Red Hat Summit1.4. Time service requirements for IdM
The following sections discuss using chronyd to keep your IdM hosts in sync with a central time source:
1.4.1. How IdM uses chronyd for synchronization
You can use chronyd to keep your IdM hosts in sync with a central time source as described here.
Kerberos, the underlying authentication mechanism in IdM, uses time stamps as part of its protocol. Kerberos authentication fails if the system time of an IdM client differs by more than five minutes from the system time of the Key Distribution Center (KDC).
To ensure that IdM servers and clients stay in sync with a central time source, IdM installation scripts automatically configure chronyd Network Time Protocol (NTP) client software.
If you do not pass any NTP options to the IdM installation command, the installer searches for _ntp._udp DNS service (SRV) records that point to the NTP server in your network and configures chrony with that IP address. If you do not have any _ntp._udp SRV records, chronyd uses the configuration shipped with the chrony package.
1.4.2. List of NTP configuration options for IdM installation commands
You can use chronyd to keep your IdM hosts in sync with a central time source.
You can specify the following options with any of the IdM installation commands (ipa-server-install, ipa-replica-install, ipa-client-install) to configure chronyd client software during setup.
| Option | Behavior |
|---|---|
|
| Use it to specify one NTP server. You can use it multiple times to specify multiple servers. |
|
| Use it to specify a pool of multiple NTP servers resolved as one hostname. |
|
|
Do not configure, start, or enable |
1.4.3. Ensuring IdM can reference your NTP time server
You can verify if you have the necessary configurations in place for IdM to be able to synchronize with your Network Time Protocol (NTP) time server.
Prerequisites
-
You have configured an NTP time server in your environment. In this example, the hostname of the previously configured time server is
ntpserver.example.com.
Procedure
Perform a DNS service (SRV) record search for NTP servers in your environment.
[user@server ~]$ dig +short -t SRV _ntp._udp.example.com 0 100 123 ntpserver.example.com.-
If the previous
digsearch does not return your time server, add a_ntp._udpSRV record that points to your time server on port123. This process depends on your DNS solution.
Verification
Verify that DNS returns an entry for your time server on port
123when you perform a search for_ntp._udpSRV records.[user@server ~]$ dig +short -t SRV _ntp._udp.example.com 0 100 123 ntpserver.example.com.
'%20d='M201.5%20305.5c-13.8%200-24.9-11.1-24.9-24.6%200-13.8%2011.1-24.9%2024.9-24.9%2013.6%200%2024.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.9%200%2013.6-11.1%2024.6-24.6%2024.6zM504%20256c0%20137-111%20248-248%20248S8%20393%208%20256%20119%208%20256%208s248%20111%20248%20248zm-132.3-41.2c-9.4%200-17.7%203.9-23.8%2010-22.4-15.5-52.6-25.5-86.1-26.6l17.4-78.3%2055.4%2012.5c0%2013.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.6%2024.6%2013.8%200%2024.9-11.3%2024.9-24.9s-11.1-24.9-24.9-24.9c-9.7%200-18%205.8-22.1%2013.8l-61.2-13.6c-3-.8-6.1%201.4-6.9%204.4l-19.1%2086.4c-33.2%201.4-63.1%2011.3-85.5%2026.8-6.1-6.4-14.7-10.2-24.1-10.2-34.9%200-46.3%2046.9-14.4%2062.8-1.1%205-1.7%2010.2-1.7%2015.5%200%2052.6%2059.2%2095.2%20132%2095.2%2073.1%200%20132.3-42.6%20132.3-95.2%200-5.3-.6-10.8-1.9-15.8%2031.3-16%2019.8-62.5-14.9-62.5zM302.8%20331c-18.2%2018.2-76.1%2017.9-93.6%200-2.2-2.2-6.1-2.2-8.3%200-2.5%202.5-2.5%206.4%200%208.6%2022.8%2022.8%2087.3%2022.8%20110.2%200%202.5-2.2%202.5-6.1%200-8.6-2.2-2.2-6.1-2.2-8.3%200zm7.7-75c-13.6%200-24.6%2011.1-24.6%2024.9%200%2013.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.6%2024.6%2013.8%200%2024.9-11.1%2024.9-24.6%200-13.8-11-24.9-24.9-24.9z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}