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NTP Configuration on Linux

In this article, we will learn how to configure NTP on Linux using Ansible.

You can directly visit the full code here.

Define the Ansible Inventory​

The playbook is set to run on all hosts defined in the ansible_hosts group. It will gather facts about these hosts, which can be used in later tasks. The become and become_method directives are used to gain administrative privileges.

- hosts: ansible_hosts
  gather_facts: true
  become: yes
  become_method: sudo

Define the Ansible Variables​

The ntp_servers variable is defined, which is a list of NTP servers that the target hosts will be configured to use.

vars:
  ntp_servers:
    - "0.uk.pool.ntp.org"
    - "1.uk.pool.ntp.org"
    - "2.uk.pool.ntp.org"
    - "3.uk.pool.ntp.org"

Define the Ansible Handlers​

A handler is defined to restart the NTP service. This handler can be triggered by tasks later in the playbook.

handlers:
  - name: "restart ntp"
    ansible.builtin.service:
      name: "ntp"
      state: "restarted"

Define tasks​

The tasks section is where the main actions of the playbook are defined. In this case, the tasks are:

  • Print a debug message with information about the target host.
  • Update all packages on the target host.
  • Install the ntp, sntp, and ntp-doc packages.
  • Use a template to create the /etc/ntp.conf file on the target host, and notify the "restart ntp" handler if the file changes.
tasks:
  - ansible.builtin.debug:
      msg: "I am connecting to {{ ansible_nodename }} which is running {{ ansible_distribution }} {{ ansible_distribution_version }}"
  - ansible.builtin.apt:
      name: "*"
      state: "latest"
      update_cache: "yes"
  - ansible.builtin.apt:
      state: "latest"
      pkg:
        - "ntp"
        - "sntp"
        - "ntp-doc"
  - ansible.builtin.template:
      src: "./ntp.conf.j2"
      dest: "/etc/ntp.conf"
    notify: "restart ntp"

Full Code​

---

- hosts: ansible_hosts
  gather_facts: true
  become: yes
  become_method: sudo

  vars:
    ntp_servers:
      - "0.uk.pool.ntp.org"
      - "1.uk.pool.ntp.org"
      - "2.uk.pool.ntp.org"
      - "3.uk.pool.ntp.org"

  handlers:
    - name: "restart ntp"
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: "ntp"
        state: "restarted"

  tasks:
    - ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "I am connecting to {{ ansible_nodename }} which is running {{ ansible_distribution }} {{ ansible_distribution_version }}"
    - ansible.builtin.apt:
        name: "*"
        state: "latest"
        update_cache: "yes"
    - ansible.builtin.apt:
        state: "latest"
        pkg:
          - "ntp"
          - "sntp"
          - "ntp-doc"
    - ansible.builtin.template:
        src: "./ntp.conf.j2"
        dest: "/etc/ntp.conf"
      notify: "restart ntp"