How to run Chronyd in Debug mode On RHEL / CentOS

This tutorial will be helpful for beginners to run Chronyd in debug mode On RHEL , CentOS , Alma Linux and Rocky Linux.

What is Chronyd?

Chronyd is a cross-platform time tracking and project management tool. It allows you to track time and tasks across multiple projects, devices, and files.

Uses of Chronyd

• Chronyd can be used to keep track of the time and date, schedule events, and send notifications to individuals.
• Chronyd can also be used to keep track of the time of day and day of the week.
• Chronyd can be used to create calendars and to manage personal schedules.

How to run Chronyd in Debug mode?

Step 1: Modify the /etc/sysconfig/chronyd file by adding “-dd” options to the file by using the below command

sed -i 's/OPTIONS=""/OPTIONS="-dd"/g' /etc/sysconfig/chronyd

[[email protected] ~]# cat /etc/sysconfig/chronyd
# Command-line options for chronyd
OPTIONS="-dd"
[[email protected] ~]#

Step 2: Copy the Chronyd service file to the /etc/systemd/system

cp -pr /lib/systemd/system/chronyd.service /etc/systemd/system/

Step 3: Under Service change the Type=forking to Type=simple

sed -i 's/Type=forking/Type=simple/g' /etc/systemd/system/chronyd.service

[[email protected] ~]# cat /etc/systemd/system/chronyd.service
[Unit]
Description=NTP client/server
Documentation=man:chronyd(8) man:chrony.conf(5)
After=ntpdate.service sntp.service ntpd.service
Conflicts=ntpd.service systemd-timesyncd.service
ConditionCapability=CAP_SYS_TIME

[Service]
Type=simple
PIDFile=/run/chrony/chronyd.pid
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/chronyd
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/chronyd $OPTIONS
ExecStartPost=/usr/libexec/chrony-helper update-daemon
ExecStopPost=/usr/libexec/chrony-helper remove-daemon-state
PrivateTmp=yes
ProtectHome=yes
ProtectSystem=full

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
[[email protected] ~]#

Step 4: Restart the chronyd service and verify the logs

systemctl daemon-reload

systemctl restart chronyd.service

Step 5: Verify the logs are generating or not from /var/log/messages file

Sep 16 14:26:38 almalinux chronyd[732]: 2022-09-16T08:56:38Z sourcestats.c:584:(SST_DoNewRegression) off=-5.684919e+02 freq=-8.323545e-01 skew=6.964053e+00 n=25 bs=19 runs=3 asym=0.000000 arun=-1
Sep 16 14:26:38 almalinux chronyd[732]: 2022-09-16T08:56:38Z sourcestats.c:708:(SST_GetSelectionData) n=6 off=-2518.173331 dist=29.459639 sd=582.355499 first_ago=781.832549 last_ago=3.796313 selok=1
Sep 16 14:26:38 almalinux chronyd[732]: 2022-09-16T08:56:38Z sources.c:648:(mark_source) 165.22.211.200 status=3 options=0 reach=377/8 updates=1 distant=32 leap=0 vote=0 lo=-2547.632970 hi=-2488.713692
Sep 16 14:26:38 almalinux chronyd[732]: 2022-09-16T08:56:38Z sourcestats.c:708:(SST_GetSelectionData) n=6 off=-2507.797795 dist=0.580161 sd=400.238290 first_ago=910.774841 last_ago=0.030954 selok=1

Conclusion

From this tutorial, you have learned how to run Chronyd in Debug mode On RHEL, CentOS, Alma Linux and Rocky Linux

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