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Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
realm join completes with errors or partial success, blocking domain logins via SSSD.
Environment & Reproduction
Common with time skew greater than five minutes, missing krb5-workstation, or DNS issues.
Root Cause Analysis
Kerberos pre-auth fails when clock skew exceeds tolerance or AD DNS records cannot be resolved.
Quick Triage
Validate time with chronyc tracking, DNS with dig SRV records, and AD discovery with realm discover.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Run: KRB5_TRACE=/dev/stderr realm join -U admin example.com; chronyc tracking; dig SRV _ldap._tcp.example.com.

Solution – Primary Fix
Sync time with AD DC, install adcli sssd-ad, and join with realm join –computer-ou=’OU=Linux’.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Use adcli preset-computer for pre-staged accounts when admin credentials cannot be used interactively.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
id resolves and getent passwd returns the SSSD-provided identity.
Rollback Plan
realm leave to clean machine account and remove /etc/sssd/sssd.conf if rollback is required.
Prevention & Hardening
Document time sources and DNS forwarders required for AD, and monitor sssd journald output.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Related to GSSAPI SSH failures and sssd cache inconsistencies after schema changes.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for centos-stream-10.
View all centos-stream-10 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
realmd, adcli, and SSSD documentation on Red Hat customer portal.
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