Hands-on Lab·Red Hat Certified System Administrator
Time Synchronization with Chrony
One objective, one config file, and one thing worth insisting on: `systemctl is-active chronyd` proves the service runs, not that the clock is right. `chronyc tracking` and `timedatectl` are what answer the question the objective actually asks.
Deploy and Maintain Guide 46 of 67 Beginner
- OSRHEL 10.0 (Coughlan)
- Kernel6.12.0-55.9.1.el10_0
- dnf4.20.0
- Flatpak1.16.0
- TimeAbout 11 min
- Reviewed23 August 2026
Written against the versions above. **chrony** replaced ntpd on RHEL 7 and there is no `ntpd` to fall back on. The config is `/etc/chrony.conf`, the control tool is `chronyc`, and `timedatectl` is systemd's read-only-ish view of the same state.
| Server Name | IP Address | OS | Roles | CPU | RAM | HDD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHCSA-A01 | 192.168.0.31 | RHEL 10.0 (Coughlan) | Practice node (graded) - spare /dev/sda | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB + 15 GB |
Before you start
- A sudo-capable account.
- The session edits
/etc/chrony.confand restores it from a backup.
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What is configured
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Is it actually synchronised
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Changing the server