Time Server

Note: As of early-2021 the NTP Synchronization is much more accurate. The device accuracy went from +/- 10 seconds per day to < 100 ms. And this is even possible with Synchronization set to Manual.

Common Settings

Obtain time from a network time server

Enable this option to allow the NTP servers to update the time on the IPFire device.

Primary (and Secondary) NTP server

For most cases the 0.ipfire.pool.ntp.org and the 1.ipfire.pool.ntp.org NTP servers will be perfect.

If you find the IPFire NTP server is not what you want, then go to Global - pool.ntp.org and pick the continent, pick the country and use the NTP pool servers for that country.

Provide time to local network

IPFire's system time is synchronized with an Internet time server. To provide a precise time source to the local network, IPFire hosts a NTP server itself, but this is not activated by default. Activate this option the web interface.

Force setting the system clock on boot

... force a synchronization on boot time.

Synchronization

You can also specify when IPFire should synchronize its time with the given internet time server. The available synchronization options are:

Hours, Days, Weeks, and Months
or Manually.

Manual setting

For those who prefer to set their time manually, the following command can be used via the Linux Console:

ntpdate 0.ipfire.pool.ntp.org

If an error message appears here, try switching the time server off and on with:

/etc/init.d/ntp stop
/etc/init.d/ntp start

If unsuccessful, the time can also be set manually with:

date --set "05/13/2010 09:45:00"

(The above format should be mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss)

Note: If the time should be passed to the BIOS, enter this command into the Console:

hwclock --systohc

Using IPFire as a time source for Windows

On the IPFire WUI enable Provide time to local network (Services -> Time Server).

Now configure Windows with the time server's (IPFire's) address. When configured, Windows will look like this:

Using IPFire as a time source for Mac OS

On the IPFire WUI enable Provide time to local network (Services -> Time Server).

On the Mac go to Date & Time (System Preferences -> Date & Time -> Date & Time tab). Click Set date and time automatically and then enter the IPFire address.

Using an IP address for the Primary NTP Server

Note: This is not recommended except for those experiencing issues with location based outgoing firewall rules.

For those who block countries and zones by GeoIP-Outgoing via firewall rule and or for response incoming zones, please set the NTP server to an IP address. This is used instead of choosing NTP domain such as 0.ipfire.pool.ntp.org.

Note: The infrastructure behind the ipfire.pool.ntp.org vendor zone is not owned or administrated by IPFire.

An NTP server like pool.ntp.org is a dynamic worldwide collection of networked servers. For more explanation please visit Wikipedia - NTP pool.

Simple example

When entering ping 0.ipfire.pool.ntp.org or 1.ipfire.pool.ntp.org at different times, we will get different IPs of different countries as a response of the dynamic pool. Therefore you need to make sure that you choose NTP server IP of none blocked zones, or of your country ex. of your ISP.