Setting up Time Zone and Enabling Network Time Sync (NTP) on Linux & Windows Cloud Servers

The NTP (Network Time Protocol) is an Internet protocol that is used to synchronize the time on your system with a centralized Network Time Protocol server. It also analyses the timestamp values including the frequency of errors and the stability.

ntpdiagram

See the instructions for setting up time zone and NTP specifically of CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu and Windows OS below.

CentOS

Configure the system clock in CentOS server.
```
# timedatectl
```
Display the current time and date.
```
# timedatectl status
```
Display all available Time zones.
```
# timedatectl list-timezones
```
Display a particular Time zone under Asia starting with the alphabet H.
```
# timedatectl list-timezones | grep  -o "Asia/H.*"
```
To change or set a Time zone you can use the below command. E.g. Change to Hong Kong.
```
# timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Hong_Kong
```
To enable NTP to synchronize time with Internet time.
```
# timedatectl set-ntp yes
```

Ubuntu & Debian

Configure the system clock in Ubuntu & Debian servers.
```
# timedatectl
```
Display the current time and date.
```
# timedatectl
```
Display all available Time zones.
```
# timedatectl list-timezones
```
Display a particular Time zone under Asia starting with the alphabet H.
```
# timedatectl list-timezones | grep  -o "Asia/H.*"
```
To change or set a Time zone you can use the below command. E.g. Change to Hong Kong.
```
# timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Hong_Kong
```
To enable NTP to synchronize time with Internet time.
```
# timedatectl set-ntp on
```

Fedora

Configure the system clock in Fedora server.
```
# timedatectl
```
Display the current time and date.
```
# timedatectl status
```
Display all available Time zones.
```
# timedatectl list-timezones
```
Display a particular Time zone under Asia starting with the alphabet H.
```
# timedatectl list-timezones | grep  -o "Asia/H.*"
```
To change or set a Time zone you can use the below command. E.g. Change to Hong Kong.
```
# timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Hong_Kong
```
To enable NTP to synchronize time with Internet time.
```
# timedatectl set-ntp yes
```

Windows OS

To configure with NTP or Internet Time:

Right-click on the time in Taskbar and then click Adjust date/time.
Click Internet Time tab, and then click Change settings….
Check the Synchronize with an Internet time server box and select an available Internet time server from the drop-down menu.
Click Update now and then OK.