How To Change Ubuntu Server’s Date and Time via Command Line

In today’s digital world, having the correct date and time on your server is crucial for many operations. This article will guide you through the process of changing the date and time on an Ubuntu server via the command line.

Checking the Current Date and Time

Before making any changes, it’s important to know the current date and time of your server. To do this, you can use the date command in the terminal:

date

This command will display the current date and time in the following format: Wed Sep 30 10:05:59 PDT 2015.

Changing the Date and Time

To change the date and time, you’ll use the sudo date -s command followed by the desired date and time in the format “YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS”:

sudo date -s "2015-09-30 10:05:59"

In this command, sudo is used to execute the command with root privileges, date -s sets the system’s date and time, and "2015-09-30 10:05:59" is the new date and time you want to set.

After running this command, you can verify that the date and time have been changed by running the date command again:

date

Updating the Hardware Clock

To ensure that the new date and time persist after a reboot, you need to update the hardware clock with the system clock. This can be done using the hwclock command:

sudo hwclock --systohc

In this command, hwclock --systohc sets the hardware clock to the current system time. After running this command, you can check the hardware clock to confirm that it matches the system clock:

sudo hwclock

Setting the Correct Timezone

In addition to setting the date and time, it’s also important to ensure that your server is using the correct timezone. This can be done using the dpkg-reconfigure command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

This command will open a menu that allows you to select your geographic area and timezone. Once you’ve made your selection, the system will update the timezone accordingly.

Considerations and Warnings

While changing the date and time manually can be useful in certain situations, it’s important to note that it can have unintended consequences. If your server is part of a network or relies on synchronized time for certain applications, it’s recommended to use an NTP (Network Time Protocol) client to sync the time over the network. This ensures that all servers have the same time set.

If you encounter any issues with changing the date and time, make sure you have the necessary permissions (i.e., using sudo) and double-check the date and time format.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve covered how to change the date and time on an Ubuntu server via the command line. By following these steps, you can ensure that your server’s date and time are set correctly. As always, remember to exercise caution when making changes to your server’s settings and consider the potential impacts on your network and applications.