Tutorial: How to Set Up Your Own NTP Server on Red Hat 9

This setup use standard NTP sources and is suitable for most environments, but it is not designed for high-precision. For those, consider example PTP (Precision Time Protocol) or specialized hardware for time source.

1. Install Chrony (Time Service)

dnf update -y
dnf install chrony -y

2. Configure Chrony

Edit /etc/chrony.conf and replace or add the following lines:

# NTP Sources
pool 0.pool.ntp.org iburst
pool 1.pool.ntp.org iburst
pool 2.pool.ntp.org iburst

# Serve time even if not synchronized to a time source.
local stratum 3

You can use your own selected NTP sources instead of the example servers.

3. Enable and Start Chrony

systemctl enable --now chronyd.service
systemctl status chronyd.service

4. Configure Firewall

Allow NTP Services port for clients:

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ntp
firewall-cmd --reload
firewall-cmd --list-all

5. Verify Synchronization

Check sources and synchronization status:

chronyc sources
chronyc tracking

Your NTP server is now fully configured and serve accurate time to your network clients.

Related Guides

Guide: Configuring NTP on Debian 12 with systemd-timesyncd
Guide: Configuring NTP Source on Windows