Synchronizing the time on all machines on the same network is incredibly useful and very simple. The Network Time Protocol daemon (ntpd) does all of the dirty work for you. If you have DNS configured and are connected to the Internet, you can synchronize with an external NTP master server or you can set up your own local master server and synchronize all of your machines to it. In the latter case, you’ll only need to monitor the master system for reasonably accurate time.
How can I set all of my machines to the same wall clock time?
Synchronizing the time on all machines on the same network is incredibly useful and very simple. The Network Time Protocol daemon (ntpd) does all of the dirty work for you. If you have DNS configured and are connected to the Internet, you can synchronize with an external NTP master server or you can set up your own local master server and synchronize all of your machines to it. In the latter case, you’ll only need to monitor the master system for reasonably accurate time.
Let’s get ntpd up and running. First, verify that all of your machines are set to your time zone. For example, if you live in Dallas, Texas, your systems should be set to the Central Time Zone. The time zone code for Central Time is CST6CDT or US/Central. To set the time zone, enter the command: timeconfig –utc “CST6CDT”. You have to be the superuser to change time zones. (And be careful! Setting the time zone incorrectly causes the system to have the “wrong time” — an error that can be quite infuriating. If your system is constantly off by an hour or two, double-check your time zone to make sure it’s set properly.)
After setting the time zone (say, to Central Time), the file /etc/sysconfig/clock should read:
ZONE=CST6CDT UTC=true ARC=false
Now you have a decision to make. Do you want to set…
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