If your output shows that NTP service isn’t active, turn it on with timedatectl:Īfter this, run timedatectl again to confirm the network time status. System clock synchronized: yes reflects that the time is successfully synced, and NTP service: active means that timesyncd is up and running. This command prints out the local time, universal time (which may be the same as local time, if you didn’t switch from the UTC time zone), and some network time status information. System clock synchronized: yes NTP service: active Typically, your server will generate an output with the default UTC time zone. Any user can run this command to print out the date and time: To view the time on your server, you will use the command date. Prerequisitesīefore starting this tutorial, you will need an Ubuntu 20.04 server with a non-root, sudo-enabled user and a firewall, as described in this Ubuntu 20.04 server setup tutorial. In this article, you will practice some general time-related commands, verify that timesyncd is active, and install an alternate network time service.

Time synchronization can help ensure your logs are being recorded in the correct order, and that database updates are appropriately applied.įortunately, Ubuntu 20.04 has time synchronization built-in and activated by default using systemd’s timesyncd service. Without it, you may encounter data corruption, errors, and other issues that are difficult to debug. Accurate timekeeping is integral to modern software deployments.

Permanently change timezone linux