Knowledge Base

Plesk administrator receives mails: Cron error: /usr/sbin/ntpdate: not found

Symptoms

Emails with the following error are sent to Plesk server administrator:

Subject: Cron <[email protected]> /usr/sbin/ntpdate -b -s 3.pool.ntp.org  
/bin/sh: 1: /usr/sbin/ntpdate: not found

Cause

The package ntpdate used by scheduled task is not installed.

Resolution

When ntpdate is not used

Note: In modern operating systems nptd, chrony or systemd-timesyncd may be installed by default and ntpdate package is deprecated or not available. It is suggested to synchronize server time using NTP Timesync extension instead.

Log into Plesk
Navigate to Tools & Settings > Scheduled Tasks (Cron jobs)
Select the scheduled task /usr/sbin/ntpdate -b -s [n].pool.ntp.org:
Click Remove

When ntpdate should be used

Connect to the server via SSH
Install the ntpdate package:
- On Debian / Ubuntu operating systems:
  
  # apt-get update && apt-get install ntpdate
- On RHEL / CentOS / Cloudlinux operating systems:
  
  # yum install ntpdate