How to Set Time, Timezone and Synchronize System Clock in Linux

The ‘ timedatectl ‘ command is a new utility for  RHEL-based  and  Debian-based  distributions. It is a part of the ‘ systemd ‘ system and service manager, serving as a replacement for the old traditional  date command  used in ‘ sysvinit ‘ daemon-based Linux distributions. 

 The  timedatectl  command allows you to query and change the configuration of the system clock and its settings, you can use this command to set or change the current date, time, and timezone or enable automatic system clock  synchronization with a remote NTP server . 

 In this tutorial, am going to take you through the ways you can manage time on your Linux system by setting the  date ,  time ,  timezone,  and  synchronize time with NTP  from the terminal using the new  timedatectl  command. 

 It is always a good practice to maintain the correct time on your Linux server or system and it can have the following advantages: 

 

 maintain a timely operation of system tasks since most tasks in Linux are controlled by time. 

 the correct time for logging events and other information on the system and many more. 

 

 How to Find and Set Local Timezone in Linux 

 1.  To display the current time and date on your system, use the  timedatectl  command from the command line as follows: 

 # timedatectl status

 

 

 Check Time and Date 

 

 

 In the screencast above,  RTC  time is the hardware clock time. 

 2.  The  time  on your Linux system is always managed through the  timezone set  on the system, to view your current timezone, do it as follows: 

 # timedatectl 

OR

# timedatectl | grep Time

 

 

 Check Linux Time Zone 

 

 3.  To view all available timezones, run the command below: 

 # timedatectl list-timezones

 

 

 List All Timezones in Linux 

 

 4.  To find the local timezone according to your location, run the following command: 

 # timedatectl list-timezones | egrep -o "Asia/B.*"

# timedatectl list-timezones | egrep -o "Europe/L.*"

# timedatectl list-timezones | egrep -o "America/N.*"

 

 

 Find Local Timezone in Linux 

 

 5.  To set your local timezone in Linux, we will use the  set-timezone  switch as shown below. 

 # timedatectl set-timezone "Asia/Kolkata"

 

 

 Set Local Timezone in Linux 

 

 It is always recommended to use and set the coordinated universal time,  UTC . 

 # timedatectl set-timezone UTC

 

 

 Set UTC Time in Linux 

 

 You need to type the correct name timezone otherwise you may get errors when changing the timezone, in the following example, the timezone “Asia/Kolkata” is not correct therefore causing the error. 

 

 Set Correct Timezone in Linux 

 

 How to Set Time and Date in Linux 

 6.  You can set the date and time on your system, using the timedatectl command as follows: 

 Set Time in Linux 

 To set time only, we can use a  set-time  switch along with the format of time in  HH:MM:SS  (Hour, Minute, and Seconds). 

 # timedatectl set-time 15:58:30

 

 

 Set Local Time in Linux 

 

 You may get the below error when setting the date as shown above: 

 Failed to set time: NTP unit is active

 

 7.  The error says that the NTP service is active. You need to disable it using the below command. 

 # systemctl disable --now chronyd

 

 Set Date and Time in Linux 

 8.  To set date and time, we can use a  set-time  switch along with the format of date in  YY:MM:DD  (Year, Month, Day) and time in  HH:MM:SS  (Hour, Minute, and Seconds). 

 # timedatectl set-time '2015-11-20 16:14:50'

 

 

 Set Date in Linux 

 

 

 Set Date and Time in Linux 

 

 How to Find and Set Hardware Clock in Linux 

 9.  To set your hardware clock to coordinated universal time,  UTC , use the  set-local-rtc boolean-value  option as follows: 

 First Find out if your hardware clock is set to the local timezone: 

 # timedatectl | grep local

 

 Set your hardware clock to the local timezone: 

 # timedatectl set-local-rtc 1

 

 

 Set Hardware Clock Timezone 

 

 Set your hardware clock to coordinated universal time (UTC): 

 # timedatectl set-local-rtc 0

 

 

 Set the Hardware Clock to UTC 

 

 Synchronizing Linux System Clock with a Remote NTP Server 

 NTP  stands for  Network Time Protocol  is an internet protocol, which is used to synchronize the system clock between computers. The  timedatectl  utility enables you to automatically sync your Linux system clock with a remote group of servers using NTP. 

 Please note that you must have  NTP  installed on the system to enable automatic time synchronization with NTP servers. 

 To start automatic time synchronization with a remote NTP server, type the following command at the terminal. 

 # timedatectl set-ntp true

 

 To disable NTP time synchronization, type the following command at the terminal. 

 # timedatectl set-ntp false