A quiet NTP server for the flat

2026-05-02

Every device in the flat used to talk to a different pool server. Not a problem as such, but it made log correlation annoying: two machines a few hundred milliseconds apart is enough to confuse you at two in the morning.

Chrony on the small always-on box now serves the LAN. It follows four upstream pool servers, allows only the local subnet and is announced through DHCP option 42. Most clients picked it up on renewal; the TV ignored it, of course.

Lesson learned: check chronyc sources -v after a reboot, not before. The first time I forgot the allow line and wondered why nobody was asking.