Introduction
If you use Ubuntu Server then you must ensure that its timezone is set correctly. If the time is wrong then you may run into problems updating software, servcing websites, etc.
It’s fairly straightforward to do this in Unix, so let’s dive in. This tutorial forms a small part of my larger, detailed tutorial on Running a Live Web Server on a Raspberry Pi from Home.
Set the Correct Ubuntu Server Timezone
Ubuntu should be running with the correct time zone set for where your server is located. Let’s ensure your timezone is correct.
You can check what your timezone is currently set to by typing:
timedatectl
If it looks incorrect then you need to find out the correct syntax for your timezone by typing:
timedatectl list-timezones
If you wanted to set your timezone to London, for example, you would enter:
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/London
That’s it! Your timezone will be correct.
Conclusion
As you can see, setting the timezone in Ubuntu is easy. Once it’s set then you should never really need to set it up again. However, if you do notice strange errors during system updates, like not being able to connect to the update server, it’s worth double checking your system time is correct.
