---
id: RAIL-HO-WP-0013
type: workplan
title: "Declare systemd-timesyncd as the S1 host UTC daemon"
domain: financials
repo: railiance-infra
status: proposed
owner: codex
topic_slug: railiance
origin: residual
origin_ref: RCLK-WP-0005
created: "2026-09-14"
updated: "2026-09-14"
related: [RAIL-HO-WP-0011, RCLK-WP-0005, RCLK-WP-0002]
---

Residual from RCLK-WP-0005-T01. railiance01 already runs a single
systemd-timesyncd against Ubuntu default NTP, UTC, synchronized. That unit is
not in S1 IaC. railiance-hosts is superseded; do not duplicate the tree there.

Wait for RCLK-WP-0002's UTC/leap/quality contract before choosing servers or
holdover. Do not install chrony alongside timesyncd.

## Declare the adopted daemon

```task
id: RAIL-HO-WP-0013-T01
status: wait
priority: medium
```

Version systemd-timesyncd (not chrony) in railiance-infra: enabled unit,
NTP/FallbackNTP, restricted listeners, health export. Lint/render only until
RCLK-WP-0002 and RCLK-WP-0005-T02 authorize live apply. No second daemon.

Canonical S1 ownership: railiance-master ADR-0004 and
`docs/reef-first-wave-source-map.md`. Repeatable read-only evidence lives in
railiance-clock at `docs/evidence/2026-09-14-railiance01-clock-inventory.json`
and `tools/observe_host_clock.py`. The synchronized flag does not establish an
independent UTC error bound. Current distro fallback is observed, not an approved
independent source set. Review upstream/leap/holdover policy with RCLK-WP-0002.

Use an opt-in Ansible role and narrow playbook; bootstrap calls that same role.
Guard against competing daemons and unsupported hosts. Export explicit unusable
health states; the application must never acquire clock-write privileges.

## Prove IaC convergence, drift and recovery before live rollout

```task
id: RAIL-HO-WP-0013-T02
status: wait
priority: high
```

Depends on T01. Lint/render and disposable VM convergence; second apply must be
no-op. Detect intentional disposable drift, verify reboot persistence and source
outage/recovery, and prove source-based rollback. Measure health reporting limits.
Record exact source revision/target/config checksum and no unrelated changes.
A mocked systemctl result or container-only check is not host synchronization proof.

## Apply the reviewed source and return steady-state handoff

```task
id: RAIL-HO-WP-0013-T03
status: wait
priority: high
```

Depends on T02 and normal reviewed live-host authorization. Produce the exact
railiance01 diff and clock-step/credential-consumer impact plan, then use owner
IaC to apply/read back. Reverify usable host health and no extra listener/daemon;
record rollback and monitoring ownership. Hand evidence to RCLK-WP-0005 and
railiance-bootstrap for ordering/rehearsal. Keep all residuals live before closure.
No corporate workstation time settings or app-clock trust adoption in this plan.