Comment 2 for bug 1797872

Hi Manuel, ntpd keeps printing "Soliciting pool server" in syslog because it can't contact any of the ntp servers in the pool. This is most likely a local configuration problem on your machine or network, or your service provider's network.

Here are some commands that should help work out where the problem lies.

# Check whether your system can resolve DNS names correctly:
dig 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org

# Check whether you can ask for time from these hosts:
ntpdate -d 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org

To run the above commands successfully, you'll need the dnsutils and ntpdate packages installed. Here's what a successful run might look like (abbreviated): https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/zmzgj4nrwS/

If the dig fails, you've got a problem with DNS resolution. Check for a broken local DNS resolver or upstream DNS server.

If the dig succeeds but the ntpdate fails, you might have an outbound firewall blocking access or connection tracking problem in that firewall.

If both of the above succeed, but NTP still fails, your problem is likely a firewall blocking outbound NTP access.

The firewalls might be on your local machine, your local network, or your ISP's network (unfortunately, the last is more common that it should be).

Other causes might be a local apparmor profile override which prevents ntpd from doing DNS lookups.

Hope this helps you track it down!