How to Set Up Time Synchronization with NTP on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

After updating the base system with the latest available packages:

apt-get update -y

and

root@localhost:~# timedatectl
               Local time: Wed 2021-01-06 08:03:11 UTC
           Universal time: Wed 2021-01-06 08:03:11 UTC
                 RTC time: Wed 2021-01-06 08:03:12    
                Time zone: Etc/UTC (UTC, +0000)       
System clock synchronized: yes                        
              NTP service: active                     
          RTC in local TZ: no  

but when I check the status of the time synchronization service with the following:

systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service

I got this:

● systemd-timesyncd.service
     Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit systemd-timesyncd.service is masked.)
     Active: inactive (dead)

Solution 1:

Your timedatectl doesn't state

systemd-timesyncd.service active: yes

but

NTP service: active

which suggest you are using NTP, instead.

With Ubuntu 20.04 LTS you could be running Chrony. Try e.g.

chronyc sources