Setting the Correct Date for Your Linux Server

Question: My dedicated server is showing a different timezone than my home computer. How can I set it to be on my timezone.

Answer: Generally speaking it does not matter if your remote server is on a different timezone. It will still function, but when scheduling maintenance, upgrades, and backups, it is crucial to make sure the time you schedule and announce is the actual time of the server. With the Linux “date” command, you can display and set the time of your server.

To display the current day, date, time, timezone, and year, simply type “date” from the command line. To set a new time, type “date -s” or “date –set” followed by the date, time, or both. For example, to set the time to 11:15:00, enter:

date +%T -s "11:15:00"

Changing the actual timezone is a little more involved. Read more about that here. In Redhat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, or CentOS, however, simply type:

redhat-config-date

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