning of Harness Self-Managed Enterprise Edition. Consider the following recommendations for NTP configuration:

  • Use your local NTP server: Utilizing a local NTP server offers localized time synchronization, ensuring consistency and reliability within your infrastructure.
  • Use Google Public NTP: Google Public NTP presents a dependable option for time synchronization, delivering accurate time information across diverse network environments.

Configure NTP for a delegate running on Linux​

Most Linux distributions use systemd, which comes with NTP for clock synchronization. You can verify systemd by running timedatectl.

Install the NTP service​

  1. If NTP is not present on your host system, you can use yum, apt-get, or dnf to install the NTP service as per your OS. You can also use Chrony, which has a flexible implementation of NTP.

    You must have root permissions to install the application. Installation varies slightly depending on which Linux distribution you use:

     sudo apt-get install ntp  # for Debian/Ubuntu
     sudo yum install ntp      # for CentOS/RHEL
     sudo dnf install ntp      # for Fedora

    NTP is configured using a ntp.conf configuration file. The file is generally located in the /etc/ directory.

  2. You can add multiple NTP servers in the ntp.conf file in the format below.

    info

    Add the prefer option to one server command only in the ntp.conf file.

    server <YOUR_PREFERRED_IP_ADDRESS> [prefer]
    server <YOUR_PREFERRED_IP_ADDRESS> prefer # Local NTP server IP address
    server ntp-time.for.mydomain

    Below are some useful commands to enable, start, restart, and stop the NTP service.

    sudo systemctl enable ntpd
    sudo systemctl start ntpd
    sudo systemctl restart ntpd
    sudo systemctl stop ntpd

  3. You can run the following to list configured servers and their associated synchronization performance characteristics.

    ntpq -p